How much is too much?

I don't think there's such a thing as "too much content", generally. Given parameters like target audience, purpose of the site, and technical constraints like bandwidth and filesize, yes, it may be possible to have too much content. Related to this is bad copy, where you might have too much text for very little or trivial information. But if you mean content in the same sense as in the question, "how much content should any given web site have?", then I don't believe it's possible to have too much. So it varies depending on the unique features of each web site project.

As far as overdoing the gimmicks and flashy bits goes, yes, it's very possible to go too far. And as you no doubt know, a heck of a lot of people do. Flash intros, splash pages (even multiple!), pop-ups, and forcing client configuration and software, they're all as common now as ever they were. Check out Vincent Flanders' Web Pages That Suck for a catalogue of such sites, with commentary and analysis.

I disagree with Abhishek on the I don't think there's such a thing as "too much content" Some blogs and/or things like phpnuke etc are good examples of too much.
These scripts have so many add-ons, clocks, calendars, shout boxes, who's online, latest, newest, members, birthdays, links ... and a lot of newbies tend to go with the "because I can", until they learn the rest of the sentence "doesn't mean I should".

Think back to when you first discovered web pages, what did you want - everything.

The mind of a newbie:
guestbooks, forums, message boards, got those three, no harm in adding a shout box ... Oh that cute little doggy is so cute running across the screen, oh and those blinking eyes look cool. Ohhh I need some of those animated line breaks. cursor trail? ohh can i have bubbles or fairy dust ... rainbow text, yes please, can I also have it in different sizes ... frames are cool, then my animated kewpie doll will always show the hits I'm getting. if I put some of the crappy text in an iframe I can have all my 101 cool animated gifs showing all the time. you mean I can have text scrolling across the page, a marquee? cool I want 3 of them. Can I say hi to my grandma while I'm here, I love her dearly but she will never see my site but i wanted to say hi anyway. Hey that sites cool I'm going to copy all of the content and put on my page, hmm another iframe or another frameset? I know I'll make another site and use more cool stuff I've collected... I can make money with my site? ohh affiliate links, okI have no idea what all theselinks do but they should make me rich, is 340 enough you think ? I LOVE FREEWARE

mind of experienced newbie:
Ok got the text spell checked and grammer checked, valid XHTML and CSS with live RSS feeds working, what am I missing ?? Doh forgot the logo, one image enough? ok will add some icons beside the text links, ohh total load size 10kb, maybe I should just stick with the logo.

[disclaimer] the above is a slight exaggeration - but most does happen [/disclaimer]
No brain cells were harmed in the writing of this muhahahaha

I don't think you're actually disagreeing. The scenario you describe is one where the parameters or goals of the site are not defined. It's hard to say whether anything's really appropriate. I've falled into that trap often -- putting stuff on a site for the sake of having it. "Do I really need this?"

I wonder if the extra scripts and features loaded with PHPNuke, etc can even be called "content". They're all generic, so at the very least, they are unoriginal content.

What I had in mind originally was the situation where a person decides to leave out essential information for fear of being too expansive with the site (not just text copy). I've seen this happen before, where people don't want to put up relevant photos, or appropriate labels for links, etc. Strange but true.

I'm not sure what sumeiko meant by "too much content"...

Web vs Direct Mail
'How much is too much' in web design is like asking 'how much is too much' in print design. That depends on what you're selling. Look at the slick neighborhood ads that cram your mailbox. If you are selling cheep Star Trek check-blanks, you need to get your message out to as many folks as possible, obviously. What turns-off you or me may attract enough folks to make the ad worth while.

Also, I have watched folks in the break room at work poor-over the tiny print in the back of Photography magazines to read every camera listing. These folks know what they want, and oddly enough a photograph isn't selling it to them.

On the other-hand compare the mailings you might receive form an insurance company or health clinic, the advertising style couldn't be more different. You might not be aware of the texture of the paper or why you feel secure and nostalgic. But ultimately the advert will give you an impression of professionalism which is all too often ignored in internet design.

Design by Committee
Much of corporate internet design has been design-by-committee. Every department is encouraged to put in their two bits. Imagine a site as if it were the front page of the Times, with each department head vying for the headline and the sales department insisting that they get the lead story. This is what the three column design seems to have done to internet design. The columns become depositories for everybody's pet project. Most visitors ignore or are turned-off by the mass of useless data.

If you are promoting any kind of service, even roofing or house cleaning, go for a professional approach. If you are selling direct-from-the-warehouse knickknacks, then load your page with as much stuff as possible.

Here's what I like to see in a site:

1) At first glance, the design should inform me of what kind of site it is.
--- It should "look" like the product: Professional, Service, Retail, Personal, Lifestyle/Art, or non-profit.

2) You need to have a Dominant Element:
--- It should be dominant. I know that sounds crazy, but, don't shrink your banner so you can squeeze in more useless data below it.
--- It should identify not sell.

3) Navigation: should be obvious, and simple.
---Navigate from the general to the definite.

4) Forego what you want me to read and focus on what I want to read.
---This is the hardest for most folks to realize, that's why they hire designers.

5) Therefore avoid the 3 column lay out
---unless you are selling junk. Even then it mostly should be avoided.

6) Use the 5 most important items of information on your site.
---That's all you need on your home page or wrapper.

Here's one of my least favorite sites.

Holy crap, how is someone supposed to read all that?

Headings

Break the content into sensible chunks and USE HEADINGS to help the user find the salient points in your article.

Edit Yourself

Be concise. Spellcheck. Be alert for homonym errors! They make you look like a moron.

Content is vital

But see above, be concise. Drowning the user in crap writing isn't going to do you any favours.

If you emphasize everything, you emphasize nothing

Also, if you emphasize nothing, you, well, emphasize nothing. Use good typography and headings to help the user find the information quickly and comprehend what s/he is reading!

(All of the above would be nice if you applied them to lengthy forum postings as well.)

Suzanne,
Thank you for noting my errors. I did cut my post down by a third and added bold and italic.
I am a poor speller, but normally more concise in my writing. I wrote that while waiting for a phone call that never came. I guess it does ramble. It won't happen again.
Ooops -gotta go, I think my pop-corn is burning.

What I meant by "too much content" was that some Web designers, as others have said, tend to place unnecessary addon content such as shout boxes and advertising to their Web sites which makes the page look too full.

I think the question is to wide.

Every group of sites have different limits, example kids sites, blogs/personal, business, forums, hobby ...
What is ok for some isn't for others.
Suzanne's post is correct in all groups/sections thou - she must hate my work, I think I failed all sections

To me too much is when the user's experience degrades by the addition of unnecessary extras.

For example ... the worst that I've seen is a site that had a 5 - 10 second flash movie play before the login screen was displayed which was also in flash. Everytime I wanted to log into the site I had to watch this thing!

Admittedly it was a cool sight at first but after the 3rd or 4th viewing all that I really wanted to do was log in. Things like this I would classify as being too much.

- sybru

The thing that came to mind when I read this is hosting companies. They seem to be particularly bad about throwing everything at the front page. There's so much competition in that industry it seems like they're all trying to go over the top to outdo each other. So it's not just newbies who do this.

Example: http://www.hostrocket.com/

I've always believed in the "less is more" concept, but on the other hand, sometimes it's helpful to put more on the front page. Here's a good article by Cameron Moll that explains more about that:

http://www.sitepoint.com/article/great-homepages-really-suck