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Why Japanese web design is so different (2013)

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201–210 of 213 posts

Re: Why Japanese web design is so different (2013)

#201
post #69

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Seeing "them" as "behind" is a bad way to think about it and prevents true understanding. So I guess still using Fax Machines to do business in 2020 is not "behind", it's just "different" right? Let's call a cat a cat when we see one.

I suppose you haven't been to a doctors office recently? Fax machines are a staple in every single one.

Since when is business reduced to doctors offices ?

Re: Why Japanese web design is so different (2013)

#202
post #92
post #69

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Seeing "them" as "behind" is a bad way to think about it and prevents true understanding. So I guess still using Fax Machines to do business in 2020 is not "behind", it's just "different" right? Let's call a cat a cat when we see one.

That's irrelevant to their web design.

You are right. Their web design is even worse.

Re: Why Japanese web design is so different (2013)

#203
post #157

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think for 40-something years Japan was held as a futuristic, technologically advanced country in America even after Japan's stagnation and the American consumer tech renaissance of the last 20 years. It's clear to me that people can't accept that America is the most technologically advanced nation on Earth, and has been.

Have you been to Eastern Asia recently? I've just recently travelled from the US to Singapore and I can say the USA is absolutely behind in public infrastructure. Try a crazy modern place like Hong Kong or Shaghai (where I went several years ago, but already had the impression these places are ultramodern compared to US/Europe) and you'll quickly understand what you're saying is incredibly wrong.

Since when is infrastructure the only metric of technological advancement ? Thats only one of the things you can do with money.

Re: Why Japanese web design is so different (2013)

#204
post #94
post #64

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I think Japanese websites are better They are only better if you never use them.

The few Japanese websites I've used have been superior to their American equivalents. Kotobank is definitely a lot more pleasing to the eyes than Webster's.

So you refute an argument based on a few exceptions ?

Re: Why Japanese web design is so different (2013)

#205

[2013] This has made the rounds on HN several times already. 153 comments - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16254569 129 comments - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6718067

How does it matter? If it gets rediscovered and is found interesting today, why is that bad? It's clearly dated, and if it was uninteresting it would simply die.

Re: Why Japanese web design is so different (2013)

#206

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I still find wifi to be incredibly scarce in Tokyo. Train stations, 7-11, Family Mart, Starbucks, Gasuto, McD's. Plus all of the locations in the Japan Connected-free wifi app.

Wifi WAS extremely scarce in Japan. When I lived there a few years ago the phone plans were great for me but it was very difficult for friends visiting to have internet even in Tokyo. When I was there last year there seemed to have been a pretty big push in preparation for the Olympics, most stations did not have WiFi in 2015 when I moved away as an example

If by “a few” you mean more than 5 then maybe. Free WiFi in all convenience stores, most train stations (almost all in bigger cities Tokyo, around half in bumfuck countryside where I live), many major public spots and department stores, expressway buses, and many cafes and restaurants all have free WiFi.

I was without a SIM card for several months recently and rarely had to go far finding connectivity.

Re: Why Japanese web design is so different (2013)

#207

[2013] This has made the rounds on HN several times already. 153 comments - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16254569 129 comments - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6718067

How does it matter? If it gets rediscovered and is found interesting today, why is that bad? It's clearly dated, and if it was uninteresting it would simply die.

Not necessarily bad other than the fact that the 2020 web is quite different to the 2013 one. It can also be worth looking at the top comments of the previous posts.

Re: Why Japanese web design is so different (2013)

#208
post #206

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Wifi WAS extremely scarce in Japan. When I lived there a few years ago the phone plans were great for me but it was very difficult for friends visiting to have internet even in Tokyo. When I was there last year there seemed to have been a pretty big push in preparation for the Olympics, most stations did not have WiFi in 2015 when I moved away as an example

If by “a few” you mean more than 5 then maybe. Free WiFi in all convenience stores, most train stations (almost all in bigger cities Tokyo, around half in bumfuck countryside where I live), many major public spots and department stores, expressway buses, and many cafes and restaurants all have free WiFi. I was without a SIM card for several months recently and rarely had to go far finding connectivity.

I put the exact year I moved away.

Re: Why Japanese web design is so different (2013)

#210
post #177

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Snobbism aside, I would gladly give up on some "usability" for a passive web (basically raw HTML or even Gopher or Gemini) and a separate active web (basically a proper virtual machine perhaps like Squeak/Pharo). But as soon as you cut off ways to make the Web more "engaging", it makes it far less interesting for the ads market, so less contents. Even individual content producers (e.g. Youtubers, Twitchers) look for…

> and a separate active web (basically a proper virtual machine perhaps like Squeak/Pharo). Something like WebAssembly, then?

AFAICT WebAssembly is in the continuum of HTML/CSS/JS, and is intended to "make things faster", so there is no reason to separate things that are essentially text and medias from things that are essentially programs.

In other words, WebAssembly won't cut the Gordian knot, in my opinion.

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