3 ms·

This article confirms a number of things to me, all of which I already believed: 1. pure designers are not good at useful web apps (Studio8), 2. the NYTimes peo

by seldo 17y ago

This article confirms a number of things to me, all of which I already believed: 1. pure designers are not good at useful web apps (Studio8), 2. the NYTimes people couldn't design their way out of a paper bag 3. the BarackObama.com guy is a freaking genius of usability Some people here love the NYTimes version but I really think it devotes a ton of space to features nobody really uses in an effort to force people to use them more -- something the NYTimes itself does. Of course, I hate the design of NYTimes.com itself, so maybe I'm biased. SimpleScott's design simply reinforces existing usage patterns, and for that reason I like it best.

unalone 17y ago
SimpleScott's was terrific. I love the guy's website: http://www.simplescott.com/ http://www.simplescott.com/
Gibbon 17y ago
The NYTimes example is by Khoi Vinh (http://www.subtraction.com/ http://www.subtraction.com/). He's certainly no design slouch, particularly when it comes to grid based layouts. NYTimes is an enormously complex site. Given the ridiculous number of priorities they have to juggle, and number of people they have to please, I think they do an admirable job. The site has to balance looking like a historic newspaper with the constraints of the web. I particularly like Vinh and Boulton's presentation "Grids are Good" http://www.lifeclever.com/khoi-vinh-mark-boulton-grids-are-good/ http://www.lifeclever.com/khoi-vinh-mark-boulton-grids-are-g... which applies a grid layout to a Yahoo type homepage.
- seldo 17y ago
  > The site has to balance looking like a historic newspaper with the constraints of the web. See, that's certainly what they're trying to do, but I have absolutely no idea why they think "look like a newspaper" is one of their key constraints. You're a website: look like a website. The reason people don't read newspapers anymore is because they're inconvenient, why on earth would try to emulate a dying format?
  - Gibbon 17y ago
    Because your paying customers like newspapers but want the convenience of a website?

by seldo 17y ago

unalone 17y ago

SimpleScott's was terrific. I love the guy's website: http://www.simplescott.com/ http://www.simplescott.com/

Gibbon 17y ago

The NYTimes example is by Khoi Vinh (http://www.subtraction.com/ http://www.subtraction.com/). He's certainly no design slouch, particularly when it comes to grid based layouts. NYTimes is an enormously complex site. Given the ridiculous number of priorities they have to juggle, and number of people they have to please, I think they do an admirable job. The site has to balance looking like a historic newspaper with the constraints of the web. I particularly like Vinh and Boulton's presentation "Grids are Good" http://www.lifeclever.com/khoi-vinh-mark-boulton-grids-are-good/ http://www.lifeclever.com/khoi-vinh-mark-boulton-grids-are-g... which applies a grid layout to a Yahoo type homepage.

seldo 17y ago
> The site has to balance looking like a historic newspaper with the constraints of the web. See, that's certainly what they're trying to do, but I have absolutely no idea why they think "look like a newspaper" is one of their key constraints. You're a website: look like a website. The reason people don't read newspapers anymore is because they're inconvenient, why on earth would try to emulate a dying format?
- Gibbon 17y ago
  Because your paying customers like newspapers but want the convenience of a website?