4 ms·

I think one of the reasons the "web 2.0 look" is popular is that it is fairly easy to design. Basic photoshop skills and a little bit of aesthetics go a long w

by boucher 19y ago

I think one of the reasons the "web 2.0 look" is popular is that it is fairly easy to design. Basic photoshop skills and a little bit of aesthetics go a long way. retro-vintage, custom fonts, crazy edges and textures. These are all pretty difficult for a novice. I tend to think most startups don't have a lot of time or money to become or hire photoshop/design experts, and probably the majority of hackers aren't experts either.

izak30 19y ago
Excellent point. This is something that I'm very passionate about. Great developers are most often horrific designers; but they say things like "I like minimalistic designs", which, while true for us developer types (when we're looking for high-volume content), doesn't scale. If Web 2.0 is about the experience, a great design is just as important as a good idea. (that is not to say that one type of design IS web 2.0) I've written more extensively on it here: http://issackelly.com/blog/2007/10/new-way-of-managing-content-for-web.html http://issackelly.com/blog/2007/10/new-way-of-managing-conte... And I'm basing my startup around that exact idea. If you're a startup, get a co-founder with some serious design skills, it's more important than most of us want to admit.
timr 19y ago
Yeah...but the "geeks are bad with Photoshop" excuse doesn't explain the proliferation of cliche design elements. For example: it takes more work to generate a glossy bubble button than to not generate a glossy bubble button...but that doesn't seem to stop people from overusing them.
- boucher 19y ago
  Well, there are two contributors to this. One, there are online tutorials on how to generate glossy bubble buttons, and similar effects (mainly, anything Apple has ever done). And two, now there is a ____ generator for pretty much ever element.
  - tlrobinson 19y ago
    http://www.ajaxflakes.com/web-20/top-100-online-generators-web-20/ http://www.ajaxflakes.com/web-20/top-100-online-generators-w... I challenge someone to create a "web 2.0 generator generator". Or a generator that uses these generators to generate a "web 2.0" site without any interaction from the developer. Not unlike the CS research paper generator that these guys wrote: http://pdos.csail.mit.edu/scigen/ http://pdos.csail.mit.edu/scigen/ Some of the papers were actually accepted into conferences.
    - omouse 19y ago
      I challenge someone to create a "web 2.0 generator generator". Psh easy. Just use some Lisp macros.
jkush 19y ago
So follow the current trend and provide tools that make those styles easy to produce.

by boucher 19y ago

izak30 19y ago

Excellent point. This is something that I'm very passionate about. Great developers are most often horrific designers; but they say things like "I like minimalistic designs", which, while true for us developer types (when we're looking for high-volume content), doesn't scale. If Web 2.0 is about the experience, a great design is just as important as a good idea. (that is not to say that one type of design IS web 2.0) I've written more extensively on it here: http://issackelly.com/blog/2007/10/new-way-of-managing-content-for-web.html http://issackelly.com/blog/2007/10/new-way-of-managing-conte... And I'm basing my startup around that exact idea. If you're a startup, get a co-founder with some serious design skills, it's more important than most of us want to admit.

timr 19y ago

Yeah...but the "geeks are bad with Photoshop" excuse doesn't explain the proliferation of cliche design elements. For example: it takes more work to generate a glossy bubble button than to not generate a glossy bubble button...but that doesn't seem to stop people from overusing them.

boucher 19y ago
Well, there are two contributors to this. One, there are online tutorials on how to generate glossy bubble buttons, and similar effects (mainly, anything Apple has ever done). And two, now there is a ____ generator for pretty much ever element.
- tlrobinson 19y ago
  http://www.ajaxflakes.com/web-20/top-100-online-generators-web-20/ http://www.ajaxflakes.com/web-20/top-100-online-generators-w... I challenge someone to create a "web 2.0 generator generator". Or a generator that uses these generators to generate a "web 2.0" site without any interaction from the developer. Not unlike the CS research paper generator that these guys wrote: http://pdos.csail.mit.edu/scigen/ http://pdos.csail.mit.edu/scigen/ Some of the papers were actually accepted into conferences.
  - omouse 19y ago
    I challenge someone to create a "web 2.0 generator generator". Psh easy. Just use some Lisp macros.

jkush 19y ago

So follow the current trend and provide tools that make those styles easy to produce.