4 ms·

I don't want minimal, I want usable. Give me Web 1.0 sites of yore, give me Japanese internet. Give me websites that are god damn usable.

dewey 4y ago
Aren't japanese websites famously hard to use / different? (https://sabrinas.space https://sabrinas.space) Relevant thread: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=33745146 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=33745146
- Dalewyn 4y ago
  They are infamous for being old fashioned, note how they are still fundamentally Web 1.0 sites with columns and packed densely with content which is mostly text. I love how I can just open a Japanese website up and have everything worth seeing right there in front of me. No need to scroll past a 1000 pixel tall, unrelated stock picture to then deal with "content" spaced 100 pixels apart and using only 600 pixels of my 1920 pixels wide screen and "dynamically loading in" as I scroll past them. I love how I can just open a Japanese website up and generally have it load in seconds if not instantly. No need to wait tens of seconds or even minutes for a trillion lines of JavaShit to load and be processed and then wait on a trillion more assets to be loaded and processed. Fuck minimalism, I want usability. Websites are carriers of information, not high school art projects. Also to note: I'm Japanese-American. :V
  - dewey 4y ago
    How do they work on mobile viewports? I get what you are saying, I think many here prefer websites like HN that are simple, dense and fast but many old-fashioned sites are dense, but aren't really usable on mobile and not always fast.
    - Dalewyn 4y ago
      No first hand experience, but I would hazard a bet they work well. Mobile device use is up up up and desktops/laptops down down down in Japan just like the rest of the world, and yet the Japanese internet largely remains the same.
keyle 4y ago
Hmm it depends what you call usable. Typically these web 1.0 geocities type site were not usable at all. I'm talking markees, spinning gifs all over the page, animated stars background, snowflakes over the content and questionable content organisation! I lived it, and I miss them for the nostalgia. Here is a very usable site, although the design of it is a bit lacking imho https://beta.w3.org https://beta.w3.org
- Dalewyn 4y ago
  That beta website is peak unusability. I have 1080 pixels of vertical screen real estate, why do I have to scroll down before I can see any worthwhile information? Why is so much space wasted on unrelated (WTF does LEGO and Macbooks have to do with W3C?), stock pictures? Why is the W3C logo both comically small and comically large and in the way? Why are news postings at the very bottom? Where the hell even is the search box? Why is everything a dropdown? Contrast the current website[1]: I don't have to scroll before I can see worthwhile information (the page is actually vertically shorter than the beta's). No space is wasted on unrelated, stock pictures. The W3C logo is appropriately sized and located both prominently and out of the way. News postings are front and center like they should be. The search box is clearly defined by borders and shading. All site navigation is immediately accessible with just one click. [1]: https://www.w3.org/ https://www.w3.org/
  - illiarian 4y ago
    Great points! I opened an issue, but I don't expect much change: https://github.com/w3c/w3c-website/issues/301 https://github.com/w3c/w3c-website/issues/301
  - th3row 4y ago
    Not to mention, the Globohomo / Dystopian Art, with the token non-white, token muslim woman and token Disabled Person.
tiborsaas 4y ago
Don't tell, show.

dewey 4y ago

Aren't japanese websites famously hard to use / different? (https://sabrinas.space https://sabrinas.space) Relevant thread: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=33745146 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=33745146

Dalewyn 4y ago
They are infamous for being old fashioned, note how they are still fundamentally Web 1.0 sites with columns and packed densely with content which is mostly text. I love how I can just open a Japanese website up and have everything worth seeing right there in front of me. No need to scroll past a 1000 pixel tall, unrelated stock picture to then deal with "content" spaced 100 pixels apart and using only 600 pixels of my 1920 pixels wide screen and "dynamically loading in" as I scroll past them. I love how I can just open a Japanese website up and generally have it load in seconds if not instantly. No need to wait tens of seconds or even minutes for a trillion lines of JavaShit to load and be processed and then wait on a trillion more assets to be loaded and processed. Fuck minimalism, I want usability. Websites are carriers of information, not high school art projects. Also to note: I'm Japanese-American. :V
- dewey 4y ago
  How do they work on mobile viewports? I get what you are saying, I think many here prefer websites like HN that are simple, dense and fast but many old-fashioned sites are dense, but aren't really usable on mobile and not always fast.
  - Dalewyn 4y ago
    No first hand experience, but I would hazard a bet they work well. Mobile device use is up up up and desktops/laptops down down down in Japan just like the rest of the world, and yet the Japanese internet largely remains the same.

keyle 4y ago

Hmm it depends what you call usable. Typically these web 1.0 geocities type site were not usable at all. I'm talking markees, spinning gifs all over the page, animated stars background, snowflakes over the content and questionable content organisation! I lived it, and I miss them for the nostalgia. Here is a very usable site, although the design of it is a bit lacking imho https://beta.w3.org https://beta.w3.org

Dalewyn 4y ago
That beta website is peak unusability. I have 1080 pixels of vertical screen real estate, why do I have to scroll down before I can see any worthwhile information? Why is so much space wasted on unrelated (WTF does LEGO and Macbooks have to do with W3C?), stock pictures? Why is the W3C logo both comically small and comically large and in the way? Why are news postings at the very bottom? Where the hell even is the search box? Why is everything a dropdown? Contrast the current website[1]: I don't have to scroll before I can see worthwhile information (the page is actually vertically shorter than the beta's). No space is wasted on unrelated, stock pictures. The W3C logo is appropriately sized and located both prominently and out of the way. News postings are front and center like they should be. The search box is clearly defined by borders and shading. All site navigation is immediately accessible with just one click. [1]: https://www.w3.org/ https://www.w3.org/
- illiarian 4y ago
  Great points! I opened an issue, but I don't expect much change: https://github.com/w3c/w3c-website/issues/301 https://github.com/w3c/w3c-website/issues/301
- th3row 4y ago
  Not to mention, the Globohomo / Dystopian Art, with the token non-white, token muslim woman and token Disabled Person.

tiborsaas 4y ago

Don't tell, show.