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All Websites Look the Same

novolume.co.uk

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101–107 of 107 posts

Re: All Websites Look the Same

#101

Post by mninm »

imgabe wrote: post #90
astazangasta wrote: post #83

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 stuf…

Lack of innovation means lack of improvement. Endevoring to do things other than the rote way can lead to a better way.

Re: All Websites Look the Same

#102

Post by pascalmahe »

exodust wrote: post #94
pascalmahe wrote: post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

(Basing my comment on Kathy Sierra's post : Your app makes me fat[1].) The idea is that the user is not on your site to get your ideas about web design but to get specific information. If that info is hard to find, they'll get out and try the next site. Concentrate on making your content memorable rather than your UI. [1] http://seriouspony.com/blog/2013/7/24/your-app-makes-me-fat

I'm arguing that "unfamiliar" does not necessarily mean "hard to find". My iPad for example is not unfamiliar, but I find it annoying to bookmark a site because of how the bookmark button is hidden behind an icon which to me looks like "sharing" (little square with arrow pointing up). Same for searching for text on the page.... it's not intuitive. I have to "think" for too many milliseconds each time just to do those…

> I'm arguing that "unfamiliar" does not necessarily mean "hard to find".

Fair point. :)

> "Interestingness" is what humans get a buzz from and reward each other for all the time, so if I get a dose of interesting too, served just right and not too much, then it's a winner.

I agree with you but, clearly, it's a hard balance to find. Going back to the article, most website owners (and some designers) don't know what that balance is so they take a safe option. It's an understandable choice, they're not experts. I think it's a net win if those non-experts don't experiment but settle on something that's easily readable. It's a step up from the time when everybody was doing their own thing and standards didn't exist.

In short, you're right: a well-designed website is still better than a generic one. But a generic one is better than a mess put together without paying attention to standards.

Re: All Websites Look the Same

#103

Post by phodo »

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.

I agree. It's achieving 'dominant design' and a sign of maturation. Once, there were many designs (many car startups too) for a car steering wheel. At some point, they converged on the idea of a round gizmo, because it balanced utility and design, form and function... And lucky for us, designers moved onto other things.

Re: All Websites Look the Same

#104

Post by mattkevan »

angelofm wrote: post #85
mattkevan wrote: post #79

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Oh come on, it's not that bad - it's not like it set fire to your computer or anything.

It's just an amazing example of what you can do with Flash, and why you shouldn't.

Re: All Websites Look the Same

#105

Post by mattkevan »

shultays wrote: post #95
mattkevan wrote: post #79

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 can't be sure that if this is a joke or not

Not a joke. Here's an actual site they did:

http://industrialpainter.com/

Re: All Websites Look the Same

#106

Post by loco5niner »

kagamine wrote: post #19
mc32 wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's probably dictated to some degree by some aspect of culture. When you visit the websites where another culture dominates, one might find things to be different from what we're used to but similar to others where that other culture dominates the design.

A very good point I think, the web in your language is not always the same as the web in other languages, for example sites like nicovideo.js do tend to be different and carry a lot more information per page than American or European sites.

nicovideo.jp, I assume?

Re: All Websites Look the Same

#107

Post by kagamine »

loco5niner wrote: post #106
kagamine wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A very good point I think, the web in your language is not always the same as the web in other languages, for example sites like nicovideo.js do tend to be different and carry a lot more information per page than American or European sites.

nicovideo.jp, I assume?

An easy mistake to make as s and p are right next to one-another on the qwerty um ... I might not be paying attention.
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