Become that respected source. Seriously: if your clients are showing reluctance to take your advice directly, compose documents that illustrate good and bad user interface design and publish it on your website. You gain three things from this:
You become more knowledgeable about the why of bad and good design. Having to think through something to compose it into a document is more helpful than many give it credit for.
If this is publicly published, you probably will get feedback about your ideas. Throw away the bad suggestions and integrate the good, and you become better at your craft.
You have the source for these discussions in a presentable format, yet you retain all your personal branding. If you include examples and demos of the good and bad, most people can see why you advocate for your ideas.
EDIT: epotter is dead on as far as the "buck stops here" aspect of interacting with a client. If your documents can show why irritating a user is a loss of revenue in the long run, it is unlikely you will have much push-back. On the other hand, if your personal preferences includes UI designs that don't help with retention... stop doing that. (I recall the days of "CSS Only, No Tables" designers before CSS had matured: they insisted on forcing their designs on clients, even though in some browsers they didn't render well. While a cause is admirable, you work for the client not a cause.)
Always try and show them how it will cost them money. For example, if they are going to do something that annoys the user, they will have less traffic which will lead to less revenue.
For better or worse, dollars always speak the loudest.
Instead, understand the need they are trying to fill, then suggest alternatives that don't include the bad behavior. Mock all the alternatives up and point out the good and bad of each one. Let them choose. As long as you have a good alternative, and sufficiently pointed out the faults of the bad implementation, then they generally come around to your point of view.
In other words, act like a designer. When a customer says, "I want green text on a red background," you don't immediately tell them that 10% of the world's males cannot read that, you first need to understand why. "Well, it's Christmas," then you can suggest alternate themes to give the site a festive feel without the design error. As long as the mockups you suggest are better than theirs then they will generally acquiesce.
Not because they made an error, but because you saw their real need and improved on their idea.
If they're adamant after that, though, do the work - don't spend your time trying to convince them the error of their design sense, it's a waste of resources.
Educate them over the long term, but if it takes you an hour to convince them not to make a change, that's one hour you could have spent improving your relationship with customers who treat you as designers rather than web-monkeys.
I've had to play a semi-sales role at time with web projects and I have to stress how important it is to keep the customer happy.
Nevertheless, I completely agree with you that you are obligated to say something in the name of giving them what they want. I always found that the best approach is to start by agreeing with them (in principal at least). You could say,
"I completely agree with you that this text is very important to your users. Many testers that I've worked with have strongly preferred using this font/graphic/color to call out critical text. Unfortunately, some users associate flashing text with ads and avoid it"
I find that this approach lets them know that you
Understand what they want
Appreciate their motivations and suggestions
Only want to help
One last word of advice, if after the gentle nudging, they don't get the point, consider doing two quick mock-ups. (their idea and yours). If that doesn't work, then just give them what they want. In the end, they pays the bills and if they really want an ugly site (assuming you can't afford to turn away business on aesthetic grounds) just give them the site.
Jakob Nielsen's Alertbox has been an invaluable source of common-sense usability advice for me for many years. Here's something he wrote way back in 1996 that still applies today:
The BACK feature is an absolutely essential safety net that gives users the confidence to navigate freely in the knowledge that they can always get back to firm ground. We have known from some of the earliest studies of user navigation behaviorthat BACK is the second-most used navigation feature in Web browsers (after the simple "click on a link to follow it" action). Thus, breaking the BACK button is no less than a usability catastrophe.
The Back button is the lifeline of the Web user and the second-most used navigation feature (after following hypertext links). Users happily know that they can try anything on the Web and always be saved by a click or two on Back to return them to familiar territory.
Except, of course, for those sites that break Back by committing one of these design sins:
opening a new browser window (see mistake #2)
using an immediate redirect: every time the user clicks Back, the browser returns to a page that bounces the user forward to the undesired location
prevents caching such that the Back navigation requires a fresh trip to the server; all hypertext navigation should be sub-second and this goes double for backtracking
Opening New Browser Windows
Opening up new browser windows is like a vacuum cleaner sales person who starts a visit by emptying an ash tray on the customer's carpet. Don't pollute my screen with any more windows, thanks (particularly since current operating systems have miserable window management). If I want a new window, I will open it myself!
Designers open new browser windows on the theory that it keeps users on their site. But even disregarding the user-hostile message implied in taking over the user's machine, the strategy is self-defeating since it disables the Back button which is the normal way users return to previous sites. Users often don't notice that a new window has opened, especially if they are using a small monitor where the windows are maximized to fill up the screen. So a user who tries to return to the origin will be confused by a grayed out Back button.
These aren't crazy newfangled ideas, they're decade-old guidelines based on hard research. You'd need a really, really, really good excuse to repeat a decade-old mistake.
If you show them the examples, and instead of being awed by the suckyness and changing their minds, the clients say, "Yeah! That's exactly what I want!", then make them sign a nondisclosure contract saying they'll never tell anyone who designed their web site. :)
You have to explain "why". It's not enough to tell them something is "wrong" (and in these cases, it's not so much "wrong" as it is a "bad idea")
Most people respond well to logic and reason. If you can make a reasoned argument for why doing something a certain way is a bad idea, they'll usually bow down to your experience and knowledge.
useit.com is an excellent resource for usability arguments
but you're probably wasting your time. Either do it their way ("the customer is always right") or walk away - arguing is unlikely to improve the situation unless you can demonstrate a significant monetary gain from not doing it their way, which you probably cannot do given the issues you listed.
if your name will be on the site, i'd politely walk away
Show them some articles on sites like http://useit.com which has some empirical studies on how adherence to web standard practices increases usability and so therefore user satisfaction and so therefore profit.
Ask them what results they're after. "Have all links open in a new window" is a statement of solution. Solutions are your job, the client's job is to state objectives.
Start with this: "Oh, you'd like links to open in a new window. Tell me more about why you want that - I'd like to explore with you whether there are alternate ways of getting the same results."
Perhaps continue with this: "Also, I might point your attention to other consequences of opening all links in a new window - consequences you might not have considered, and which perhaps you wouldn't like."
At the simplest, try to explain them each of it in a user understandable manner. e.g. Blinking text is an old style thing not supported by all browsers Not sure why "back" can be a problem. But put your viewpoint.
It's always convincing if you demonstrate to the user that his design is unconventional or wrong by showing a list of very well known websites that he would "respect" and pointing out how they don't do X. Your customer will probably want his site to be like the big players' web sites.
If he still insists that his weird design makes sense you could say: "yes, I agree that sounds like a good idea in theory, but the fact is that users are simply unaccustomed to X and would walk away from your website if it diverges too widely from the standard way of doing things".
You can lead a horse to water, but you can't make it drink.
With customers (of any type), the best you can do is inform them of their choices, and why they are not the best ones and then leave it. If it's really bad, require sign-off stating that they find that design acceptable. Do you want to be 'right' or do you want to get something into the customer's hands that works?
If it completely impedes a working solution, then (and only then) should you stand on principle, but beware you have very few (if any) of these 'stands', so use them wisely. Be prepared to walk away.
Unless there is a compelling business case NOT to do it (and I'm not sure this is the case with any of your examples) then if the customer is adamant DO IT! They are paying for it after all. They can always find someone else who will do it if you won't!
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成为那个受人尊敬的来源。 说真的：如果您的客户不愿意直接接受您的建议，请撰写说明好的和坏的用户界面设计的文档并将其发布在您的网站上。 您从中获得三件事：
您变得更加了解为什么好的设计和不好的设计。 必须经过深思熟虑才能将其撰写成文档，这比许多人认为的更有帮助。
如果公开发布，您可能会得到有关您的想法的反馈。 扔掉不好的建议并整合好的建议，你的手艺就会变得更好。
您拥有这些讨论的可呈现格式的来源，但您保留了所有的个人品牌。 如果您包含好与坏的示例和演示，大多数人都能明白您为何主张自己的想法。
编辑：epotter 在与客户交互的“责任到此为止”方面是完全正确的。 如果您的文档能够说明为什么从长远来看激怒用户会造成收入损失，那么您就不太可能遇到太多阻力。 另一方面，如果您的个人偏好包括无有助于保留的 UI 设计...请停止这样做。 （我记得在 CSS 成熟之前，“只有 CSS，没有表格”设计师的日子：他们坚持将自己的设计强加于客户端，尽管在某些浏览器中它们的渲染效果不佳。虽然事业令人钦佩，但你为的是客户不是原因。）
Become that respected source. Seriously: if your clients are showing reluctance to take your advice directly, compose documents that illustrate good and bad user interface design and publish it on your website. You gain three things from this:
You become more knowledgeable about the why of bad and good design. Having to think through something to compose it into a document is more helpful than many give it credit for.
If this is publicly published, you probably will get feedback about your ideas. Throw away the bad suggestions and integrate the good, and you become better at your craft.
You have the source for these discussions in a presentable format, yet you retain all your personal branding. If you include examples and demos of the good and bad, most people can see why you advocate for your ideas.
EDIT: epotter is dead on as far as the "buck stops here" aspect of interacting with a client. If your documents can show why irritating a user is a loss of revenue in the long run, it is unlikely you will have much push-back. On the other hand, if your personal preferences includes UI designs that don't help with retention... stop doing that. (I recall the days of "CSS Only, No Tables" designers before CSS had matured: they insisted on forcing their designs on clients, even though in some browsers they didn't render well. While a cause is admirable, you work for the client not a cause.)
始终尝试向他们展示这将如何花费他们的钱。 例如，如果他们要做一些惹恼用户的事情，他们的流量就会减少，从而导致收入减少。
无论好坏，美元总是最有发言权的。
Always try and show them how it will cost them money. For example, if they are going to do something that annoys the user, they will have less traffic which will lead to less revenue.
For better or worse, dollars always speak the loudest.
首先，不要告诉他们这是错误的。
他们可能会认为这是针对个人的。
相反，了解他们试图满足的需求，然后提出不包括不良行为的替代方案。 模拟所有的选择，并指出每一种的优点和缺点。 让他们选择。 只要你有一个好的替代方案，并充分指出实施不当的错误，那么他们通常会接受你的观点。
换句话说，像设计师一样行事。 当客户说“我想要红色背景上的绿色文本”时，您不会立即告诉他们世界上 10% 的男性无法阅读该内容，您首先需要了解原因。 “嗯，今天是圣诞节”，那么您可以建议替代主题，为网站带来节日气氛，而不会出现设计错误。 只要你建议的模型比他们的好，他们一般都会默许。
不是因为他们犯了错误，而是因为您看到了他们的真正需求并改进了他们的想法。
不过，如果他们在那之后坚持不懈，那就去做吧 - 不要这样做不要花时间试图让他们相信他们的设计理念是错误的，这是浪费资源。
对他们进行长期教育，但如果你花了一个小时说服他们不要做出改变，那么你本可以花一个小时来改善与客户的关系，他们将你视为设计师而不是网络猴子。< /em> -
亚当
First, don't tell them it's wrong.
They may take it personally.
Instead, understand the need they are trying to fill, then suggest alternatives that don't include the bad behavior. Mock all the alternatives up and point out the good and bad of each one. Let them choose. As long as you have a good alternative, and sufficiently pointed out the faults of the bad implementation, then they generally come around to your point of view.
In other words, act like a designer. When a customer says, "I want green text on a red background," you don't immediately tell them that 10% of the world's males cannot read that, you first need to understand why. "Well, it's Christmas," then you can suggest alternate themes to give the site a festive feel without the design error. As long as the mockups you suggest are better than theirs then they will generally acquiesce.
Not because they made an error, but because you saw their real need and improved on their idea.
If they're adamant after that, though, do the work - don't spend your time trying to convince them the error of their design sense, it's a waste of resources.
Educate them over the long term, but if it takes you an hour to convince them not to make a change, that's one hour you could have spent improving your relationship with customers who treat you as designers rather than web-monkeys.
-Adam
我有时不得不在网络项目中扮演半销售角色，并且我必须强调让客户满意是多么重要。
尽管如此，我完全同意你的观点，你有义务以给他们想要的东西的名义说些什么。 我总是发现最好的方法是从同意他们的观点开始（至少在原则上）。 你可以说，
我发现这种方法让他们知道你
最后一句话建议，如果在温和的推动后，他们不明白要点，请考虑做两个（他们的想法和你的想法），然后就给他们他们想要的。最后，如果他们真的想要一个丑陋的网站（假设你买不起）。以美观为由拒绝生意）只要给他们网站
祝你好运并深呼吸！
I've had to play a semi-sales role at time with web projects and I have to stress how important it is to keep the customer happy.
Nevertheless, I completely agree with you that you are obligated to say something in the name of giving them what they want. I always found that the best approach is to start by agreeing with them (in principal at least). You could say,
I find that this approach lets them know that you
One last word of advice, if after the gentle nudging, they don't get the point, consider doing two quick mock-ups. (their idea and yours). If that doesn't work, then just give them what they want. In the end, they pays the bills and if they really want an ugly site (assuming you can't afford to turn away business on aesthetic grounds) just give them the site.
Good luck and take deep breaths!
多年来，Jakob Nielsen 的 Alertbox 一直是我的常识性可用性建议的宝贵来源。 这是他在 1996 年写的内容，至今仍然适用：
以下是他的1999 年十大网页设计错误的前两个：
这些并不是疯狂的新奇想法，它们是基于艰苦研究的十年前的指导方针。 你需要一个非常非常好的借口来重复十年前的错误。
Jakob Nielsen's Alertbox has been an invaluable source of common-sense usability advice for me for many years. Here's something he wrote way back in 1996 that still applies today:
And here are the first two of his Top Ten Web Design Mistakes of 1999:
These aren't crazy newfangled ideas, they're decade-old guidelines based on hard research. You'd need a really, really, really good excuse to repeat a decade-old mistake.
找到执行此操作的实际页面示例并显示它们。 这是一个找到一些例子的好地方。
如果你向他们展示示例，而不是对这些糟糕的东西感到敬畏客户改变了主意，说：“是的！这正是我想要的！”，然后让他们签署一份保密合同，表示他们永远不会告诉任何设计他们网站的人。 :)
Find examples of actual pages that do this and show them. Here's a good place to find some.
If you show them the examples, and instead of being awed by the suckyness and changing their minds, the clients say, "Yeah! That's exactly what I want!", then make them sign a nondisclosure contract saying they'll never tell anyone who designed their web site. :)
你必须解释“为什么”。 仅仅告诉他们某些事情是“错误的”是不够的（在这些情况下，与其说它是“错误的”，不如说这是一个“坏主意”）
大多数人对逻辑和推理反应良好。 如果你能提出合理的论点来解释为什么以某种方式做某事是一个坏主意，他们通常会屈服于你的经验和知识。
You have to explain "why". It's not enough to tell them something is "wrong" (and in these cases, it's not so much "wrong" as it is a "bad idea")
Most people respond well to logic and reason. If you can make a reasoned argument for why doing something a certain way is a bad idea, they'll usually bow down to your experience and knowledge.
useit.com 是可用性论证的绝佳资源
，但您可能在浪费时间。 要么按他们的方式行事（“客户永远是对的”），要么走开 - 争论不太可能改善情况除非您能证明不按他们的方式行事会带来巨大的金钱收益，而您可能会这样做鉴于您列出的问题，无法做到这一点。
如果你的名字出现在网站上，我会礼貌地走开
useit.com is an excellent resource for usability arguments
but you're probably wasting your time. Either do it their way ("the customer is always right") or walk away - arguing is unlikely to improve the situation unless you can demonstrate a significant monetary gain from not doing it their way, which you probably cannot do given the issues you listed.
if your name will be on the site, i'd politely walk away
向他们展示 http://useit.com 等网站上的一些文章，其中有一些关于如何遵守网络标准实践的实证研究提高可用性，从而提高用户满意度，从而提高利润。
Show them some articles on sites like http://useit.com which has some empirical studies on how adherence to web standard practices increases usability and so therefore user satisfaction and so therefore profit.
询问他们想要什么结果。 “在新窗口中打开所有链接”是解决方案的陈述。 解决方案是您的工作，客户的工作是陈述目标。
以此开始：“哦，您希望在新窗口中打开链接。告诉我更多关于您为什么想要这样做的信息 - 我想与您一起探索是否有其他方法可以获得相同的结果。”
也许继续这样说：“另外，我可能会提醒您注意在新窗口中打开所有链接的其他后果 - 您可能没有考虑到这些后果，而且您可能不喜欢这些后果。”
建议阅读：Dale Emery 的关于抵抗的文章。
Ask them what results they're after. "Have all links open in a new window" is a statement of solution. Solutions are your job, the client's job is to state objectives.
Start with this: "Oh, you'd like links to open in a new window. Tell me more about why you want that - I'd like to explore with you whether there are alternate ways of getting the same results."
Perhaps continue with this: "Also, I might point your attention to other consequences of opening all links in a new window - consequences you might not have considered, and which perhaps you wouldn't like."
Suggested reading: Dale Emery's articles on resistance.
最简单的是，尝试以用户可以理解的方式解释它们。
例如，闪烁文本是一种旧样式，并非所有浏览器都支持
不知道为什么“回来”会成为一个问题。 但提出你的观点。
At the simplest, try to explain them each of it in a user understandable manner.
e.g. Blinking text is an old style thing not supported by all browsers
Not sure why "back" can be a problem. But put your viewpoint.
如果你向用户展示他会“尊重”的知名网站列表，并指出他们如何不做某事，从而向用户证明他的设计是非常规或错误的，那么这总是令人信服的。你的客户可能会希望他的网站这样做就像大型企业的网站一样。
如果他仍然坚持认为他奇怪的设计是有道理的，你可以说：“是的，我同意这在理论上听起来是个好主意，但事实是用户只是不习惯 X，如果它也偏离了你的网站，他们就会离开你的网站与标准的做事方式有很大不同”。
IOW，当其他一切都失败时，请使用恐惧。
It's always convincing if you demonstrate to the user that his design is unconventional or wrong by showing a list of very well known websites that he would "respect" and pointing out how they don't do X. Your customer will probably want his site to be like the big players' web sites.
If he still insists that his weird design makes sense you could say: "yes, I agree that sounds like a good idea in theory, but the fact is that users are simply unaccustomed to X and would walk away from your website if it diverges too widely from the standard way of doing things".
IOW, when all else fails, use fear.
你可以把马牵到水边，但你不能让它喝水。
对于（任何类型的）客户，你能做的最好的事情就是告诉他们他们的选择，以及为什么他们不是他们的选择。最好的，然后离开它。 如果确实很糟糕，则需要签字表明他们认为该设计可以接受。 您想要“正确”还是希望将有效的产品交到客户手中？
如果它完全阻碍了可行的解决方案，那么（并且只有那时）您才应该坚持原则，但要注意，您的这些“立场”很少（如果有的话），因此请明智地使用它们。 准备好走开。
保罗.
You can lead a horse to water, but you can't make it drink.
With customers (of any type), the best you can do is inform them of their choices, and why they are not the best ones and then leave it. If it's really bad, require sign-off stating that they find that design acceptable. Do you want to be 'right' or do you want to get something into the customer's hands that works?
If it completely impedes a working solution, then (and only then) should you stand on principle, but beware you have very few (if any) of these 'stands', so use them wisely. Be prepared to walk away.
Paul.
除非有令人信服的商业案例不这样做（我不确定你的例子是否属于这种情况），那么如果客户坚持这样做！ 毕竟他们正在为此付出代价。 如果您不愿意，他们总能找到其他人来做！
Unless there is a compelling business case NOT to do it (and I'm not sure this is the case with any of your examples) then if the customer is adamant DO IT! They are paying for it after all. They can always find someone else who will do it if you won't!