Not much offends me more than deceptive advertising, and here's an egregious example I found tonight on AllMusic.com, a normally excellent site I frequent.
Here's a screenshot of the top of the AllMusic.com homepage. Take a look and see if you spot any deception.
I'll wait.
OK, time's up.
That white bar in The Kingston Trio ad is actually part of the ad, not a search box. But usability expectations on the web are that a white space is a form to be filled in. And search boxes are typically in prominent spots atop pages and designed for eacy access.
In the AllMusic case, the search box is subtly identified, but the search field contains a gray screen, which blends in with the surrounding elements. In other words, they've made it hard to find.
So much so I tryed typing my search term ("Jason Faulkner") into what I thought was a white search field. Hello, Kingston Trio junk!
So, two questions:
1) Did an agency for Kingston Trio knowingly design this ad? Whether they did or not, my opinion of The Kingston Trio is at rock bottom.
2) Did AllMusic approve the ad or was it served in isolation by a third-party ad server and without their knowledge? Doesn't matter. I've always considered AllMusic an authoritative music source, dumb stuff like this gives me pause. I'll visit again, but my SpideySense will be on high alert.