3 ms·
The absolute worst web design trend of 2009 is this header background that extends beyond the container and makes it look like the header is on a piece of paper
by tripngroove 17y ago
The absolute worst web design trend of 2009 is this header background that extends beyond the container and makes it look like the header is on a piece of paper that has been folded around the background. Let me show you what I'm talking about: http://i.imgur.com/yP7CH.png http://i.imgur.com/yP7CH.png
It's a silly and needless ornamentation that wasn't cool or interesting when the first person did it, and became even more worthless and boring with each successive use. Bahhumbug!
I'll hug it and kiss it and apologize if I see it used in a way even remotely relevant to the context of the content, or integrated into the visual language of the design (e.g. on a blog about origami), but until then, I'm a hater. I'd rather see drop shadows under blinking text; at least that would be quasi-original.
Also, the blue logo area pops so ridiculously hard it makes it impossible to keep my attention focused on the rest of the page. I'd tone it down to a smooth #80a7d3, like you see in the image I linked above.
EDIT: Don't get me wrong, I'm thrilled w3 finally redesigned the site; on first impression it appears to be a marked improvement.
- daleharvey 17y agoI dont really understand how you could dislike it so much, its a tiny flourish that gives a little visual hierarchy
- amoeba 17y agoAgreed. But I don't know what visual hierarchy means.
- tripngroove 17y agoI guess it's not really the "flourish". (I like that term for it) What really bothers me is that, on the whole, it feels like the designer put more effort into the flourish than into creating a design that would support and enhance the communication of the content. It's the (wrong) idea that you can appropriate these stylistic elements that will make a design appear current, cool, or 'with it' - and that somehow adding in what all the old-timers would call "bells and whistles" is a worthy trade-off for the practice of good design.
- tptacek 17y agoWhat's the hierarchy that it establishes that the large type, all-caps, and oddly-spaced embossed icon didn't already establish?
- jrockway 17y agoI like this "effect" a lot. I actually didn't notice it until you pointed it out, but now that I've seen it, I'm glad it's there. The thing with aesthetics is that everyone has different preferences. Presumably the designer of this site liked it. He/she is not the only one.
- pbhjpbhj 17y agoThe left menu section is a piece coming up and folding over at the top (the shadow that looks like a drop shadow is a curve into the screen) with the w3c piece being a loop around this? IMO this effect would have worked on the center content part making it appear to be topmost but doesn't work on the side menu.