The red letter creep

All website developers have their pet peeves.  Mine is what I call "the red letter creep"   You'll recognize a site that has this disease because it's full of glaring instructions for the site visitor who just doesn't get it. 

I'm a big advocate for making a site as easy to use as possible but there is a line between ease of use and trying to make sure no one contacts support.  The latter will never happen (unless your site is dead :-)  There will always be people who just don't see the Submit button or can't grasp the concept that you have to click on  a word to download a file.  

Catering to this group ruins the experience for the rest of your visitors.  Suddenly the website evolves from a nice, clean experience for most users to a website designed for the person who was distracted that day or simply can't grasp how the Web works.     Just keep in mind, the more words you add to a site, the more likely it is that people will ignore some of them.  With that thought, I'll stop writing!