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date 2009-04-14
tags All Startups Programming Design
title The Truth about Web Design

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Here’s what I’m going to assume: craigslist, Google, and eBay do not have very pretty designs. How can a website be so successful if the design isn’t pretty? My position is that because design doesn’t matter a whole lot.
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Utility and function matter a whole lot more. Why doesn’t design matter a whole lot? What would you rather look at:

computerScreenVersusView.jpeg
 caption Computer Screen versus View. Image source.
  https://readwriteroam.blog/for-roamers/ Image source
  // Note: the original image was different but couldn't find it when importing this post 15 years later.

Imagine trying to compete with nature. My premise is that you go to a website for the utility of it. Design is far secondary. There are plenty of prettier things to look at in the real world. Of course, you can make a website that is pretty to look at, that people will love spending time on. The way to do that is to make it look like the real world: Facebook photos, YouTube videos, etc. People will spend a lot of time on those sites because pictures and videos look pretty. But if you make a website with a whole lot of utility, design is secondary.  (And if your goal is to make a website that sells something instead of providing a service–then sometimes ugly designs win–in that case the trick is to try a lot of variation to see what works).

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 https://web.archive.org/web/20090713043922/http://www.breckyunits.com/web-startups/2009/04/14/the-truth-about-web-design/

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