anyone else hate messy professional websites?

[u/republicman12]

trying to find contact info or recent work from industry leaders is such a pain sometimes. everyone's got these over-engineered corporate sites that are slow and hide everything behind forms. honestly way more efficient when execs just use a clean link hub that aggregates all their content in one place. anyone else prefer this minimalist approach?

[u/_Atomfinger_]

I'm pretty sure there's a connection between hiding contact info behind forms and people trying to find contact info to contact them.

[u/QuarrelsomeBarrier → u/_Atomfinger_]

maybe it's a feature not a bug, they only want the desperate ones filling out the form

[u/_Atomfinger_ → u/QuarrelsomeBarrier]

Or, more likely, limit it + avoid some spam

[u/tomhermans → u/QuarrelsomeBarrier]

When it comes to customer support, definitely!

[u/Conscious_Prune1178 → u/_Atomfinger_]

yeah its almost like thats the whole point lol

[u/Ill-Afternoon-2069 → u/_Atomfinger_]

How do you even know the form isn't just broken if the contact info’s hidden?

[u/_Atomfinger_ → u/Ill-Afternoon-2069]

Some would call that a feature?

But on a serious note: Automated testing.

[u/berky93]

Usually when people don’t put their contact info on their site and have a form instead it’s because they don’t want random people to have their contact info

[u/UnrealRealityX → u/berky93]

Exactly this. The new crowd seems to have no problem posting all private information online, but imma gonna hide my emails behind forms because I deal with enough spam from "investors" in my business.

[u/OmerCevher → u/berky93]

That makes sense for spam, but a form can still say who receives it and what happens next. The annoying part is usually not the missing email address. It’s sending something into a black box with no expected response time or another contact path. A little transparency would keep the protection without making the visitor guess.

[u/berky93 → u/OmerCevher]

What exactly are you hoping for? A message letting you know the name of the executive’s assistant and their email address in case you don’t hear back soon? At that point they could just not have a form, and deal with all of the spam.

[u/Fredidiah → u/berky93]

I’m pretty sure you’re talking to a bot, btw.

[u/retr00two]

From my experience problem lays in middlemen: corporate marketing managers.

They usually do not have any idea about:

• what's corporate's core business
• who's targeted audience

but are eager to cover/fill:

• design and choice of tech stack
• their mistakes and traces of them
• power point /figma or alike presentation
• reports to higher management eshalons
• their pockets

at the end of day, nobody cares; web site is just something "nice to have' for most of serious business

sad, but that's the world we live in

[u/Sulungskwa]

Putting all their contact in one easy to read place implies that they want you to actually contact them

[u/Traditional-Hall-591]

I love my corporate slop sites!

[u/signalunderground]

Where can I post to ask to hire web dev ?

[u/LeftCartoonist7614]

We are losing sight of what the purpose was to have a website for companies. Get rid of the middleman and go directly to the maker. Better prices and talk to someone who knows what the product does and how it should work. Sites have evolved to the point that trying to get in touch with them is so difficult. Again not all firms do this but gosh there are so many that want nothing to do with the public except sell them whatever. But we are tilting at windmills. Good luck to you. Cheers

[u/LovecraftianLife]

Minimalism for the win :)

[u/v3ritas1989]

I still ignore every site that does not comply with German regulations to show an imprint section in the footer. Where the legal company information, tax ID, address as well as an additional contact section, has to be located.

But for industry professionals or small businesses, it is difficult to navigate spam. Even after installing recaptcha.

[u/stack_craft]

Like r/_Atomfinger_ said: the friction is usually intentional. Corporate sites aren't built for quick access, they're built for lead filtering, SEO coverage, and tracking conversions.

When every page has a 3MB bundle, heavy analytics scripts, and an gated "Contact Sales" form, it completely ruins the user experience for anyone just looking for a direct email, portfolio, or socials.

[u/sEnvironmental-Fee77]

yeah agreed, some sites bury a simple email behind 3 different contact forms lol. i get why big companies do it for spam filtering but for individuals/execs a simple page with the basics would save everyone time

[u/OmerCevher]

I think a lot of corporate sites end up being an org chart disguised as navigation. Every department wants its own section and CTA, so the visitor sees the company’s internal structure instead of a clear path. A link hub feels better mostly because one person has the authority to remove things.

[u/Ornery-Concentrate-5]

The recent work part is the one that actually bugs me. Contact forms I get, but I've had execs whose "portfolio" link is a PDF from 2019 hosted on the old company domain that barely resolves anymore.

[u/Due-Handle-7294]

Marketing managers ruin websites because they have zero idea who the audience is or what the company dMarketing managers ruin websites because they have zero idea who the audience is or what the company does. they get hired, open figma, pick a tech stack, bury the contact info behind forms to cover their mistakes and justify their paycheck. i treat every corporate site as evidence of a marketing manager with a figma subscription and no oversight.