Free and Commercial Stock Photography Sites

Stock photography is often used in print and web design and has been around since the 1920s, when it was utilized by the newspaper industry. It has turned out to be such a common element to use now when designing, and has become more and more available, so that designers start using it on a daily basis. In the beginning there were only a few minor resources when it came to utilizing a variety of photos, but now as the times change and technology advances, so does the amount of resources in stock photography. Here are a handful of sites to check out when considering the use of stock photography on your next project.

Free Stock Photography Sites

Free Range Stock
Just sign up for a free membership, log in and download high-quality, high-resolution free stock photos and textures. All images are at least 2400 x 1600 pixels and can be used for personal and commercial use.

Stock.XCHNG
Stock.XCHNG is one of the leading free stock photo sites on the Internet featuring over 400,000 quality images. Photos are available in five different sizes for print or web. Visitors can see the popularity of an image by viewing how many times the photo has been downloaded.

Every Stock Photo
Every Stock Photo is a search engine for free photos. These come from many sources and are license-specific. Membership is free and allows users to rate, tag, collect and comment on photos.

Mayang’s Free Textures
Mayang’s Free Textures is a texture library with over 3,800 free to download, high-resolution textures. Featuring everything from brick walls, leaves, water, paint effects and so much more, these images come in handy for any designer.

Vintage Pixels
Vintage Pixels is a large database of historical, high-quality, free-for-use images which allows people to share their archived photos. Visitors can download image for print, or use in graphic design, as well as upload images to add to the ever growing album of vintage images.

Photogen
Photogen is a source for quality, high-resolution free stock images. Photos are available for commercial or personal projects. Users must register for a free account to download images.

Free Stock Photos
Download free images to use for professional or commercial use. Categories include Athens, Christian, Egypt, Israel, Rome, Scenery, Sky, Weather and many more.

ImageBase

ImageBase offers free high resolution photos. In addition to beautiful images, the site also offers free PowerPoint Templates.

Kave Wall
Kave Wall presents free stock photos, image and textures. CD’s are available for download in various categories.

Turbo Photo
Visitors can browse and download 2,000 free stock images from 10 categories on TurboPhoto. Also available are high quality, professional stock images.

Free Stock Photography
Free Stock Photography offers a plethora of completely free Royalty-free stock photography. Browse over one hundred categories from animals to toy and games.

Freepixels
Freepixel offers free stock photography for any use. You can easily search for images as well as make full use of the tag cloud. Over 3,000 images are featured and some are usually found on paid registration sites.

Stock Vault
Stock Vault features over 13,000 free stock photos from over 3,600 photographers. The site’s helpful tutorials, videos and articles can also be a powerful tool for any designer.

FreeFoto
FreeFoto showcases a large collection of free photographs. A link back and attribution are required for some images. The site is made up of over 100 thousand images with over three thousand categories.

BigFoto
BigFoto has a large variety of free images from different cities and continents as well as unique sceneries. Choose Royalty-free photos of San Francisco, Egypt, Germany, Israel or Prague.

Geek Philosopher
Geek Philosopher offers free stock photography. Visitors are encouraged to use the images for free but are required to post a link back to the Geek Philosopher. Browse several categories, such as food, nature, art, animals and texture.

Commercial Stock Photography Services

Corbis
Corbis features unique and helpful options to search images. Users can filter by date photographed, photographer, orientation, number of people in photograph and more. Also featured are premium collections from famous photographers, such as the Andy Warhol Foundation and Ansel Adams. Most images range from $10 to $600.

Photocase
Photocase is a community of photographers and their high-quality photos. Users can vote on images, leave comments, contact a specific photographer and see related images. Images are purchased with credits and are available for web or print. DownloadCredit Packages are 16 downloadcredits for $25, 40 downloadcredits for $50 or 80 downloadcredits for $90. Subscription plans available include 6 credits daily for $99 per month or 16 credits daily for $199 per month.

iStockphoto
iStockphoto offers photos, vector illustrations, video footage, audio tracks and flash files. Visitors can sign up for their “pay-as-you-go” credit package from $18-$1,900 or save even more by purchasing a subscription for three months, six months or one year. Subscription prices vary depending on desired daily credit limit set but range from $979-$46,150. Corporate subscriptions are also available.

Fotolia
Fotolia features photos, vector images and videos and has over one million members. Users can purchase credits for a single download for $1 per credit. Subscriptions are also available, ranging from one month up to one year from $750-$21,600, depending on length and downloads per day.

Free Digital Photos
Thousands of images are available for corporate and personal use. Photos are free but the site requires a link back or there is an option to buy a high resolution version.

Big Stock Photo
At Big Stock Photo visitors can choose from over three million photos in categories such as fashion, summer, business, food, success, sports and more. Image prices range from one credit for a small image to six credits for an extra large image. Prices per credit vary from $1-$2.50 depending on amount purchased. Images are available in four different sizes for use in print and web.

Shutterstock
Shutterstock offers over seven million royalty-free stock photos, illustrations and vector images, and more than one hundred thousand video clips. They offer a “25-a-day” subscription at $249 for 1 month, $709 for 3 months, $1,349 for 6 months or $2,559 for 1 year. You can also choose the “On Demand” subscription, for JPG & Vector files of all sizes, at $49 for 5 downloads or $229 for 25 downloads. If you prefer only the small and medium size options, you can get 1 year at $49 for 12 downloads or $229 for 60 downloads. The “Enhanced” subscription allows you to download images at any time within the year, including TIFF, JPG and Vector, at $199 for 2 downloads, $449 for 5 downloads, or $1,699 for 25 downloads. Footage subscription plans are also available.

Photos.com
Photos.com offers over two million Royalty-free images by subscription. Their collection contains more than 390,000 professional, model-released photos in various categories. The basic subscription allows you to pay once and download up to 750 images per month from $99-$449. They also offer a “Photos.com Plus” subscription giving you access to millions of files including images, illustrations, fonts, flash and audio files from $249-$1,699.

Stockxpert
Stockxpert has over three million images with over forty thousand images added per week. Videos and photos are available in five different sizes. Subscriptions allow for up to 25 images downloaded per day at $219 for one month, $499 for three months or $1,299 for one year. Visitors can also pay per download; credits are $1 and available in many quantities.

Getty Images
Getty Images is a leader in providing digital media worldwide, creating and distributing a range of assets - from Royalty-free stock photography and editorial images to footage, music and multimedia. One unique part of Getty Images is it features creative images to up-to-the-minute editorial coverage - including news, sports, and celebrity photos. Prices range from $49 to several thousand dollars

Can Stock Photo
Can Stock Photo is a photography agency that offers professional stock photography. The site has over 1,492,000 images to choose from and three purchasing options. Choose from several subscription durations, weekly, monthly or yearly, and volumes, up to 10 images per day or 25 images per day, from $35-$1,199. Credits are available at 50 cents per credit. Images vary from 2 credits for a small image to 10 credits for a large vector. Photos can also be purchased without credits or subscriptions, but are not offered at a discount.

123RF
123RF sells Royalty-free images and vector images. If you do not find the perfect photo amongst their four million images, they offer 24-hour live support. 123RF offers the flexibility to choose between two modes of purchase; monthly subscriptions or credit purchase. The Basic Subscription Plan allows up to 5 images downloaded per day or the Premium Subscription Plan allows for 26 downloads per day. Both subscriptions are available for 30, 90 or 265 days. Prices range from $89-$1,799. Credits are $1 each and available in various quantities.

Vectorious
Vectorious has a wide variety of stock vectors. The site features over 8,000 vector illustrations and three types of subscriptions: $15 for one month, $40 for 3 months or $70 for six months. The daily limit is twenty images per day.

Veer
Stock photography, illustrations, typefaces and unique merchandise are all available on Veer. Images can be found in up to six sizes from $1 to $20, depending on the size of the images. Veer features images in hundreds of categories and also gives users the ability to easily create a lightbox.

Jupiterimages Unlimited
At Jupiterimages Unlimited you will find millions of images from eight premium collections and four subscription services, alongside millions of value photos and illustrations. Jupiterimages Unlimited has a flexible subscription plan as well as Rights-Managed and Royalty-free images. Monthly subscriptions start at $599 to $1,499. Annual subscriptions range from $599-$3,399 depending amount of access to photos. Most plans are limited to 750 downloads per month.

Spffy
Spffy is a great way to find free images. The site indexes some of the most prestigious stock photography agencies such as StockPhotoFinder, Corbis, Jupiter Images, Fotolia, NASA and Super Stock. For video and footage, Spffy searches YouTube, AOL Video, Live Video StockMotionFinder and others. Visitors have different ways to search: via a dedicated stock photos image resource search, web photos (flickr especially), or in the public domain. Prices many vary depending on source of image.

PunchStock
PuchStock has over two million Royalty-Free photos and illustrations from JupiterImages, Getty Images, Corbis and over 50 other brands. PunchStock also offers virtual CD’s, which you can download instantly, and traditional CD’s, which can be quickly shipped. As a bonus, the site usually features monthly specials or promotions.

VivoZoom
VivoZoom showcases fabulous commercial images you can trust. It is the “only microstock site that guarantees its images are legally safe to use.” Pay-As-You-Go Plan allows members to choose the number of downloads from 5 to 50 downloads for $39 to $149. Subscriptions plans are also offered; monthly-$279, quarterly-$699 or annually-$2,499, limit 15 downloads per day.

FotoSearch
FotoSearch is a provider of Royalty-free and Right-managed stock photography, illustrations, maps, videos and audio. Their subscription package allows up to 25 images downloaded per day for $249 a month. CD’s and DVD’s are also available and grouped by category.

Dreamstime
Dreamstime features over six million images from over 70 thousand photographers. Users can purchase credit packages; 5 credits-$7, 12 credits-$15, 25 credits-$25, 52 credits-$50, 108 credits-$100. Subscriptions are also available for 1 month, 3, months, 6 months or 12 months. Prices range from $98-$3,739. The site also features free stock photos, illustrations, vector and raw images as well as a blog for people to interact, make friends and share tips and techniques.

PhotoSpin
PhotoSpin presents two subscription levels to fit your design needs. Both offer high resolution photos, up to 3600 pixels for $299 per year or 5100 pixels for $499 per year. Photos, illustrations, fonts, audio and video are all available for download.

Inmagine
Inmagine is one of the leading supplier and distributor of Royalty-free digital stock photography. With more than 3.5 million Royalty-free stock images, they hold one of the most competitive lists of publishers in the market today. Sales support is available 24 hours a day, Monday though Friday, to help with any questions or a research consultation. Prices range from $29-$870 on average.

Unprofound
Unprofound is a unusual or unorthodox stock photography site. This is because images are categorized by color. Images are completely free to use.

Matton Images
Matton Images is a complete Royalty-free resource. Images and illustrations are listed by category and theme. Subscriptions are available for 3 months, 6 months and 12 months from $360-$1,189.

Comparison Table

Site	File Types	# of Images	Purchasing
iStockphoto	JPG, Vector, Video, Audio, Flash	5,197,000	3 plans available: Pay-As-You-Go: Purchase credits as needed from $18-$1,900. Subscription: Available for 3 months, 6 months and 1 year from $979-$46,150. Can set your own daily credit limit. Corporate Account: Can purchase Corporate Pay-As-You-Go account or Corporate Subscription account.
Fotolia	JPG, Vector, Video	6,258,000	Single Download: $1=1 credit. Minimum purchase is 10 credits. Subscriptions: Can choose standard subscription to download large JPG images only or premium subscription to download images, vectors and videos.
Free Digital Photos	JPG	N/A	Every image is free with an option to purchase high resolution photos for print or graphic design. Large images for Web are $5, high resolution for print is $10.
Big Stock Photo	JPG	3,508,000	Images are purchased with credits. Prices range from 1 credit for small images to 6 credits for an extra large image. Prices per credit vary from $1-$2.50 depending on amount purchased.
Every Stock Photo	JPG	4,459,000	Images are free.
Shutterstock	JPG, Vector, Video	7,593,000	3 subscription plans available. 25-A-Day Subscription: Download up to 25 images/day including JPG & Vector images. 1 month-$249, 3 months-$709, 6 months-$1,349 or 1 year-$2,559. On Demand Subscription: 5 downloads for all JPG & Vector sizes for $49 or 25 downloads for all JPG & Vector sizes for $229. 12 downloads for small and medium size images for up to one year is $49. 60 downloads for small and medium sizes for up to one year is $229. Enhanced Subscription: Download images any time for up to one year, including all TIFF, JPG and Vector sizes. 2 downloads-$199, 5 downloads-$449 or 25 downloads-$1699. Footage subscription plans also available.
Mayang’s Free Textures	JPG	3,800	Images are free.
Vintage Pixels	JPG	N/A	Images are free.
Photos.com	JPG, Vector, Audio, Flash, Typography	2,000,000	Photos.com Original Subscription: Gives access to over 390,000 photos. 1 month-$99.95, 3 months-$199.95 or 1 year-$449.95. Photos.com Plus Subscription: Gives access to millions of images, flash files, fonts and audio files. 1 month-$249.95, 3 months-$599.95 or 1 year-$1,199.95. Can also purchase single images without a subscription.
Photogen	JPG	1,300	Images are free.
Free Range Stock	JPG	10,000	Images are free.
Stockxpert	JPG, Vector, Video	3,500,000	Pay Per Download: Credits are approx. $1 and available in in many quantities. Subscription: Choose between plans for 1 month-$219.95, 3 months-$499.95 and 1 year-1,299.95, and download up to 25 images per day. Extended licenses are also available as well as video subscriptions.
Free Stock Photos	JPG	N/A	Images are free.
Getty Images	JPG, Video, Music	21,000,000	Prices range from $49 to several thousand dollars.
ImageBase	JPG, PPT Templates	1,800	Images are free.
Can Stock Photo	JPG, Video	1,492,000	Choose from several subscription durations, weekly, monthly or yearly, and volumes, up to 10 images per day or 25 images per day, from $35-$1,199. Credits are available at 50 cents per credit. Images vary from 2 credits for a small image to 10 credits for a large vector. Photos can also be purchased without credits or subscriptions, but are not offered at a discount.
Kave Wall	JPG	1,700	Images are free. Can also purchase a CD of high resolution images by category for $19.95.
123RF	JPG, Vector	4,000,000	Credits: 1 credit is $1 and can buy in various quantities. Subscriptions: The Basic Subscription Plan allows up to 5 images downloaded per day or the Premium Subscription Plan allows for 26 downloads per day. Both subscriptions available for 30, 90 or 265 days. Prices range from $89-$1,799.
Stock.XCHNG	JPG	400,000	Images are free.
Vectorious	JPG	8,000	Available subscriptions include $15 for one month, $40 for 3 months or $70 for six months. The daily limit is twenty images per day.
Veer	JPG, Vector, Typography	1,309,600	Prices are as follows: XS-$1, S-$3, M-$5, L-$10, XL-$15, XXL-$20. Also featured on the site are images from other sites so prices may vary depending on the provider.
Turbo Photo	JPG	2,000	Images are free.
Jupiterimages Unlimited	JPG, Vector	N/A	Monthly subscriptions start at $599 to $1,499. Annual subscriptions range from $599-$3,399 depending amount of access to photos. Most plans are limited to 750 downloads per month.
Spffy	JPG, Vector, Video	1,000,000,000	Prices vary depending on source of image.
Free Stock Photography	JPG	N/A	Images are free.
PunchStock	JPG, Vector	2,000,000	N/A
VivoZoom	JPG	N/A	Pay-As-You-Go Plan: 5 downloads for $39 or 25 downloads for $149 for all resolutions or 12 downloads for $49 and 50 downloads for $149 for web resolutions only. Subscriptions plans are also offered; monthly-$279, quarterly-$699 or annually-$2,499, limit 15 downloads per day.
FotoSearch	JPG, Vector, Video	5,300,000	N/A
Corbis	JPG, Vector	N/A	Most images range from $10-$600.
Freepixels	JPG	3,700	Images are free.
Dreamstime	JPG, Vector	6,162,000	Credit packages are available; 5 credits-$6.99, 12 credits-$14.99, 25 credits-$24.99, 52 credits-$49.99, 108 credits-$99.99. Subscriptions are also available for 1 month, 3, months, 6 months or 12 months. Prices range from $98.89-$3,739.99.
Stock Vault	JPG	13,800	Images are free.
PhotoSpin	JPG, Vector, Video, Audio, Typography	150,000	The Plus 1-Year subscription allows for unlimited downloads for all 12 inch files for $299 and the Super Plus 1-Year subscription allows for unlimited downloads for all 17 inch files for $499.
Unprofound	JPG	1,300	Images are free.
Inmagine	JPG	3,500,000	Prices range from $29-$870 on average.
FreeFoto	JPG	127,000	Images are free. A link back to the site is required.
BigFoto	JPG	N/A	Images are free.
Photocase	JPG	N/A	Download Credit Packages: 16 downloadcredits-$25, 40 downloadcredits-$50 or 80 downloadcredits-$90. Subscription plans available include 6 credits daily for $99 per month or 16 credits daily for $199 per month.
Geek Philosopher	JPG	N/A	Images are free.
Matton Images	JPG, Video, Audio, Music, Maps, Typography, Clipart	1,500,000	Subscriptions are available for 3 months, 6 months and 12 months from $360-$1,189.

Photo Licensing

Photography is often quickly bought and sold in several different ways with various licensing agreements. It is important to understand the copyright on the image you are using or purchasing as to not violate the law. More often than not, simply finding an image off the internet, whether through a search engine or a website, and using it is in violation of its intended use and can result in a lawsuit and severe penalties. Some of the most common licenses used are Rights Managed or Royalty-free. The value of a Rights Managed image, or sometimes called “licensed images” or “RM”, is determined by the use of the image. This includes the intended use of the image, duration it will be displayed, country it will be used in, size and exclusivity. Royalty-free stock photography, commonly referred to “RF”, offers a photo buyer the ability to use an image in an unlimited number of ways for a single license fee.

About the author

Jourdan Wilkerson is the Marketing Coordinator at lifeBLUE Media, a top-level Web agency that specializes incustom web design and development as well as search engine marketing.

Aircel boat – brand to the rescue?

Brands love telling consumers their products are lifesavers, but rarely does the claim hold as much water as when Aircel’s Mumbia billboard rescued stranded citizens during India’s monsoon season.

The weather can turn very quickly in India during monsoon season, often with fatal effects. Flash floods have claimed the lives of many in the past. It was this knowledge that prompted Aircel to attach a life-raft to its billboard, with the instructions: in case of an emergency, pull rope.

On July 15^th, flash flooding, as expected, occurred. The Milan Subway beneath Aircel’s billboard became virtually impassable. Six lucky Mumbians, taking advantage of Aircel’s foresight, cut the rope and rowed themselves to safety aboard Aircel’s branded dinghy.

The innovative idea gained major press coverage in India; Aircel was crediting with achieving where the government failed. It now plans to extend the billboard scheme to Delhi and KolKata as well.

In early July they tethered an inflatable dingy (complete with ‘cut rope in emergency’ instruction) to a billboard in an area of central Mumbai notorious for its flooding problems. Within a couple of weeks, it monsooned, the rope was cut and pedestrians were paddled to safety.

But hang on, this wasn’t an impulsive ‘power to the people’ moment, a second glance at the photos shows that blokes with Aircel branded t-shirts were in charge of the whole operation.In one way this is kind of sweet, the brand making sure that their boat was used properly to really help people – and in another way it makes me a bit cynical, with images in my head of a marketing team sat there waiting for the heavens to open so they could dispatch their branded team of helpers – plus of course a photographer to document it all.

Brilliant coverage achieved, but it all feels a little bit too planned and manipulative to really connect with cynical old me – then again I’m not exactly Aircel’s target audience – and I wasn’t the one getting my feet wet.

Aircel Boat - Innovative & Socially Responsible

View more presentations from onlyyourspiyu.

BRAND : Aircel

BRAND OWNER: Maxis communications

CATEGORY: Telecoms/ Mobile

REGION: India

DATE: Jul 2009

MEDIA OWNER: Primesite

MEDIA CHANNEL

Dentyne Make Face Time

Cadbury is linking Dentyne gum with making “face time”, encouraging internet users to allocate time to be with friends, face to face. The advertising campaign, launched in 2008, includes a television commercial, a series of print advertisements, and an interactive site (makefacetime.dentyne.ca) which can only be accessed for three minutes at a time.

Power down. log off. Unplug. Have mercy on your thumbs. Browse the world wide something else. Send some not-so-instant-messages. Undo/hit cancel. Be together. Make face time.

The Original Voicemail (power down, pucker up, make face time). The Original Instant Message (hang up, listen close, make face time).

Friend Request Accepted (close browser, open arms, make facetime). Send and Receive (log off, latch on, make face time.)

Click on the image below to play the video in YouTube (HD)

Credits

The Dentyne Make Face Time campaign was developed at McCann Erickson by agency executive producer Toni Lipari, executive creative director Craig Markus, associate creative director/art director Tracey Smith, copywriter Don Wilhelmi.

Filming was shot by directors Arni & Kinski via Awhitelabelproduct with executive producers Annique Decaestecker and Ellen Jacobson-Clarke, line producer Amanda Clark, director of photography Darius Khondji.

Editors were Holle Singer at Consulate Editorial, Post/Visual Effects Artists/Online Editor Sarah Mackinney (Titles), and online editor Michael Dwass. Colorist was Tim Masick at Company 3, New York.

Sound and music were designed and mixed by Steve Rosen at Howard Schwartz Recording, New York. Music is “Summer Day” by Coconut Records, an indie pop solo project from Los Angeles, California featuring actor Jason Schwartzman. Jason’s debut album, Nighttiming, was released on Young Baby Records in 2007. The album had musical contributions from members of Incubus, as well as guest appearances by Zooey Deschanel from the band She & Him, and actress Kirsten Dunst.

The 65 Most Annoying things about the Web Today

Using the Web can still be a very annoying experience!

Poor Design

1. Illegible text. I can’t read that, it’s too small. And what on earth is that font called?
2. Busy backgrounds. Oh MySpace, why do you allow users to create profiles like that? My eyes hurt.
3. Obscure links. I’m confused, can I click on that or not? Oh I get it, you don’t want me to view other pages.
4. Flyouts that are too large. Holy crap Yahoo! This is a page within a flyout!
5. Drop-down menu navigation too many levels deep. OK, if I slowly move my mouse this way first… dammit Jim, I’m a doctor not a magician!
6. Complicated navigation. I just want to get to that page, the one over there! Oh I see, you want me to complete the maze first.
7. Abused centerpieces. Aren’t centerpieces supposed to serve as mechanisms for promotion, rather than areas to cram an entire page’s worth of content into itself? Call me an idealist, I guess.
8. Poor navigation labels. Give me a clue and use labels that make sense!
9. Clutter & chaos. With no emphasis or information hierarchy, it’s difficult for me to know what to look at, and what to do next.
10. Ugly WAPs. Many companies treat their WAP sites like a deformed step-child they keep in the basement.
11. Splash screens. Nice, a road block between your user and your home page.

Unfindable Information

1. Dysfunctional site search. (Sigh) Why didn’t this site just use Google?
2. Too many blog categories. Isn’t this what tags were meant for?
3. Contact info. I just want to speak to them on the phone! And when I say “them” i mean a human.
4. Invisible sign in. OK, so I registered, but how do I sign in?
5. Hidden account closure. I guess I’m a member for life now?
6. Unscannable info. I want to quickly know if this article is relevant. But alas, huge paragraphs, long headlines and no subheadings make for an unscannable chunk of data, and an indigestible piece of gristle.

No Content Strategy

1. No focus. Yada, yada, yada. Get to the point, what’s your message and what do you offer?
2. Spelling & grammar. Spelling mistakes are hard to forgive and really hurt credibility.
3. Ineffective product pages: What am I buying? Why should I buy this? Help me understand, and I’ll move down the purchase funnel!
4. Outdated. There’s nothing more thrilling than seeing a blog frozen in time. At some point, a landfill for websites is going to be needed.
5. Small photos. Why would I buy something I cannot see?

Auto-Behavior

1. Auto-playing home page video. Take note ESPN.com: the first thing I do when coming to your site is scramble to find the video pause button. And that’s when I’m surfing from home.
2. Auto browser resizing. And you did that because?
3. Customer service nags. Ironic really. Chat pop-ups appear like genies out of a lamp when I don’t need them.
4. Theme tunes. Got to love that auto-play music, especially when it cycles over and over and over, and over.
5. Auto opt-ins. It seems like an automatic opt-in is a contradiction in terms to me. No I don’t want your newsletter, and if I did, I’d opt-in.

Evil Forms

1. Unreadable captchas. Pure Evil. If I had a brick, why I would…
2. Too many fields. This is utterly exhausting. Oh forget it, I’m going to abandon this form.
3. Cryptic error messaging. OK, so I made a mistake. If you used English, I might be able to fix it.
4. No confirmation. Was I successful or not? I’m looking for anything here, a “thank-you”, a “job well done”, a “good boy”… anything that confirms the form was indeed a submitted form.
5. Too many constraints. I want to add my Canadian zip code, but you’re validating against the US format only!
6. Too small fields. How I’m supposed to enter my street address in that state-sized field?
7. The reset button. Do we really need this? I especially love it when I accidentally press “reset” instead of “submit”. It’s especially satisfying when it’s a long form.

Intrusive Advertising

1. Pop-ups. And that includes those fancy, flashy, moving, hard-to-close ones. Are you serious? This is 2009.
2. Interstitials. Thanks for adding another click and creating a barrier between me and your content! Give me a reason to leave, I dare you.
3. Flyouts via links in content. Oh darn, I didn’t know that was an ad! Thanks for punishing me.
4. Too may Google ads. I know there’s some content around here….
5. Long video pre-rolls. Is this ad ever going to end? Hang on; I forgot what video I clicked on.
6. The bus stop. Home pages that resemble bus stops — flyers, posters, graffiti all shouting at me. Sometimes, I swear I can even smell urine.

Accounts

1. Remembering user names and passwords. Seriously, how many do I need to keep track of? Just give me Facebook connect already!
2. Being forced to register for purchases. I just want to buy it, OK? Forget it, I’m going elsewhere.
3. Forced password reset. I just want to know my password! The one I chose but have forgotten. I know you know.
4. Getting locked out. I get the three-attempts-and-you’re-out idea, but it would be nice to know the rules before hand!
5. Password sent by “snail mail”. I’m not sure whether to laugh or cry. Should I expect a scroll to be delivered and read by a messenger?

Abuse

1. Spam. We still cannot cure this disease?
2. Viruses. If I was a conspiracy theorist, I’d say the anti-virus companies were creating these. You know, supply and demand and all.
3. Phishing. Particularly sneaky; and definitely a step beyond annoying.
4. Trolls on messageboards/blogs. Oh well, that’s life I guess – art imitating life and all.
5. Fake profiles. Am I following the real Steven Hawking on Twitter? It says here he went bowling last night.
6. Facebook app invitations. For the thousandth time, no I do not want to play Mob Wars, and no I don’t want a “pet in an egg” either.

Technology

1. Explorer 6. I speak for all developers here, if there’s a plug attached, please pull it. RIP Explorer 6.
2. Plug-ins. Not only do I have to download another plug-in, I have to keep these things current!
3. Entire sites built in flash. I don’t get it, why?
4. PDF overuse. Why couldn’t this PDF just be a web page?
5. Dell’s Netbook trackpad. Designed to be web browsing device, Dell’s Mini 10 trackpad has a trillion bells and whistles, but cannot fulfill basic tasks like moving the cursor from point A to point B without going to C first.
6. Small netbook screens. While mobile devices have optimized views for their screens, Netbooks and their 9 and 10 inch screens are caught in a weird place.
7. Inconsistent colors. Optimizing colors and contrast across both Macs and PCs is a designers nightmare.
8. Charging for Wi-Fi. Provide it free of charge, and the patrons will come!

Waiting

1. Slow page load. OK that’s it, I’ve been patient and their 3 seconds are up.
2. Comment approval. I thought, I articulated, I commented, I waited. Nothing. That will teach me to contribute.
3. Black-hole between ordering and shipping. I took me 5 minutes to order this laptop, why isn’t it getting shipped? Should I place my order again? Should I cancel this order? What’s the order status?
4. Twitter is down again. I’m starting to think this is a feature. One akin to a long line outside a trendy night club.
5. Customer service. Since I cannot get a human on the phone, a 24 hour response time to my e-mail is not acceptable. Well look at that, I guess you just quantified the value of my business.
6. Submission timers. I saw this really great article! I know, I’ll post it on Reddit. And there’s another one, I’ll post that on Reddit too. What, I have to wait 10 minutes to post another article? That will teach me to contribute.