What Is It About Restaurant Websites?
portlandfoodanddrink.com
What Is It About Restaurant Websites?
1–10 of 38 posts
Re: What Is It About Restaurant Websites?
#2A few weeks ago a post of the same nature as this was posted. It's worth noting: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1130419
Re: What Is It About Restaurant Websites?
#3As with most things, form trumps substance when you're selling websites to a local business. They want to have a sexier website than their competitors. Their competitors all have sites with big Flash intros and cool animations and stuff. This is what your layperson cares about when viewing your portfolio; they don't care about functionality across platforms, they don't care about accessibility or immediacy of pertinent information. They just want something that looks "pretty", and even "pretty" usually just turns into useless gobs of Comet Cursors, background music, and Flash.
Re: What Is It About Restaurant Websites?
#4My hunch is many websites are made 1) with a small budget or 2) by a family member or friend who has a pirated copy of a WYSIWYG web dev app (usually flash).
Re: What Is It About Restaurant Websites?
#5I can see how small, local businesses fall into the trap of all-flash, all-hard-to-actually-use. But what about a high profile, nationally known restaurant like The French Laundry. Why does their site suck so much?
Re: What Is It About Restaurant Websites?
#6My hunch is many websites are made 1) with a small budget or 2) by a family member or friend who has a pirated copy of a WYSIWYG web dev app (usually flash).
For most your hunch is dead wrong the family member or small budget websites are the ones that look like MSFrontpage and other such website designs.
Flash websites are usually payed for and in good amounts to and they are done by people who don't really understand usability but do know marketability (for themselves) and how to make things look pretty.
Re: What Is It About Restaurant Websites?
#7I can see how small, local businesses fall into the trap of all-flash, all-hard-to-actually-use. But what about a high profile, nationally known restaurant like The French Laundry. Why does their site suck so much? http://www.frenchlaundry.com/
I just attempted to find the hours for that restaurant, but got too annoyed that it kept opening up new windows...
Reminds me why I generally just type " menu" into Google, and generally someone has a direct link to a PDF.
Re: What Is It About Restaurant Websites?
#8I'll never understand the complaint in scenario #2. Use the device in your hand for what it was originally intended, and CALL them.
Re: What Is It About Restaurant Websites?
#9David Chang's Momofuku has a great website for its restaurants:
Everything is pretty stripped down and simplified. No gratuitous use of flash.
I also like their use of reservations, for the most part the system is set up to treat everyone as equals, so its not like a celeb can just come in:
"In March 2008, Chang opened Momofuku Ko, a 12 seat restaurant that takes reservations six days in advance, online only, on a first-come-first-served basis, without regard to social status or income. The highly limited seating, along with Chang's popularity in New York, has caused a furor, generating frustration for both influential and ordinary people who have failed to secure a reservation"
Re: What Is It About Restaurant Websites?
#10I can see how small, local businesses fall into the trap of all-flash, all-hard-to-actually-use. But what about a high profile, nationally known restaurant like The French Laundry. Why does their site suck so much? http://www.frenchlaundry.com/
I just attempted to find the hours for that restaurant, but got too annoyed that it kept opening up new windows... Reminds me why I generally just type " menu" into Google, and generally someone has a direct link to a PDF.
The French Laundry isn't the type of restaurant that you check hours (reservations are required and if there is an open spot you take it) or menus (they change daily).