What's with the boring design of modern websites?
Discussion
ecs said:
There are a number of libraries available which will give you reliable, cross browser HTML animation. Try GSAP for size.
Big fan of Greensock so I already use GSAP. Unfortunately it's too big a download to justify its use a lot of the time though, so we're stuck with crappy CSS or jQuery animations.ecs said:
As for video, having to encode a file into a couple of different formats isn't exactly hacky.
Last time I had to implement an embedded video (earlier this year) I remember having to hack about with it to get it to display properly, particularly on the iPad which refused to show it without black borders. All web development is an endless series of hacks - don't pretend it isn't. 
Crush said:
All things in life require balance. It's very difficult to maintain, so delicate.
There was a time when the Internet moved forward, websites were slowly becoming more adventurous and developers were trying out new designs and layouts.
And then this happened
http://www.lingscars.com/
Wow, that site has actually got MORE lurid since the last time I looked! Superb!! There was a time when the Internet moved forward, websites were slowly becoming more adventurous and developers were trying out new designs and layouts.
And then this happened
http://www.lingscars.com/
(and there's some decent deals on there, too!)
durbster said:
My heart sunk when I saw this thread title. I'm a developer and have been complaining about this a lot with designers.
There are several good reasons:
- As above, websites now have to work on any screen size and shape, so complex design just isn't possible (technically it is, but the reality is that it's very expensive).
- Designing for infinite screens is also a new era, so new ideas are yet to surface.
- The decline of Flash. Whether you loved it or hate it, it allowed infinite creativity in user interface and design.
- Fashion. Clients no longer just want a website, they want a site that "looks like that one".
What's an infinite screen? Is that one that knackers my scrolling finger on my mouse?There are several good reasons:
- As above, websites now have to work on any screen size and shape, so complex design just isn't possible (technically it is, but the reality is that it's very expensive).
- Designing for infinite screens is also a new era, so new ideas are yet to surface.
- The decline of Flash. Whether you loved it or hate it, it allowed infinite creativity in user interface and design.
- Fashion. Clients no longer just want a website, they want a site that "looks like that one".
It's not so much Flash or size/shape/complexity but every site is plain background with boring font making it look like an Apple site. Yawnathon.
Martin4x4 said:
Substance is finally gaining traction over flashy so called 'style'.
The best websites have always and will always put content first. That doesn't mean they shouldn't look nice too.Hoofy said:
What's an infinite screen? Is that one that knackers my scrolling finger on my mouse?
It's not so much Flash or size/shape/complexity but every site is plain background with boring font making it look like an Apple site. Yawnathon.
I meant an infinite number of screen sizes and shapes. Back in the day, everyone browsed the web on a desktop monitor with one of three resolutions, so you could design something extremely specific. It's not so much Flash or size/shape/complexity but every site is plain background with boring font making it look like an Apple site. Yawnathon.
Now, a user can see your site on anything; a watch, small phone, big phone, phablet, mini-tablet, tablet, laptop, desktop, TV etc. They're all different sizes, resolutions and ratios. Nobody has really figured a way to design for that, other than stripping right back to basics.
grumbledoak said:
Flash was the worst thing to happen to the web since the blink tag.
Flash made the web.
durbster said:
Hoofy said:
What's an infinite screen? Is that one that knackers my scrolling finger on my mouse?
It's not so much Flash or size/shape/complexity but every site is plain background with boring font making it look like an Apple site. Yawnathon.
I meant an infinite number of screen sizes and shapes. Back in the day, everyone browsed the web on a desktop monitor with one of three resolutions, so you could design something extremely specific. It's not so much Flash or size/shape/complexity but every site is plain background with boring font making it look like an Apple site. Yawnathon.
Now, a user can see your site on anything; a watch, small phone, big phone, phablet, mini-tablet, tablet, laptop, desktop, TV etc. They're all different sizes, resolutions and ratios. Nobody has really figured a way to design for that, other than stripping right back to basics.
durbster said:
My heart sunk when I saw this thread title. I'm a developer and have been complaining about this a lot with designers.
There are several good reasons:
- As above, websites now have to work on any screen size and shape, so complex design just isn't possible (technically it is, but the reality is that it's very expensive).
- Designing for infinite screens is also a new era, so new ideas are yet to surface.
- The decline of Flash. Whether you loved it or hate it, it allowed infinite creativity in user interface and design.
- Fashion. Clients no longer just want a website, they want a site that "looks like that one".
The entire worldwide software market is in utter chaos.There are several good reasons:
- As above, websites now have to work on any screen size and shape, so complex design just isn't possible (technically it is, but the reality is that it's very expensive).
- Designing for infinite screens is also a new era, so new ideas are yet to surface.
- The decline of Flash. Whether you loved it or hate it, it allowed infinite creativity in user interface and design.
- Fashion. Clients no longer just want a website, they want a site that "looks like that one".
So many screen sizes, from tiny to huge. So many different operating systems and browsers. The software industry is becoming near-uncontrollable. It will only get worse.
And let's not get started on the horrific cartoony graphics that are cropping up on websites everywhere. Awful.
durbster said:
Flash made the web.
But it was also the author of it's own demise. It outlived it's usefulness as a content delivery system and once mobile mattered so did battery life and flash never delivered good value per clock cycle. In the early days of android where 'runs flash' was major selling point even Google gave up on it. On the desktop it was never properly secured and it's claims of now searchable were always laughable.
Would it have been different if Adobe hadn't bough Macromedia? We'll never know.
But yeah, as you said, Flash made the web and though I understand the hatred for it at the end it will always have a place in my heart.
Whether this should have been made is debatable but without flash it wouldn't have, nor tons of nonsense like it.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vD_72U0b_2g
RIP Flash, I don't miss you but I'm glad you were there when it counted.
It isn't a technology thing, not flash, not old browsers, not mobile devices. It's not even really a cost thing - it's a design maturity thing.
Design maturity is about accepted norms with a little token variation - being too different is niche and inherently risky, look at car and trainer designs for great examples - you'll find a small percentage of designs are radical but the vast majority are in the safe comfort zone where competitors are.
Web site (or product) design is a funny old thing - the more mature the design and marketing companies become the more they convince decision makers about the importance of design the less willing those people become to take risks. The entire market moves slowly between design norms.
All IMHO but born of having watched the corporate website design process over a number of years.
Design maturity is about accepted norms with a little token variation - being too different is niche and inherently risky, look at car and trainer designs for great examples - you'll find a small percentage of designs are radical but the vast majority are in the safe comfort zone where competitors are.
Web site (or product) design is a funny old thing - the more mature the design and marketing companies become the more they convince decision makers about the importance of design the less willing those people become to take risks. The entire market moves slowly between design norms.
All IMHO but born of having watched the corporate website design process over a number of years.
Badabing said:
A lot of clients feel they are designers and tell you how to move the mouse and what to design. This leads to crap websites. There are lots of fantastic designed sites out there if you look.
First thing that popped into my head on reading that was this: How a web design goes straight to helljudas said:
First thing that popped into my head on reading that was this: How a web design goes straight to hell
Haha, and every single one of those quotes is correct, had exactly the same thing happen to me numerous times when presenting ideas to clients etc.To add my 2p worth, I think a lot of sites like pistonheads favour content over design. I'm not sure if they have a team of designers or if it's all content and development bods?
Perhaps the designer is sitting there in the corner connected to someone's phone/email and is now a web design cyborg with no creative spark after numerous meetings where he is told that pink isn't a colour that converts well and it should be orange, because orange is my favourite colour you know?! I've actualy had that one in a meeting once, felt like drop kicking the daft bint that said it!
Edited by nightwalker on Monday 20th October 22:36
Flash was always an abortion of a product, and had the worst and most unintuitive UI for authoring web content ever.
And rarely was it used for anything useful. Mostly it was just flasturbation. It was good at video, and that's it. I was predicting and hoping for its death long before Steve Jobs.
Microsoft is to blame for boring web design. Their archaic browsers held back web design and development for so long that it's come full circle. By the time IE10 came out with decent support for shadows, gradients, rounded things, transforms and transitions, and we could finally use them, they went and threw a grenade in there by launching Windows 8, and suddenly everyone wants a design with flat boxes, square corners and no shadows! Now it's dead we could actually make most modern designs work in IE6.
We need IE8 and IE9 to die, and for Android browsers to get a lot better next.
I dream of Microsoft dumping IE and making it's next version a WebKit build :-)
And rarely was it used for anything useful. Mostly it was just flasturbation. It was good at video, and that's it. I was predicting and hoping for its death long before Steve Jobs.
Microsoft is to blame for boring web design. Their archaic browsers held back web design and development for so long that it's come full circle. By the time IE10 came out with decent support for shadows, gradients, rounded things, transforms and transitions, and we could finally use them, they went and threw a grenade in there by launching Windows 8, and suddenly everyone wants a design with flat boxes, square corners and no shadows! Now it's dead we could actually make most modern designs work in IE6.
We need IE8 and IE9 to die, and for Android browsers to get a lot better next.
I dream of Microsoft dumping IE and making it's next version a WebKit build :-)
londonbabe said:
We need IE8 and IE9 to die, and for Android browsers to get a lot better next.
Holding my Asus Transformer next to my iPad Air, what's wrong with the android browsers?Everything looks the same as on the chrome on my computer?
trashbat said:
ZesPak said:
Newgrounds.
Youtube.
That's not design, that's features. The design of the YouTube site is fairly boring and the design of Newgrounds was fairly horrible IIRC. I don't think either involved Flash outside of the video/game that was on display. Youtube.
Sorry for the unclarity, shouldn't have quoted you for those mentions.
I agree with the OP. I know they are designed for tablets and mobiles more these days, but I hate that every site looks the same these days - on a desktop they look too simple. Massive fonts, less content, blank areas, all menu options hidden away in a tiny button with 3 lines on (who decided that was to be the default?) etc.
Hub said:
I agree with the OP. I know they are designed for tablets and mobiles more these days, but I hate that every site looks the same these days - on a desktop they look too simple. Massive fonts, less content, blank areas, all menu options hidden away in a tiny button with 3 lines on (who decided that was to be the default?) etc.
Hmm, I don't really agree.The fact is, developing for all sorts of consumption devices takes a lot of time, hence a lot go for the lowest common denominator (usually small smartphones).
Webdesign done right doesn't have the issues you say, but it takes a lot of time to develop this properly.
That is, the tools to develop this are evolving as well. These days it takes less and less times because HTML/CSS has adapted to it, also the WYSIWYG tools (Dreamweaver,...) and CMS systems (Joomla, Drupal, Wordpress,...) are embracing this more and more.
If you look at certain tech sites (like the dutch tweakers.net), so sites that are usually ahead of the curve in terms of technology, you'll see that they've aready embraced this omniplatform approach. Expect the rest to follow.
But, for now, if they don't want a huge investment in design, they do go for the lowest common denominator.
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