Sorry, didn't mean to be a dick. But I think web designers confuse beauty with functionality. While it is certainly possible to have both, a beautiful design do

Sorry, didn't mean to be a dick. But I think web designers confuse beauty with functionality. While it is certainly possible to have both, a beautiful design does not guarantee proper utilization. The purpose of a painting in an art gallery or an Ansel Adams photograph is to make the viewer experience the beauty of the art. That's the primary purpose. The primary purpose of an ecommerce site is to make sales and get customers what they need. These are two very different goals. Just because a website happens to exist in two-dimensions does not mean that beauty or brand tie-in's (like the gold trim) are the most important considerations. If it were, Gmail wouldn't be the most successful email client on the planet.