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Why do Chinese websites look so busy?

econsultancy.com

1–10 of 59 posts

Re: Why do Chinese websites look so busy?

#3

Why are western websites so empty?

Good point. The current trend in web site design is You Will Begin Our Onboarding Process Now Or Else. YC companies are notable for this, with sites with little info and a huge "Sign up" box. (Often, this is because the product/service isn't shipping yet, so they're just building a mailing list.)

Re: Why do Chinese websites look so busy?

#6
> "One is that it is difficult to type Chinese characters on an alphabet-based keyboard, so instead of using search they prefer to click links."

For what it's worth, Chinese typically do the type using the alphabet -> character input methods (not the hand-drawn). These methods typically are smart about knowing which characters to select, especially when you type long strings of text and you usually only have to click the space button to convert them. It really isn't a huge and I feel almost zero slowdown when typing in Chinese. In fact, I feel like it's less typing than in English because of how verbose it is.

Re: Why do Chinese websites look so busy?

#8

Why are western websites so empty?

Nothing worse than a website that's a cluttered mess. I'm no designer but I think a minimalist design with negative (empty) space gives things a more modern, neat and clean look and makes the content easier to read/see (that's why I'm there in the 1st place).

Re: Why do Chinese websites look so busy?

#9
Doesn't anyone know a Chinese/Japanese webdesigner? This question gets asked a lot and it is always answered by westerners who are second guessing.

Where are the design theories from the east? What is the "3 click" rule for eastern websites? What are eastern design students told instead of "use plenty of white space" and "keep it simple and focused"?

Re: Why do Chinese websites look so busy?

#10
This article misses the point completely, that these Chinese sites are simply modeled after 90s and 2000s web sites. Go and look at way back machine and see the resemblance. This is coming from a UX/UI designer and developer who has lived in both countries and speaks both languages. To say that Chinese characters are inherently conducive to cluttering the page is straight up just a joke, it's actually the opposite. Chinese characters take up less space.
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