5 ms·

I can't say I really believe in Airbnb as a company and idea, but that is a damn well designed website -- I guess you could say the best money could buy..

jmathai 12y ago
What is it about the company and idea which make it difficult for you to believe?
- alphonse23 12y ago
  What the company is doing is essentially illegal. You can't rent out a living space without applying for rezoning, and then it still has to be with the approval of the city planning department of the city. You can't just let people turn their places into rentals. I live in a large city, and I would mostly agree that city planning in necessary in order to avoid problems with traffic, parking, and all the other problems that happen in dense urban areas. I think the idea is great, but it's not going to work, maybe in a more relaxed country where they don't care to do any city planning, but not in the United States and other more densely populated cities. http://www.nytimes.com/2013/11/05/nyregion/the-airbnb-economy-in-new-york-lucrative-but-often-unlawful.html http://www.nytimes.com/2013/11/05/nyregion/the-airbnb-econom...
  - visakanv 12y ago
    I live in Singapore, where Airbnb will remain illegal for a long time. That said, is "that's illegal!"necessarily watertight proof that something isn't going to work? Could it be possible that people might like the idea of something enough that cultural attitudes change, and people demand different things, and laws shift and change to accomodate what people want?
    - zheshishei 12y ago
      The thing is, the reasons why Airbnb is illegal (e.g. the zoning laws that the parent mentioned) aren't really subject to shifts in cultural attitudes. It boils down to city planning and structuring (the flow of traffic, the layout of utilities, etc.), all (or at least most) of which are put in place to try and make our horribly inefficient cities just a bit more efficient.
nicarus1984 12y ago
What is so well-designed about the site? I'm no designer and I am not being cynical - I'm genuinely curious because, to me, the site is very similar to many others I have seen today. It's possible I don't have an eye for the details here, but I really don't see a huge difference. Ex. http://electricpulp.com/ http://electricpulp.com/ http://spigotdesign.com/ http://spigotdesign.com/ ...
- alphonse23 12y ago
  Well. The moving picture at the top, the Masonry image layout. It all really fits well together to convey what airbnb does -- and it really makes you want to connect with them. Airbnb is no doubt a very well funded company. The second one you mention is also very well designed I'd say, but as you can see, it's a professional web design firm -- so it should look very well -- and as you can see it uses very similar techniques as airbnb.

jmathai 12y ago

What is it about the company and idea which make it difficult for you to believe?

alphonse23 12y ago
What the company is doing is essentially illegal. You can't rent out a living space without applying for rezoning, and then it still has to be with the approval of the city planning department of the city. You can't just let people turn their places into rentals. I live in a large city, and I would mostly agree that city planning in necessary in order to avoid problems with traffic, parking, and all the other problems that happen in dense urban areas. I think the idea is great, but it's not going to work, maybe in a more relaxed country where they don't care to do any city planning, but not in the United States and other more densely populated cities. http://www.nytimes.com/2013/11/05/nyregion/the-airbnb-economy-in-new-york-lucrative-but-often-unlawful.html http://www.nytimes.com/2013/11/05/nyregion/the-airbnb-econom...
- visakanv 12y ago
  I live in Singapore, where Airbnb will remain illegal for a long time. That said, is "that's illegal!"necessarily watertight proof that something isn't going to work? Could it be possible that people might like the idea of something enough that cultural attitudes change, and people demand different things, and laws shift and change to accomodate what people want?
  - zheshishei 12y ago
    The thing is, the reasons why Airbnb is illegal (e.g. the zoning laws that the parent mentioned) aren't really subject to shifts in cultural attitudes. It boils down to city planning and structuring (the flow of traffic, the layout of utilities, etc.), all (or at least most) of which are put in place to try and make our horribly inefficient cities just a bit more efficient.

nicarus1984 12y ago

What is so well-designed about the site? I'm no designer and I am not being cynical - I'm genuinely curious because, to me, the site is very similar to many others I have seen today. It's possible I don't have an eye for the details here, but I really don't see a huge difference. Ex. http://electricpulp.com/ http://electricpulp.com/ http://spigotdesign.com/ http://spigotdesign.com/ ...

alphonse23 12y ago
Well. The moving picture at the top, the Masonry image layout. It all really fits well together to convey what airbnb does -- and it really makes you want to connect with them. Airbnb is no doubt a very well funded company. The second one you mention is also very well designed I'd say, but as you can see, it's a professional web design firm -- so it should look very well -- and as you can see it uses very similar techniques as airbnb.