Let's say you're a fairly successful and enterprising person, and you want to change the world in mysterious ways...but you're limited to a computer and an Internet connection because frankly, owning your own cardboard box resale shop isn't profitable. Nor is it fun. In fact, it's most definitely neither of those things because it isn't connected to anything. It doesn't have any power, but the Internet does. It's scary, sometimes, when you think about it. People can become absolute stars for learning a little code and letting go. But then, design comes from out of the shadows and waves a sharp pointy stick. "You forgot about me!", it quips. No, Design, you silly thing. We were just getting to that.
Before we begin
You might say: Hey, I thought you were big about expression! What's this crazy design-Nazi talk?
Expression is truly all we have. Without expression, we lose communication, and without communication, we live dreary and empty lives. I'm not hindering your creativity in any way. I'm merely pointing out what could make it better, using Internet trends as a focal point. With that, let us begin!
Content vs. design (and content wins)
It doesn't matter how pretty your site is! If it has nothing on it, it's simply a placeholder page. However, that's generally well known. What I have taken great pains to point out in the past is back with a vengeance - the lack of good content.
We claim that we are growing less materialistic, embracing new religions and finding new friends. But the shinies keep pouring in, and with them comes the "need" for a site to be artful before it becomes whole. Teenagers exemplify this category, with site after site of repetitive CSS and "tuts" for visitors. None of these sites are unique in their design; they vary only slightly in their content. With emphasis on strange and baffling spellings of English sentences and smilies :) every other :( word :o, it's hard to imagine that this is actually considered writing. But I'm not yelling at them for their writing - oh, heavens no! If I did that, you could stop reading this right here and throw some more hypocritical dung at me (OMGZOMGZOMGZ) - but does having a website mean the owner has to "give back" in the same way that so many are? Through overused graphics, visitor content, pages of replicated jokes, riddles, and poof? For every one fifty of these 'amoebas', there is one truly unique website. So here comes my plea to the Internet community. Please, for the sake of the INTARWEBZ, hold onto your own interests but offer something new as well. The sameness of the Internet is getting quite boring.
Smaller is better
The trend, recently, has been to make things smaller and smaller. Okay, so we got rid of the mainframe and got normal computers. The Model T wasn't working out downtown, so we brought in a coupe. Now, let's take this layout and do the same. Wider than 500px? That's fine with me. Small layouts come with one giant caveat — readability. Small, on the internet, does not generally mean tinier than my fingernail. It means narrow, and the narrower you make your layout, the harder it is to process the information. There have also been movements for full-screen websites, which doesn't fit the bill either. If people have to back up or move closer to read your material, you might want to redesign your site. Other trends like this include alignment shifts. Since most people are comfortable with staring in the middle (with biases to the left) of their screen, design for that. Reading a site that's aligned along the top, bottom, far left, or far right of the screen is going to be both awkward and annoying to accomplish.
But Web 2.0...
Shiny icons, huge text, icons, and bright colors - is that really what you feel Web 2.0 is? All those factors contribute to the total effect, but on their own, they're little more than eye-candy. As a designer, you have to be able to appreciate your viewers and still include enough of yourself at the same time. After all, if you can't find your own niche in the web, now is the time to start. Let's think of it as "1 billion served; will you be # 1,000,000,001 or simply 1,000,000,000 again?".
Read 12 comments (Leave a comment?)
Mia said:
Wow - that made abseloutely no sense to me, but then again that’s not much of a surprise. Ehem…yes, well, thanks for the comment.
Posted on December 15, 2006 5:55 PM; Permalink
Mithraugion said:
Well, that was enlightening. Keep it simple I guess.
Since the bar doesn’t work on my site, I think I’m going to have to fully redesign.
Posted on December 15, 2006 10:34 PM; Permalink
Ranjani said:
Mia: Lolol, I tried to make it simple, but as usual, I complicate things. Sorry! Take care!
Mithraugion: (Are we still hiding you from the “secret police”?) Let me know if you want any help with the site’s code. I’d love to help :)
Posted on December 16, 2006 12:32 PM; Permalink
Kilian Valkhof said:
Amoebas? Interesting name ;)
But you forget that not everyone is as design-gifted as you are. Real creativity is actually very rare. So can you blame people for not using their own? (almost) Everybody wants a website, but they don’t want to spend more then needed on it (Hence livejournal, myspace, etc).
You’re obviously annoyed by it, but it’s your own choice to visit these sites, isn’t it?
ps: your preview button is brokered.
Posted on December 17, 2006 7:17 AM; Permalink
Ranjani said:
Hahaha, I’m not at all gifted with design. I just like pretty things. It’s a girl thing :)
Not in that sense. The art and colors are gorgeous…it’s the tiny fonts and overuse of CSS that’s the problem. These people know how to make websites and offer tutorials on it, as well as several graphics. They have skill, but they’re not putting it in the right place. They also spend a fair amount of time on it. The thing is, this is what they feel the rest of the Internet should look like. This is the ideal website in their eyes, and that’s not necessarily right…but it’s still expression and their own design, so I don’t have any place to say it’s wrong.
I’m not necessarily annoyed by it, but bored. Every site seems the same to me. That’s why I love MintPages so much - the diversity is wonderful.
Looozle! I’ll fix my preview button. Thanks Killian :)
Posted on December 17, 2006 9:24 AM; Permalink
Kilian Valkhof said:
The tiny fonts I can understand (ctrl+, fixed). But what do you mean with “overuse of css”?
Design is more then making pretty things. Design is making pretty things work, and that’s the hardest part :)
(And, I like pretty things too, but that doesn’t mean I’m a girl :p ))
Posted on December 17, 2006 9:35 AM; Permalink
Ranjani said:
For example, changing cursors, alternately changing text colors, changing font-weights, messing with underlines and borders. It’s either that or no important CSS (margins, padding) so some content can sometimes be indistinguishable from other content. A variety of things, really.
Very true! But it if works for someone else, you can’t really press for a change. Design is different to different people, and largely, the sites I find are all about the prettiness!
True! But girls are expected to be good at making pretty things. DOUBLE X CHROMOSOME ADVANTAGE!
Posted on December 17, 2006 11:23 AM; Permalink
Mithraugion said:
Not if said girl is an absolute tomboy. I swear, that girl (not you!) has more testosterone than I do!
Maybe she’s hiding that Y chromosome? Free-martin?
Posted on December 17, 2006 7:26 PM; Permalink
Rohit said:
Nice read. And a very nice blog! Came across it via simplebits. Always fun to find good looking blogs :D.
Posted on December 22, 2006 12:12 AM; Permalink
Ranjani said:
Thank you! I like yours as well! Very sleek :D
Posted on December 22, 2006 2:11 PM; Permalink
Rohit said:
Awww you’re just saying that to be nice! :D Anyways I just cant help say this, I love the name biscuitrat!!! I wish I had thought of it. :)
Posted on December 23, 2006 4:18 AM; Permalink
Ranjani said:
Nope, I’m being completely honest! I love how everything is laid out. The neatness is something I want to accomplish with my redesign.
Thank you! My brothers came up with it to make me angry, but I guess it stuck :D
Posted on December 23, 2006 10:05 AM; Permalink