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Why our website looks like an operating system

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Re: Why our website looks like an operating system

#291

Post by leftnode »

spartanatreyu wrote: post #97
miiiiiike wrote: post #38

I just click off whenever I see a site like that.

Ok, but if they have a bog-standard site like everyone else then they're not going to look any different than everyone else, which would cause users to leave. This, this is memorable.

I think the opposite is true. Sure, it's technically impressive, but users have been trained for decades at this point to understand how a basic marketing page should look and this isn't it. These kinds of sites are best left as portfolio pages for designers to show off their skills, not for B2B SaaS landing pages.

Re: Why our website looks like an operating system

#292

Post by ezst »

hliyan wrote: post #149

Why this feels so incredibly appealing compared to prevailing designs is probably something for a psychologist / cognitive scientist / neurologist (?) to answer -- there is certainly something here that warrants better study than what we in the software industry do in rushed blog posts. But I can personally speak to at least one aspect, having worked for a company that does high end web sites and strategy for large S…

> As I said, there is something here beyond just aesthetics. And one of the conclusions may be that our current UI/UX philosophy has inadvertantly become user-hostile.

It's almost like, "marketing", itself, as a concept, is user hostile. Most sites' purpose isn't to be efficient, or informative. It's to give the impression that they are "making a statement" (we matter because XYZ), while looking dependable and professional enough to compel calling sales for more.

Commercial transparency goes against that goal (why would I call if I have all the price details I need?). Technical transparency goes against that goal (why would I call if I can tell precisely how this compares to market leaders and competitors?).

So, in many (mostly despicable) aspects, this site is terrible. Unfortunately.

Re: Why our website looks like an operating system

#293

Post by badsectoracula »

Twey wrote: post #274
badsectoracula wrote: post #126

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I have a perfectly good window manager; why does every app need its own incompatible, usually inferior window manager built in? Because some applications do need multiple windows in the same application context. A common example would be image editors. It is unfortunate that almost all generic MDI implementations (Win32 and Qt basically) are incredibly barebones. I want to have multiple windows visible when i'm usi…

The ‘application context’ isn't a concept that adds value, at least for the applications I've seen. For things where the application windows do need to be treated differently (e.g. patch bays that can be connected together, or widgets that can be fused into larger widgets [1]) I have more sympathy for applications that want to do their own window management. But for something like the browser just grouping Web pages…

Well, yeah, it doesn't fit all applications and web browsers are a case where MDI doesn't really work. The linked site is more of a gimmick, at least as far as the documents go.

But my response was about calling MDI an anti-pattern in general. Just because it doesn't fit all cases, it doesn't mean it is an anti-pattern.

Re: Why our website looks like an operating system

#295

Post by xpe »

samdung wrote: post #118
aanet wrote: post #16

It's lovely. It's unique. and UX is just delightful. For some easter eggs, click on the "Trash" icon, and click on any of the docs... Especially the "spicy.mov" :-) Keep up the delight.

I hate you.

If one witnesses the spiciness first-hand, one will understand the comment above is fitting and appropriate.

Re: Why our website looks like an operating system

#296

Post by dspillett »

oliwarner wrote: post #193
Cthulhu_ wrote: post #132

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The EU law is fine, the implementation used isn't. But never blame the EU laws for cookie banners; the law does not mandate banners at all, let alone the ones full of dark patterns to nag you into accepting anyway. That's all the industry. The industry could have come up with a standard, a browser add-on, respect a browser setting, etc but they chose the most annoying one to pester you, the user.

GDPR requires informed consent before collecting data. It's a wonder we don't have to force everyone through an interstitial consent page.

> GDPR requires informed consent before collecting data.

And this is a good thing, no? I certainly think so.

> It's a wonder we don't have to force everyone through an interstitial consent page.

If the information being tracked is truly essential to the site/app (session management and authorisation data for instance) then no consent is needed, for anything else ask before you store it, and most certainly ask before you share it with your “partners” or anyone else.

Re: Why our website looks like an operating system

#298

Post by xpe »

henrikschroder wrote: post #108

People have been making websites exactly like this since the 90's. Every single one of them have ultimately been massive failures, because you are re-inventing the wheel and putting a window system that you control to sidestep the window system that I control. > I had a lot of fun in building it Yeah, me too! But I learned my lesson.

Reminds me of some often-repeated suggestions that take the form of "every developer should build their own X" where X might be: blog, ORM, key-value store, database, OS, distributed computation framework, neural network, decentralized currency. But the one that you really have to be afraid of, in terms of time-spent followed by a new life-long obsession is "your own keyboard".

Re: Why our website looks like an operating system

#299

Post by dewey »

xpe wrote: post #287
dewey wrote: post #286

I'm not sure I would be brave enough to do experiments like that with my landing page. I wonder how it converts. While it's a fun experiment for a personal website seems a bit impractical for a marketing page for a tool that is not always bought by engineers.

Well, it does look a lot like Windows, macOS, and many Linux desktop environments. Yes, it might feel unfamiliar to people who have only used tablets or phones.

I understand that, but it behaves very differently to what's usually expected of such a website where you can maybe search by Cmd + F, or more importantly have it correctly indexed by search engines. The latter is probably not that straight forward with such a page structure.

Re: Why our website looks like an operating system

#300

Post by xpe »

lordgrenville wrote: post #249

More correctly, "our website looks like a desktop environment".

Spot on.

There are cases of companies providing something very close to a full OS for the focused use cases such as the Bloomberg Terminal.

But imagine if such a thing existed purely for marketing and informational purposes. "Curious about Hooli GAN Labs? Just download our Docker image to run our bespoke informational kiosk software..."

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