Andy Brudtkuhl

I just read an article I found through The Web Design Blog, which is a great web design resource. Mark Daoust recently wrote an article for SiteReference about how ugly websites are fine. In ‘The Surprising Truth About Ugly Websites‘, Mark provides several examples and ideas about how ugly websites are just as good as well-designed sites. Well Mark, I think it’s safe to say that Get A New Browser disagrees with this notion.

Here’s our two cents worth.

“The example of Plenty of Fish lead me to consider how an ugly website could be so successful. As I looked around, I suddenly realized that this was not the only successful ugly website. Ebay is unbelievably ugly, Craigslist has never won an award for innovative design, and IMDB has never even bothered to format their text out of the default Times New Roman. What is it about ugly websites that makes them so successful?”

Our View: Content sells websites. Sure, CraigsList is ugly, eBay is ugly, and Google is less than appealing. Your conclusion is that because these are some of the most successful websites that design does not matter. But would re-design hurt? No. Maybe they will be more successful if they enhanced their user experience. So, why not use design to enhance your content?

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“Yet the fact is, ugly websites do have the ability to present the perfect marketing message. What is that message?

You can trust us. We are a family run business and do not employ a marketing team. Our website is simple, but functional. Most importantly, our goal is to serve our customers, not necessarily learn HTML.”

…

“And this is one reason that ugly websites can sell. The lack of professionalism and a polished look leads one to believe that they are dealing with an individual. Websites cannot be trusted, but individuals can be trusted.”

Our View: When I see an ugly web site the second thing I think of after ‘I’m not going to waste my time here’ is ‘This can’t be legitimate’. I see an ugly site and I think that it’s generated spam or one of those ad sites you go to when you type in a wrong url.

A polished site creates an image of professionalism and integrity. As a customer you are telling me that you value my experience with my site by the work that you put into it. Would you buy a new car that the automaker decided not to paint? Would you buy a new house if the homebuilder decided to only build half the structure becuase the home would still stand?

“The general lesson here is simplicity. A beautiful website may draw a user in initially, but a simple website will keep your users coming back. If one of your users gets lost trying to navigate your website, check out of your web store, or finding simple contact information, then you unnecessarily are increasing the chances that this user will simply leave.”

Our View: Does beautiful design not directly contribute to simplicity? Good design creates good navigation. Good design organizes content. Good design eases and enhances the user’s experience. Organized content is what makes sites sticky.

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“The second question is a rule that should apply to every website: functionality is more important than the design of your website.”

Our view: Good design produces the best functionality. Want proof? Ask 37Signals.

The Surprising Truth About Ugly Websites – Mark Daoust

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Move over Web 2.0, Web 3.0 is knocking on the door. It’s going to barge in and use you as its floormat to become the buzziest of terms.

Okay, the idea is cool and all and it’s a great extension of Web 2.0 architecture. But, please, please come up with something better than ‘Web 3.0′. We’re all clever people.

As I said the idea is merely an extension of Web 2.0 architecutre meaning that Web 3.0 takes over where Web 2.0 leaves off. So, why not Web 2.1? I don’t know. Apparently I do not have the power to create naming conventions. Regardless it adds layers such as API, Aggregation, and Delivery (which I think are all products of Web 2.0). Anyway, I put together a graph of my interpretations of the analysis.

To explain, Web 1.0 is all about retrieval. It is the base platform (HTTP protocol) that provides the distribution of content. Web 2.0 championed in the idea of a read / write situation where the community and the publishers are producing content. Web 2.0 created a two way interactive environment. In my mind this ‘Web 3.0′ model applies to companies currently in tact, a la Megite, Memeorandum, and Edgeio. It deals with the extension of the software as a service model into the software as a platform model.

As Jeffery Zeldman said in his excellent post, ‘Web 3.0‘, “As for me, I?m cutting out the middleman and jumping right to Web 3.0. Why wait?”. I’m in.

Phil Wainright is all over it.

Photostream

? Web 3.0 at Spark in Las Vegas | Software as services | ZDNet.com

tags: web 2.0, web 3.0, internet, business, technology

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1. new getanewbrowser redesign
– layout and design complete
– need to hack archives in wordpress to do what we want
– migrate and lunch

2. product / service launch (a small building block to additional ideas)

3. case studies and analysis
– design studies from TJ
– reviews from both of us
– business analysis from andy

4. we’ve been getting a lot of beta invites that we may now have time to catch up on after the new ganb release.
– i am most excited about an offer we received to beta test Gmail for domains
– also on deck are reviews for wufooo and more

5. we got ideas brewing. stay tuned for good stuff

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In a post in middle November on 37Signals’ blog Signals vs Noise, Jason Fried asked “Have we jumped the shark?”. Jumping the shark is a term to describe something that has passed its peak.

Well it’s safe to say that, at least, 37Signals has yet to jump the referred to shark. Before reading the post in which Jason explains their Business Week debut, I happened upon it while flipping through the recent delivery Monday evening (See for yourself in the March 17, 2006 issue — page 72-73). In an article describing the ‘Speed Demons’ of business, Steve Hamm writes about “How smart companies are creating new products – and whole new business – almost overnight.” Overall it was a pretty good article that spans varying industries and evident examples of how these processes are used in the real world.

The lesson from 37Signals – be simple. If you want more read Getting Real, or at least the post that started it all.

Additionally as interesting is a feature in the latest Wired mag (Wired, 04|2006, page 26) about David Heinemeier Hansson. He’s a partner at 37Signals who is mainly in charge of development and is the brains behind Ruby on Rails, an increasingly popular web development framework. Anyway, Wired claims David as “The hottest hacker on Earth”.

After seeing the second article about them in two days I flipped through my freshly delivered Business 2.0 mag. Unfortunately they did not make it in “Best-Kept Secrets of the world’s best companies”. There’s always next year.

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