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W3 gets new Look

w3.org

21–29 of 29 posts

Re: W3 gets new Look

#21
I don't get the point of the drop shadow under the blue square where the w3c logo appears. It breaks the harmony. It bugs me.

Re: W3 gets new Look

#22

The absolute worst web design trend of 2009 is this header background that extends beyond the container and makes it look like the header is on a piece of paper that has been folded around the background. Let me show you what I'm talking about: http://i.imgur.com/yP7CH.png It's a silly and needless ornamentation that wasn't cool or interesting when the first person did it, and became even more worthless and boring wi…

I dont really understand how you could dislike it so much, its a tiny flourish that gives a little visual hierarchy

I guess it's not really the "flourish". (I like that term for it)

What really bothers me is that, on the whole, it feels like the designer put more effort into the flourish than into creating a design that would support and enhance the communication of the content.

It's the (wrong) idea that you can appropriate these stylistic elements that will make a design appear current, cool, or 'with it' - and that somehow adding in what all the old-timers would call "bells and whistles" is a worthy trade-off for the practice of good design.

Re: W3 gets new Look

#23

The absolute worst web design trend of 2009 is this header background that extends beyond the container and makes it look like the header is on a piece of paper that has been folded around the background. Let me show you what I'm talking about: http://i.imgur.com/yP7CH.png It's a silly and needless ornamentation that wasn't cool or interesting when the first person did it, and became even more worthless and boring wi…

I dont really understand how you could dislike it so much, its a tiny flourish that gives a little visual hierarchy

What's the hierarchy that it establishes that the large type, all-caps, and oddly-spaced embossed icon didn't already establish?

Re: W3 gets new Look

#24
post #15
post #12

They're using PHP and Smarty, from looking at comments in the source code. I find it highly ironic that the people in charge of web standards and consistency use the programming language with least consistent syntax.

Does consistency in programming language somehow automatically translate to consistency in output?

No. What I find ironic is the cultural mismatch. PHP seems an unlikely language for technological idealists.

Re: W3 gets new Look

#25
I'm tempted to say that index.html should be an index. You know 1994-style blue links in 's in a nice hierarchy and nothing else. The old site used to be like that, deep linking from the front page to the specs etc. and a newsfeed in the middle. For some reason, I hate this new design. Maybe it's just "We fear change!"

Re: W3 gets new Look

#26

The absolute worst web design trend of 2009 is this header background that extends beyond the container and makes it look like the header is on a piece of paper that has been folded around the background. Let me show you what I'm talking about: http://i.imgur.com/yP7CH.png It's a silly and needless ornamentation that wasn't cool or interesting when the first person did it, and became even more worthless and boring wi…

I like this "effect" a lot. I actually didn't notice it until you pointed it out, but now that I've seen it, I'm glad it's there.

The thing with aesthetics is that everyone has different preferences. Presumably the designer of this site liked it. He/she is not the only one.

Re: W3 gets new Look

#27
post #24
post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Does consistency in programming language somehow automatically translate to consistency in output?

No. What I find ironic is the cultural mismatch. PHP seems an unlikely language for technological idealists.

I don't think they are really idealists - more pragmatic than idealism implies.

Re: W3 gets new Look

#28
post #21

I don't get the point of the drop shadow under the blue square where the w3c logo appears. It breaks the harmony. It bugs me.

Look at the bottom of the page. The footer has the same effect. IMO it's not a drop shadow but is supposed to suggest that the section below is curving smoothly away and back under as if that element was made of a piece of paper that was rolled over the top.

On the whole it looks like they were close to having something great.

Re: W3 gets new Look

#29

The absolute worst web design trend of 2009 is this header background that extends beyond the container and makes it look like the header is on a piece of paper that has been folded around the background. Let me show you what I'm talking about: http://i.imgur.com/yP7CH.png It's a silly and needless ornamentation that wasn't cool or interesting when the first person did it, and became even more worthless and boring wi…

The left menu section is a piece coming up and folding over at the top (the shadow that looks like a drop shadow is a curve into the screen) with the w3c piece being a loop around this?

IMO this effect would have worked on the center content part making it appear to be topmost but doesn't work on the side menu.

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