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All Websites Look the Same

novolume.co.uk

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Re: All Websites Look the Same

#81

Post by ObeyTheGuts »

onion2k wrote: post #27
dpcan wrote: post #15

I could not disagree more. Don't fix what isn't broken (anymore). I believe that after years of designing websites, we found something that works, and works well. Consumers land on sites and see something familiar. It makes for a comfortable and easier web. I'm all for this "standard" in web design.

Just like we didn't need to fix the infinite-scrolling-homepage before it, or the top-navigation-with-drop-downs design before that , or the left-side-navigation-fixed-width design before that, or the fluid-width-with-header-and-two-sidebars before that. The current design trend is exactly that - a trend . Something else will replace it in a year or two. The current state-of-the-art full screen background image site…

since 1999 i only do one design, the http://www.slackware.com/ design, its best and forever the best.

Re: All Websites Look the Same

#82

Post by [deleted] »

21echoes wrote: post #4

(Most) all websites should look the same. Most browsers look the same. Most car dashes look the same. Most newspapers look the same. Most books look the same. The web is not art. At least, not most of the time. Websites should only look markedly different with good reason. For most clients, there is not a good reason.

[deleted]

Re: All Websites Look the Same

#83

Post by astazangasta »

wingerlang wrote: post #48
exodust wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> "Most car dashes look the same"... Not sure what cars you've been driving, but search for 'car dash' on google images and bask in the differences. Saying that all websites should look the same might be reasonable when you're talking about one network or brand, but outside of that, creativity should be explored, encouraged and rewarded. Who wants a world with every restaurant, bar, urban design or any design looking…

> Not sure what cars you've been driving, but search for 'car dash' on google images and bask in the differences. They are all minor/semi-major style differences. But in the end they all have a round wheel, some buttons in the middle and some form of RPM+speed meters. Definitely wouldn't say I am basking in differences.

You're describing content, not form. Many websites also have to show the same things (login button => speedometer) but they don't have to look the same.

Re: All Websites Look the Same

#84

Post by websitescenes »

After reading the comments the debate seems to be creativity vs utility. There has to be a balance between the two. Acknowledge what works best now and then adjust when something better comes along.

With that said, specifically in websites, I think utility should come as a first priority. If your doing a band or artist website I can see bumping up the creativity factor though.

Re: All Websites Look the Same

#85

Post by angelofm »

mattkevan wrote: post #79
mreiland wrote: post #59

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I fucking.hated.flash websites. HATED. With a passion. Even when it was being done it was a stupid tech trick from jackass developers, it was never a designer driven thing except as a means of doing layouts that were you couldn't do in html at the time. and it was NEVER about usability. I hated that trend and thank god it didn't last very long specifically BECAUSE it threw the users under the bus.

Most Flash sites were pretty bad (the first site I made was Flash, and it was bad), but it was also used to create possibly the finest website ever made. http://superior-web-solutions.com/ Turn the sound up, and definitely do not skip the intro. It'll bring a tear to your eye.

I enable flash to watch this, I will never get back this 5 minutes of my life, DANGER DO NOT VISIT

One thing is for sure, it brought a tear to my eye.

Re: All Websites Look the Same

#86

Post by FilterSweep »

kagamine wrote: post #22
avodonosov wrote: post #12

It's just one example of fashion in tech. Around ten years ago there was another fashion for web sites - all the panels had rounded corners (and it wasn't supported by CSS, so people created the rounded corners from pieces of images - very unproductive waste of time). Non-tech people, when ordering a web side, often just don't accept things which look different than other web sites they have seen. At that times it wa…

Don't want to nit-pick but, >gray text on web pages (even despite it violates W3C accessibility recommendations), the W3C don't recommend against grey text at all, they recommend that designers consider the contrast of text colour versus background colour, and to not use light grey on white. It's a matter of contrast and not a blanket rule. I do think it is important that we don't start making new silly rules about d…

Great comment, and on that note, WAVE accessibility has a very handy tool to check for your contrast, I've used for almost every website I designed. You can find it here:

http://webaim.org/resources/contrastchecker/

Re: All Websites Look the Same

#87

Post by mcv »

astazangasta wrote: post #83
wingerlang wrote: post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Not sure what cars you've been driving, but search for 'car dash' on google images and bask in the differences. They are all minor/semi-major style differences. But in the end they all have a round wheel, some buttons in the middle and some form of RPM+speed meters. Definitely wouldn't say I am basking in differences.

You're describing content, not form. Many websites also have to show the same things (login button => speedometer) but they don't have to look the same.

It struck me recently that most cars are increasingly looking the same. It used to be that Peugeots had a very typical nose, Volkswagens had their own boring but efficient look, Volvos were kinda blocky. These days I can barely tell the make of a car by looking at the lines, and that's because they all need to perform the same function: transport a similar number of people at similar speed with as low fuel consumption as possible. So they all have basically the same streamlined lines.

Most websites want their navigation to be found, so they put it in the same place as every other website. They want their story easily readable in the center.

There's still plenty of variation, but sites with similar goals are going to end up with a lot of similar elements.

Re: All Websites Look the Same

#88

Post by noir_lord »

cm2187 wrote: post #55

Let's make website like architects make buildings. It's more important to be original than beautiful or functional. Let's put the navigation menus at the bottom of the page and the disclaimer at the top. Let's randomize the order of the links and elements so that every user has a unique and original experience on every visit. In fact why use english? That's so boring. Let's use hieroglyph!

> Let's use hieroglyph!

https://fortawesome.github.io/Font-Awesome/ I get that your comment was a joke (clearly) but there is a nugget of truth in it.

Re: All Websites Look the Same

#89

Post by JustSomeNobody »

Phlow wrote: post #7

I think it's safe to say, at least from my view, that Bootstrap is the reason for it. Bootstrap made this format easy and clean, and it works well with mobile. Websites will look like this until someone comes out with the next thing that's easier and/or cleaner and/or works better in mobile and then a couple years later THAT will be the format you're seeing everywhere. I don't think this is a bad thing. At least it's…

Indeed. However, I always thought the idea of Bootstrap was to quickly get a prototype up, not become part of the final product.

Re: All Websites Look the Same

#90

Post by imgabe »

astazangasta wrote: post #83
wingerlang wrote: post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Not sure what cars you've been driving, but search for 'car dash' on google images and bask in the differences. They are all minor/semi-major style differences. But in the end they all have a round wheel, some buttons in the middle and some form of RPM+speed meters. Definitely wouldn't say I am basking in differences.

You're describing content, not form. Many websites also have to show the same things (login button => speedometer) but they don't have to look the same.

What exactly is the benefit to making things different other than satisfying some designer's need to be "creative"? It's helpful if you can expect login buttons to be in roughly the same place every time, navigation elements to be arranged the same way and point to the same types of places - Home/Products/Support/About/Jobs.

Being different for the sake of being different just wastes people's time trying to find stuff that isn't where they expect it to be.

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