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The Surprising Truth About Ugly Websites

Posted by ScuttleMonkey on Mon Mar 20, 2006 12:18 PM
from the make-them-stop dept.
nywanna writes "After seeing the example of Plenty of Fish and the reports of the site earning over $10,000/day in Adsense revenues, I quickly realized that there are a lot of ugly websites that are extremely successful. The reason for this, according to the article, is that ugly websites do a few things that beautiful websites tend to lack."
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  • slashdot (Score:5, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward on Monday March 20 2006, @12:20PM (#14957829)
    Maybe that's why slashdot is so successful?
  • Talk about Ugly.. (Score:5, Funny)

    Just look at the website for the article:
    Could not connect: User root has already more than 'max_user_connections' active connections
    • Re:Talk about Ugly.. by czarangelus (Score:1) Monday March 20 2006, @12:35PM
    • You think that's ugly... by CarpetShark (Score:2) Monday March 20 2006, @12:43PM
    • Re:Talk about Ugly.. (Score:5, Funny)

      by moochfish (822730) on Monday March 20 2006, @01:00PM (#14958244)
      Slashdot beat it with an ugly stick.
      [ Parent ]
    • You got lucky (Score:5, Insightful)

      by munch117 (214551) on Monday March 20 2006, @01:02PM (#14958260)
      I got the full article, and trust me, that was even worse. I had to switch off all colour and font sizes before it was bearable to read.

      And then there's the content. Like when he accuses IMDB of having "not even bothered" to change the browser-default font.

      In other news, nobody has yet bothered to hit me over the head with a pickaxe. I kinda appreciate that, just like I appreciate that imdb.com doesn't try to override the font that I have carefully selected and configured to be my browsers default.

      Perhaps the reason why all these supposedly ugly websites are successful, is that the author has a messed up idea of "ugly".
      [ Parent ]
      • Re:You got lucky (Score:5, Insightful)

        by Pneuma ROCKS (906002) on Monday March 20 2006, @03:07PM (#14959299)
        (http://jvillalobos.blogspot.com/)

        And it wasn't such a good article, anyway. The author seems to assume that an attractive website has to be elaborate or complex. The main conclusion is that the success of the size depends highly on simplicity and delivering the right message. I may not be a professional webmaster, but simplicity is one of my primary aims when I design a website, and I believe that beauty lies in simplicity.

        On the other hand, there are sites that are simple and ugly. This one is a perfect example indeed. But that's an inevitable side effect of having endless threaded discussions of variable lengths. I think the site delivers, and you eventually forget about the design and focus on what the next Soviet Russia joke should be. That's good design in my book.

        [ Parent ]
      • Re:You got lucky by EoN604 (Score:1) Monday March 20 2006, @09:53PM
        • 1 reply beneath your current threshold.
      • Uh, Broadband? by AoT (Score:3) Monday March 20 2006, @01:29PM
      • Re:You got lucky by 'nother poster (Score:1) Monday March 20 2006, @01:45PM
      • 1 reply beneath your current threshold.
    • ROOT?!? by clevershark (Score:1) Monday March 20 2006, @01:19PM
      • Re:ROOT?!? by leonmergen (Score:2) Monday March 20 2006, @03:23PM
        • Re:ROOT?!? by jZnat (Score:2) Monday March 20 2006, @11:27PM
      • Re:ROOT?!? by HappyDrgn (Score:2) Monday March 20 2006, @02:17PM
      • 1 reply beneath your current threshold.
    • Re:Talk about Ugly.. by Conanymous Award (Score:3) Monday March 20 2006, @01:40PM
    • PoF Ugly? by temojen (Score:2) Monday March 20 2006, @01:56PM
    • 1 reply beneath your current threshold.
  • ICQ (Score:5, Insightful)

    by MacBoy (30701) on Monday March 20 2006, @12:20PM (#14957837)
    The old ICQ website still tops my ugly list. It had multiple columns and went on forever. Info overload.
  • Obviously... by Anonymous Coward (Score:1) Monday March 20 2006, @12:21PM
    • 1 reply beneath your current threshold.
  • Well... (Score:5, Insightful)

    Maybe it has something to do with the actual content of the website?

    I'm sure that an ugly porn site would probably bring in more money than a pretty site about overpriced potato chips that you can ship from Pakistan.

  • Slashdot is successful too... (Score:3, Insightful)

    by xxxJonBoyxxx (565205) on Monday March 20 2006, @12:22PM (#14957860)
    "I quickly realized that there are a lot of ugly websites that are extremely successful"

    Example #1: Slashdot itself.

    • Re:Slashdot is successful too... by ericdano (Score:1) Monday March 20 2006, @12:31PM
      • Re:Slashdot is successful too... by Lehk228 (Score:2) Monday March 20 2006, @12:35PM
      • really (Score:5, Interesting)

        by diegocgteleline.es (653730) on Monday March 20 2006, @01:57PM (#14958720)
        Seriously. I mean, it's last "overhaul" was going to CSS. And what did we get? The SAME shit again.

        Sadly this is very true. Slashdot is pretty much 90's design, the usability is very poor...

        Starting with the main page [slashdot.org]. OK, I log in. So now I see my username at the left with links to my preferences, journal, etc. Then, I look at the right and...my username again. Sorry guys, can you just keep all user-related info in the SAME place? (Hint: usability is also the reason why many people uses livejournal and blogger instead of slashdot journals to blog)

        Then look at every commentary (ej, yours [slashdot.org]). Below your comment I see this link (with center alignment, I don't know why) " Re:Slashdot is successful too... by ericdano (Score:1) ". Where on earth is that link pointing to? OK, so everybody knows it's the parent, but where is the interface saying that to you?

        And the answers to that commentary are just below. Can't people just add a "Answers to this commentary", or something?

        And the centered "table" with information about the moderation. Do I really want to know the details of the moderation? Maybe if I've moderation points (I don't). What I don't understand is why that table is centered and far from the place where moderation is show (top of the commentary)

        Oh, and now let's go with the search field. Did you know slashdot has a search field? It has, it's just in the LAST place where you'd want it to be, in the top BOTTOM of every page.

        And the left "menu". There's SO MUCH unuseful crap there that it hurts.

        Oh, and the icons at the upper top of the page which represent the topics of the recently posted stories. It's just me who thinks that icons mean NOTHING? Even if you know what the icon means (and I doubt the computer icon means something to somebody in a computer-related site), if you want to tell users what have been the latest stories posted why not put some text about the stories themselves? Icons don't tell me if I want to click them - there're mozilla stories I want to read and there're mozilla stories I do NOT want to read so I just never click those icons

        Hell, I'm not even a usability expert, but it's clear that slashdot does NOT looks good. I know there's a page where you get the list of the stories recently posted by all users for example, but I have NO idea where to find it. Sometimes I find it but I quickly forget it because it's not obvious at all.

        There's a reason why sites like digg are gaining users: Is not that they're better, they just don't make you suffer to use them. They use javascript (slashdot could keep generating non-ajax code depending on the browser or keep a "old browser" compatibility page somewhere), etc.

        And if it takes two years to modify the slash code to make slashdot usable just like it took years to make slash to use CSS, it means the slash code is crap.
        [ Parent ]
        • Re:really by killerkalamari (Score:3) Monday March 20 2006, @02:36PM
          • Re:really by boingo82 (Score:1) Monday March 20 2006, @03:00PM
            • Re:really by chthon (Score:2) Tuesday March 21 2006, @06:35AM
              • Re:really by boingo82 (Score:1) Tuesday March 21 2006, @10:28AM
          • Re:really by mrchaotica (Score:2) Monday March 20 2006, @06:12PM
        • Re:really by cableshaft (Score:1) Monday March 20 2006, @03:27PM
        • Re:really by smallpaul (Score:2) Monday March 20 2006, @04:50PM
        • Re:really by pseudorand (Score:1) Monday March 20 2006, @06:20PM
        • Re:really by bigmouth_strikes (Score:2) Tuesday March 21 2006, @03:06AM
        • Re:really by diegocgteleline.es (Score:2) Monday March 20 2006, @06:36PM
        • 2 replies beneath your current threshold.
    • what's with the hate? (Score:4, Insightful)

      by thepotoo (829391) <thepotoospam@y a h o o . c om> on Monday March 20 2006, @01:00PM (#14958248)
      I don't understand why people don't like the look of slashdot. I've been visiting this site for several years and I'm not sick of the layout.
      It works.The design is simple, fast (most of the time), and works in any browser.

      Often, I hear people say OMG DIGG IS TEH PRETTIER: I'd rather have a site which is fast and easy to navigate than a site which is all eye candy and takes an hour to load.

      just my 2 cents.

      [ Parent ]
    • 1 reply beneath your current threshold.
  • Google. by babbling (Score:1) Monday March 20 2006, @12:22PM
    • Re:Google. by drooling-dog (Score:2) Monday March 20 2006, @12:36PM
    • Re:Google. by jbplou (Score:2) Monday March 20 2006, @12:43PM
      • Re:Google. by jandrese (Score:3) Monday March 20 2006, @01:00PM
        • Re:Google. by jbplou (Score:2) Monday March 20 2006, @01:07PM
          • Re:Google. by middlemen (Score:1) Monday March 20 2006, @03:05PM
            • Re:Google. by jbplou (Score:2) Monday March 20 2006, @03:14PM
        • Re:Google. by 'nother poster (Score:2) Monday March 20 2006, @01:10PM
      • Re:Google. by Skreems (Score:2) Monday March 20 2006, @01:40PM
        • Re:Google. by jbplou (Score:2) Monday March 20 2006, @01:57PM
          • Re:Google. by Skreems (Score:2) Monday March 20 2006, @03:07PM
        • Re:Google. by Pyrowolf (Score:1) Monday March 20 2006, @02:48PM
      • Re:Google. by babbling (Score:2) Monday March 20 2006, @01:42PM
        • Re:Google. by jbplou (Score:2) Monday March 20 2006, @01:53PM
          • Re:Google. by RetroGeek (Score:1) Monday March 20 2006, @03:13PM
          • Re:Google. by jdibb (Score:1) Monday March 20 2006, @04:29PM
  • Flipping through the various examples in The Zen of CSS Design [amazon.com] , for example, I am amazed by how gorgeous some of the effects are, but I know that I'd be quickly worn out if I had to use any of these on a regular basis. Sometimes simple design, even to the point of blocky quasi-socialist-realist functionality, works better even if it doesn't win awards for looks.
  • So? (Score:5, Funny)

    by NoseBag (243097) on Monday March 20 2006, @12:23PM (#14957873)
    ugly websites do a few things that beautiful websites tend to (not do).

    Ugly women often have the same virtue.
    • Re:So? by digitalhermit (Score:1) Monday March 20 2006, @12:29PM
    • Re:So? by Scyber (Score:2) Monday March 20 2006, @12:32PM
    • Re:So? by markild (Score:1) Monday March 20 2006, @12:35PM
    • Re:So? by Moby Cock (Score:2) Monday March 20 2006, @12:46PM
    • Re:So? by kattphud (Score:2) Monday March 20 2006, @01:10PM
      • Re:So? by FuzzyBad-Mofo (Score:1) Monday March 20 2006, @02:31PM
      • Re:So? by JaxGator75 (Score:1) Tuesday March 21 2006, @10:56AM
    • 1 reply beneath your current threshold.
  • ugly sites load fast by mytrip (Score:2) Monday March 20 2006, @12:24PM
  • Ugly, or Simple? (Score:4, Insightful)

    by ackthpt (218170) * on Monday March 20 2006, @12:25PM (#14957892)
    (http://www.dragonswest.com/ | Last Journal: Monday November 05, @07:35PM)

    Put the snob in the backseat for a moment and consider there's a difference between Ugly and Simple. Back in the early days there was a site [webpagesthatsuck.com] where I learned the fundamental difference between Form and Function, the bottom line is, as it always has been, Keep It Simple, Stupid.

    My designs tend to have a very small footprint and require minimal bandwidth. While I was building light weight search engines, the clod who over-saw our website put a massive graphic on the home page. Those, like myself, still on 2400 baud modems at the time had to sit and wait for that The Bob damn thing to load.

    Years later I was working with United Airlines Air Cargo and some brain at the top elected to replace a very simple, not pretty, but very simple interface with javascripts galore, whizzy graphics and image mapping, all in a kind of Black on Black, which would have Hotblack Desiato break out in a sweat, dead or not. It didn't work and they'd spent big on it.

    This isn't really an ugly site. On the other hand /. ... hmm.

  • Maddox (Score:4, Interesting)

    by Douglas Simmons (628988) on Monday March 20 2006, @12:25PM (#14957895)
    (http://assambassador.com/)
    One good example not mentioned: Maddox's The Best Page in the Universe [slashdot.org] prides itself on a very simple design and he gets a gillion hits. Not to mention he only uses a subdomain of his ISP.
  • Working on site by nywanna (Score:2) Monday March 20 2006, @12:25PM
  • Summary (Score:3, Funny)

    by truthsearch (249536) on Monday March 20 2006, @12:26PM (#14957902)
    (http://seenonslash.com/ | Last Journal: Friday May 11 2007, @04:02PM)
    When many people come to an ugly page they click somewhere just to get away from it.

    Personally I hit the back button, but I guess that's just me.
  • Why do they make so much in ad revenue? by jeffmeden (Score:2) Monday March 20 2006, @12:26PM
  • Proof... by Anonymous Coward (Score:1) Monday March 20 2006, @12:27PM
  • Adsense Crash by oirtemed (Score:2) Monday March 20 2006, @12:27PM
  • 10,000 Dollars a day? by Dawnspire (Score:1) Monday March 20 2006, @12:27PM
  • craigslist.org is a prime example (Score:4, Insightful)

    by RunFatBoy.net (960072) on Monday March 20 2006, @12:27PM (#14957925)
    I am constantly suprised at the amount of traffic Craig gets with his horrific design. It's cluttered, the colors are lacking, and lacks any personality. It's just a big blob of links.

    But then I remind myself that above all else, it's functional and has enough content to trump any bad design decisions. Content will always trump design. Even bad design.

    -- Jim http://www.runfatboy.net/ [runfatboy.net]
    • Re:craigslist.org is a prime example by Itchy Rich (Score:2) Monday March 20 2006, @01:20PM
    • Re:craigslist.org is a prime example (Score:5, Interesting)

      by saltydogdesign (811417) on Monday March 20 2006, @01:26PM (#14958460)
      I beg to differ. Craigslist is decidedly *not* horrific design. It is a very simple 5-column layout like you might find on, oh, a newspaper classified page. This is a familiar format to most people. The use of color is very plain and very simple, namely: blue = a link. There's a spot of red for emphasis, and yellow for the same purpose. The meaning of each column and each subcolumn is abundantly clear. There's quite a bit of text on the page, but there are sufficient margins and padding to keep it readible (and the san-serif font helps).

      There's nothing horrific about this design. Actually, it is quite functional -- a fact you appear to be aware of while ignoring the fact that, for the purposes of Craigslist, functionality is what good design is all about. And if you think nobody gave this any serious thought, you are a dolt.

      This gets to the heart of what I find annoying about many Slashdotters: there's a shared opinion here that design is something that is done solely for aesthetic purposes, and that designers are by nature too wrapped up in pretty pictures to do anything worthwhile. In fact, nothing could be further from the truth. Design is about enhancing the strengths of any material, and while those strengths are often informational, this is not always true. I don't think anyone would argue that Myst would be a better game if the developers had stripped out all the graphics, just as no one would argue that Craigslist would be improved by the addition of a bunch of images.

      Take a look at the world around you some time. If you live in a city, almost everything you come into contact with every day was touched upon at some point by a designer. That's not to say there's no bad design out there, but until you become aware of the designed-ness of your environment, it is far to easy to assume that "bad" is dominant.
      [ Parent ]
    • Re:craigslist.org is a prime example by rathehun (Score:2) Monday March 20 2006, @09:17PM
    • 1 reply beneath your current threshold.
  • something seems 'fishy' allright... (Score:5, Insightful)

    by EddieBurkett (614927) on Monday March 20 2006, @12:27PM (#14957926)
    Why do I have a feeling that this was all just an ad for plentyoffish.com? I mean, why not get a bunch of undersexed males to visit a page promising free matchmaking with plenty of pictures of cute women? The whole 'story' about ugly websites is really inconsequential. (And plentyoffish isn't all that ugly, IMHO.) I'm starting to get the feeling we've all fallen for this hook, line, and sinker.
  • Here's two examples: (Score:5, Informative)

    by MSBob (307239) on Monday March 20 2006, @12:28PM (#14957936)
    http://www.ebay.com/ [ebay.com]
    http://www.amazon.com/ [amazon.com]

    Butt ugly, horrible backends and still rolling in dough.

  • Article Text by Anonymous Coward (Score:1) Monday March 20 2006, @12:29PM
  • Not about ugliness at last by 4D6963 (Score:1) Monday March 20 2006, @12:29PM
  • Form and functionality. (Score:3, Insightful)

    by keilinw (663210) * on Monday March 20 2006, @12:29PM (#14957949)
    (http://www.themindofmatthew.com/ | Last Journal: Friday March 10 2006, @06:16PM)
    I've seen plenty of "pretty" websites that are absolutely worthless. This only goes to show that aesthetic appeal is NOT the most important factor in website development. Function -- comprising primarily of layout, usability, accessibility, platform, type, etc -- is the CORE of a good website design. Also, don't forget about content!

    It is almost like a pyramid with content and functionality being the foundation for a good website. On top of the pyramid is the "polish" or aesthetic design. I'm sure that we'll all agree that aesthetics and human computer interactions (usability, flow, etc -- the stuff that Apple is notorious for) are also very important.... but, like anything else, it is a blend of form AND functionality. What good is a website if it ONLY works on Opera? What good is a great UI if there is not functionality? You get the point.

    Now what would be quite interesting is to apply these concepts to people! As we all know, looks aren't everything! But hey, that certain polish certainly makes a difference.

    Matthew K. Wong http://www.themindoffmatthew.com [themindofmatthew.com]
  • Hmm... by Virak (Score:1) Monday March 20 2006, @12:30PM
  • It's about simplicity, not ugliness (Score:5, Interesting)

    by Maximum Prophet (716608) on Monday March 20 2006, @12:30PM (#14957954)
    Man, he doesn't come out and call Google ugly, but he implies it. He doesn't get it. It's really about the simplicity, rather than the aesthetics. Simple websites that provide people a real service *work*.

    I remember working for a major shipping company and the marketers were just discovering the web. People used our website because they wanted to know where there packages were. *Now*. The marketroids were looking at ways to keep people glued to the site longer so they could sell them more services. We had to constantly battle to keep the tracking as simple as possible so that people could get on and get off quickly.
  • Define 'Ugly' by Stavr0 (Score:1) Monday March 20 2006, @12:30PM
  • I guess the truth is.. by NorbrookC (Score:2) Monday March 20 2006, @12:30PM
  • I mostly agree (Score:5, Insightful)

    by drhamad (868567) on Monday March 20 2006, @12:31PM (#14957966)
    (http://www.fmvperformance.com/)
    I mostly agree with the article, but I'd rephrase it. This is not about "ugly sells" but rather about "simple sells." Having flashy pages simply distracts from the message. But having nicely formatted text can be nice. eBay or Google may be "ugly," but more accurately they're simple (although I sort of disagree about eBay). Google doesn't load up its page with tons of junk, as does Yahoo... and that's probably why I use Google.

    One thing I really disagree with is the articles talk about trust, how people feel they can trust an ugly website more than a nice one. Here, personally, I think that if somebody can't afford nice webdesign, they can't afford good web security. That being said, this is where my rephrase comes in again - simple and clean design leads me to trust a site more than does flashy sites.

    To be fair, the article does talk about simplicity a lot... I just feel that it points to ugliness instead of simplicity as the driving factor, and that's not quite correct. Simple sites may be ugly, but they don't have to be - and if they're not, simple and clean is better than simple and ugly.
  • MySpace... (Score:5, Insightful)

    by moosesocks (264553) on Monday March 20 2006, @12:34PM (#14957991)
    (http://www.last.fm/user/schmod)
    The one site in particular that sticks out in my mind has having particularly bad design is MySpace [myspace.com]. Total information overload, poor organization of content, and horrible horrible backend code (servers are slow as molasses, and my sessions are frequently expired inexplicably).

    I understand that it's a 'community' site, but I honestly don't feel a part of that at all. It's difficult to build a huge online community unless users can selectively segregate themselves into groups. This is part of the reason why Facebook and Flickr are both extremely successful.

    Granted, there are ugly sites with truly great content [aintitcool.com] that balances out the fact that the site's rather ugly. Likewise, there are a host of very pretty sites that are lacking in the content department.

    Although I used to consider myself more of an content guy and the type of guy who uses the command line for most tasks, I find myself gravitating toward sites that although they may not offer as many features, are easier to use, and are visually appealing. Flickr is probably the best example of this. With CSS, there is no excuse to have a poorly designed site. CSS makes it ridiculously easy to propogate an attractive design across your entire site. If you already know basic HTML, you can pick up all the CSS you need to know in a few days. Likewise, CSS also means people can finally stop using Photoshop as a design tool.

    With CSS, formerly ugly sites can make themselves pretty [dansdata.com] with very little effort. Slashdot went to great lengths with their stylesheet to make sure they preserved the old ugly layout.
  • Working for Google (Score:5, Insightful)

    by jdavidb (449077) * on Monday March 20 2006, @12:34PM (#14957997)
    (http://voiceofjohn.blogspot.com/ | Last Journal: Tuesday October 30, @11:44AM)

    I think there are some very good points here. I've always valued functionality over form and beauty. (I own ten year old cars, for example.)

    But it's interesting to me that he defines success as making a lot of ad revenue. My websites do not exist to get me revenue. They exist to build communities. Somebody else might have yet another definition of success for his website. I think the general principles raised are true no matter what the purpose of your site is, but I find it interesting that some people don't see a point for their site other than "make a lot of money carrying Google ads." More power to them if they can ... it means they are providing something people want, financing it through advertizing, and making a bundle along the way. It's just not my purpose in having a website.

  • Its not the look of a website (Score:4, Interesting)

    by TheSkepticalOptimist (898384) on Monday March 20 2006, @12:36PM (#14958015)
    Its the content.

    Slashdot ain't that pretty, honestly. But what draws people here is the content. PlentyOfFish is a dating service, that is free, and there are lots of people looking for love out there.

    The quality of the website can't be judged by how good or bad it looks. Just like a book cover or people, beauty rarely is the sole reason something is ever successful or popular.

    Some of the best looking websites out there don't get an audience because the content sucks or is irrelevant.

    If you have a website that is making tonnes of money, why bother wasting any of it to glam it up?
  • by javaxman (705658) on Monday March 20 2006, @12:36PM (#14958019)
    (Last Journal: Monday January 23 2006, @12:19PM)
    I'm sorry... a simple web page does not usually mean an ugly web page.

    What's so ugly about that web page ? The colors are pleasing, the eye flows down the page, the content is easy to navigate. What did you want, a stupid Flash splash screen ?

    My idea of an ugly web page is one with lots of dancing sausage, banner and other ads not only at the top but down the side, a web page where you just don't know what to look at, with an unpredictable mishmash of colors and unrelated content. I like a simple, fast loading web page better than some flash/javascript/rollover-magic animated slow-loading mess. Somehow I'm not shocked that a simple web page often does better than a complex one. The only people shocked to learn simple, organized groupings of information are more popular than some complex ones are graphic designers and such who are too impressed by their own tricks.

    Form fitting function- that's beauty in design.

  • What is an 'ugly' website? (Score:5, Insightful)

    by tehshen (794722) <tehshen@gmail.com> on Monday March 20 2006, @12:37PM (#14958030)
    My personal website is all divs and styles, without any images. Any website that strays too far from this is, to me, ugly (and looking at some of the posts, I guess others are of the same opinion), especially if it's linking to ads.

    I know people who are jumping on Bandwagon 2.0 and insisting that all websites should be AJAXified (ugh), and must have flashy graphics and rounded corners, and if you don't do that then your page is all boring and ugly.

    There are also art people who spend all the time making their page look nice and don't actually put their content first. Their page might not be ugly, but it's not usable either.

    Then there are the people who think HTML is ugly and go with Flash. Bastards.

    The point of this long post is that a page may be 'ugly' to you but 'nice' to someone else. To all those people citing Google or Maddox as examples, 'simple' != 'ugly' - you may like it, and it may not be too flashy, but there are plenty of simple and ugly websites out there. (Green text on green background anyone?)

    Not to mention, that the people who spend more time offering services and writing content than caring about the design might actually have more of a clue of what they are doing.
  • Advertising Design by kartaron (Score:1) Monday March 20 2006, @12:40PM
  • Could not connect: by rs232 (Score:1) Monday March 20 2006, @12:41PM
  • Here's some simple ugly functional ones. by iplayfast (Score:2) Monday March 20 2006, @12:42PM
    • 1 reply beneath your current threshold.
  • Simplicity by dvdsmith (Score:1) Monday March 20 2006, @12:43PM
  • Pretty eh? by Dimentox (Score:1) Monday March 20 2006, @12:43PM
  • by MarkByers (770551) on Monday March 20 2006, @12:45PM (#14958123)
    (http://markbyers.com/ | Last Journal: Monday July 24 2006, @12:54PM)
    ...was a breach of Google's AdSense contract?

    PS I have an ugly site. Can I have a front page link too? Thanks!
  • "about your website" actual spam received by Bloody Peasant (Score:2) Monday March 20 2006, @12:47PM
  • Before or After by mtenhagen (Score:2) Monday March 20 2006, @12:50PM
  • This is "insight"? by moochfish (Score:1) Monday March 20 2006, @12:53PM
  • Definition of "ugly"? by Opportunist (Score:2) Monday March 20 2006, @12:57PM
  • Myspace if fugly. (Score:3, Informative)

    by Captain Scurvy (818996) on Monday March 20 2006, @12:57PM (#14958220)
    (http://www.xanga.com/captainscurvy)
    *Ahem* Case in point: Myspace. It is one of the most sluggish, kludgy, and ugly websites I have ever seen, but it is also one of the most successful.
  • This might be a false premise by mackil (Score:1) Monday March 20 2006, @01:00PM
  • Everybody Knows.. by Joebert (Score:1) Monday March 20 2006, @01:04PM
  • Get me out of here! by dada21 (Score:2) Monday March 20 2006, @01:07PM
  • Ugly != Ineffective; Ugly != uninteresting by ursabear (Score:2) Monday March 20 2006, @01:08PM
  • spam by dwight0 (Score:1) Monday March 20 2006, @01:10PM
  • by Animats (122034) on Monday March 20 2006, @01:11PM (#14958334)
    (http://www.animats.com)
    Marithe Francois Girbaud [girbaud.com], which sells good jeans, has an artistically beautiful web site. Interactive Flash pictures of jeans, with pop-up detail insets and info. Video of fashion shows. A long flash intro. Flash intros for each section. Cute animations. Menus of blank colored squares that display text only when the mouse is over them. Menus that move one way when you move the mouse the other way. A countries menu that starts out with a rotating 3D cube view of the world. Very cool, in an 1980s way.

    Can you figure out how to order something? How long did it take you? Keep trying. They really do sell online. Can you find the link? You'll find it quickly with Google (they have an ordinary Yahoo Store site), but can you find it on their main site? Don't give up. It will be worth it.

  • Our site is ugly but we're still here by Control-Z (Score:2) Monday March 20 2006, @01:12PM
  • apples and oranges by l3v1 (Score:2) Monday March 20 2006, @01:22PM
  • You can tell this guy's an idiot... by ZombieRoboNinja (Score:2) Monday March 20 2006, @01:24PM
  • Good looking Web sites don't do everything well by twocents (Score:1) Monday March 20 2006, @01:29PM
  • What does it take for a website to be beautiful? by Anonymous Coward (Score:1) Monday March 20 2006, @01:30PM
  • Ugly always works by hhawk (Score:2) Monday March 20 2006, @01:32PM
  • Can't get to the site, but ... by eck011219 (Score:1) Monday March 20 2006, @01:32PM
  • KISS Method by VeryHotTopic (Score:1) Monday March 20 2006, @01:32PM
  • Site of reference article is badly designed, IMHO by dvdsmith (Score:1) Monday March 20 2006, @01:34PM
  • What matters by Todd Knarr (Score:2) Monday March 20 2006, @01:38PM
  • Ugly Sites and Free Software by parvin (Score:1) Monday March 20 2006, @01:39PM
  • Just like gaming by v_1matst (Score:1) Monday March 20 2006, @01:44PM
  • Pass all the exams. by RRRobotHouse (Score:1) Monday March 20 2006, @01:47PM
  • Ugly, or just simple. Depends what you need. by MarkWatson (Score:2) Monday March 20 2006, @01:54PM
  • The techdirt website recently got beautified... by posterlogo (Score:2) Monday March 20 2006, @01:55PM
    • 1 reply beneath your current threshold.
  • Nothing to see... move along by dzfoo (Score:2) Monday March 20 2006, @01:59PM
  • examples by wastedbrains (Score:1) Monday March 20 2006, @02:00PM
  • Stupid talking head by cyberfunk2 (Score:2) Monday March 20 2006, @02:02PM
  • What about the $10K a day? by ccordero (Score:1) Monday March 20 2006, @02:09PM
  • Are they all *really* ugly by MickoZ (Score:1) Monday March 20 2006, @02:09PM
  • ugly? KISS by penguin-collective (Score:2) Monday March 20 2006, @02:11PM
  • Yet again, Content is king by robertjw (Score:2) Monday March 20 2006, @02:11PM
  • Ugly site with Free Music! by bodland (Score:1) Monday March 20 2006, @02:13PM
  • Example #2 by dargaud (Score:2) Monday March 20 2006, @02:15PM
  • Ugly means something TOTALLY different to me! by kp_sidekick (Score:1) Monday March 20 2006, @02:26PM
  • BUT..... by UK Boz (Score:1) Monday March 20 2006, @02:45PM
  • Linux virtual server by muadda (Score:1) Monday March 20 2006, @02:46PM
  • Design problems with the article (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Xugumad (39311) on Monday March 20 2006, @02:57PM (#14959218)

    Moving past the "The article is really ugly, it's just an error mesage" jokes, here's some issues with the article:

    1. Mis-placed Google ads. What are they doing just under the title? Sure, it's eye-catching, but I don't want to have to scroll down to get at the article I've asked for.
    2. Fixed width. The page doesn't fit horizontally on my browser! Why? Well, lets start with the fact that someone decided that 450pixels is how wide I want the article. That's a really bad sign. Also, what's with the wasted space on the right hand side - for goodness sake people, stuff the Google ads in there! I can expand my window, but heaven help anyone using an 800x600 display.
    3. I'm scrolling, and suddenly some freaky Flash app is offering to speak text! Why on earth would I want a Flash application that speaks text I have to enter myself into the box? It, and the newsletter signup are apparently so incredibly important they need a quarter of the horizontal width of the page!
    4. It's all Arial. Arial, and other sans-serif fonts look very pretty, but are optimised towards small sections of text. Large blocks of text, such as article text, should be done using a serif font like Times, for readability.

    Getting pickier here... the header (blue on blue) is hard to read. Links are the wrong colour - as a user, brown-ish red means a link I've already been to, not a new link. It may look pretty, but it breaks user expectations.

    Look at the "Rate This Article" at the bottom. It uses numbers as links. Great, I just love single character anchors.

    The problem with web design is that too many companies hire people who came from advertising. The web is not an advertising medium - you can advertise as part of it, but fundamentally, if I'm reading your site, you have my attention already. Stop trying to get my attention, and focus on letting me get to the information I want as quickly and efficiently as possible. I'm am not here to drool over how many hours you spent deciding my web browser is 900 pixels wide, I am here to acquire information and move on to something more enjoyable.

    Having said that, actually ugly web sites are bad. If your website looks like you just discovered the header 1-5 buttons in Dreamweaver, and would have used a blinking marquee if you knew how, I'm going to avoid it. Bright yellow 24pt text on a light blue background is going to give me a headache. Plain websites are fine (Slashdot), efficient websites are ideal (GMail), but pretty sites I have to wrestle to get anywhere on, or ugly sites that look like they were created by a colour blind five year old are bad.

  • Minimalist by Ponder Stibions (Score:1) Monday March 20 2006, @03:05PM
  • THE TRUTH ABOUT STUPID ARTICLES by autopr0n (Score:2) Monday March 20 2006, @03:08PM
  • Maybe "plain" is better word ... by jabelar (Score:1) Monday March 20 2006, @03:09PM
  • craigslist is NOT ugly by gnudutch (Score:1) Monday March 20 2006, @03:10PM
  • Pretty sites are the plague by Frozen Void (Score:1) Monday March 20 2006, @03:13PM
  • The guy needs some schooling (Score:3, Interesting)

    by Anonymous Coward on Monday March 20 2006, @03:16PM (#14959392)
    The first thing you learn in design school (I went to SIU) is "form follows function."

    Jacob Nielson's site, [useit.com], is a good place to start. From his latest article:

    Growing a Business Website: Fix the Basics First
    Summary:
    Offering clear content, simple navigation, and answers to customer questions have the biggest impact on business value. Advanced technology matters much less.

    He then lists "the biggest issues that led to lost business value in some of our recent consulting projects."

    Also from Nielson's latest: "the biggest design flaws destroying business value typically involve Communicating clearly, Providing information users want, and Offering simple, consistent page design, clear navigation, and an information architecture that puts things where users expect to find them."

    In short, as Nielson puts it: "Content rules. It did ten years ago, and it does today."

    -mcgrew(.info for my ugly site:)
  • K.I.S.S. by boristdog (Score:1) Monday March 20 2006, @03:17PM
  • odd perception of ugly (Score:4, Interesting)

    by drew (2081) on Monday March 20 2006, @03:17PM (#14959401)
    (http://www.drewandkim.com/)
    This guy seems to have a very odd perception of ugly. While I will grant that Plenty of Fish may not be the most attractive page ever, I would have to take issue with many of the other sites listed in the article. Craig's list is most certainly not ugly, and neither is Google (he doesn't outright call Google ugly, but he certainly implies it). And while I do see room for improvement on imdb, I see nothing wrong with their choice (or rather, lack thereof) of font. He seems to associate simplicity and functionality with ugliness, which is many times the opposite of the truth. Unfortunate, because he makes good points about functionality and targetting the right audience and then throws it all away when he calls sites that do these things "ugly".

    To borrow a thought from a previous thread here, he probably thinks Microsoft's redesigned iPod package [ipodobserver.com] is prettier than the original as well.

    After having read the actual article, I am left with the distasteful impression that this article is nothing more than a cleverly disguised ad for an ad supported dating website.
  • Ultimately... by orthodoxRebel (Score:1) Monday March 20 2006, @03:22PM
  • ISP Tech Support by creeves1982 (Score:1) Monday March 20 2006, @03:28PM
  • I don't know about you by Atroxodisse (Score:1) Monday March 20 2006, @03:31PM
  • What is uglu? by Vadim Makarov (Score:2) Monday March 20 2006, @04:25PM
  • It'll be more than $10,000 today by joe_n_bloe (Score:2) Monday March 20 2006, @04:45PM
  • Chain of events... by spamguy (Score:2) Monday March 20 2006, @04:48PM
  • I'd rather look at ugly than flash+javascript by bgalbrecht (Score:1) Monday March 20 2006, @05:39PM
  • shitty sites make ad money by MikeFM (Score:2) Monday March 20 2006, @06:13PM
  • Say what? by Geminii (Score:1) Monday March 20 2006, @07:57PM
  • From the Best Page in the Universe [thebestpag...iverse.net], about halfway down:

    "2. Protest. I'm keeping my web site shitty as a protest against all the slick-looking, contentless web sites out there. Nobody cares about your stupid rotating icons and fading links. Mine isn't the only site on the internet that uses a simple layout, perhaps you've heard of this one?

    _Picture of Google here_

    Some webmasters have spent years tweaking their layout and designing their site, and very few get any traffic. This site, as shitty as it looks, gets over 1 million visits per month. I use large fonts also as a protest against all the stylish garbage you see out there. When I go to a web site, I WANT TO READ THE CONTENT. Trust me, that micro-font everyone uses isn't nearly as original as they think. ..."


    All Hail Maddox!
  • Marcus from Plentyoffish by Chatmag (Score:2) Monday March 20 2006, @08:50PM
  • Ugly vs Beautiful, Text vs GUI? by cobras2 (Score:2) Monday March 20 2006, @10:57PM
  • Why Drudge Rocks by professorfalcon (Score:1) Tuesday March 21 2006, @12:33AM
  • duh by Jookey (Score:1) Tuesday March 21 2006, @11:47AM
  • Ugly? by angel'o'sphere (Score:2) Tuesday March 21 2006, @04:53PM
  • Re:That's what I call ugly!!! by Azarael (Score:2) Monday March 20 2006, @12:23PM
  • Running the web dameon as root, now that's ugly.
    [ Parent ]
  • Please stop trolling Digg for stories! by pegr (Score:1) Monday March 20 2006, @12:26PM
  • Re:Ugly web page by j00r0m4nc3r (Score:1) Monday March 20 2006, @12:31PM
  • Re:Ugly sites... by AndroidCat (Score:2) Monday March 20 2006, @12:38PM
  • Re:Please stop trolling Digg for stories! by eno2001 (Score:1) Monday March 20 2006, @12:38PM
  • Re:How is this already slashdotted? by prgrmr (Score:2) Monday March 20 2006, @12:47PM
  • Re:Ugly sites... by Anonymous Coward (Score:1) Monday March 20 2006, @01:00PM
  • If it smells fishy... by Chapter80 (Score:2) Monday March 20 2006, @02:43PM
  • Re:Please stop trolling Digg for stories! by arose (Score:2) Monday March 20 2006, @04:18PM
  • 27 replies beneath your current threshold.
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