Aah, that's always a controversial question, on one hand, some universal rules of usability do exist, but on the other hand, everyone's habits, taste and use cases are very different.
The most neutral definition of a "well designed" website, without any further context, could be "created in a way that helps users achieve intended goals efficiently, while keeping max number of users happy about its look".
Again, different audiences will have very different answers. Here at HN, sites like https://www.mcmaster.com/ and https://www.craigslist.org win – because HN users appreciate old look and how efficient these sites are.
https://www.apple.com/ is an industry standard of a marketing site for consumer tech. It's not universally "well designed".
Aah, that's always a controversial question, on one hand, some universal rules of usability do exist, but on the other hand, everyone's habits, taste and use cases are very different.
That's right! To me, personally, a well-designed website is:
- Quick and responsive
- Easy on the eyes
- Easy on the mind
- Doesn't yell at me with unpleasant effects, oversized videos, or nervous ads
- Doesn't surprise me
Tbh I don't think craigslist is well designed. I love craigslist from an artistic perspective, but in terms of design there's a lot of confusing aspects.
slightly tangential, but where do people get awesome landing pages like linear(https://fig.io/. has similar landing page) etc. Do they build them in-house or buy templates somewhere? Many of the recently launched YC companies have awesome landing pages. eg. https://automorphic.ai/,
I guess people get awesome landing pages the same way they get any other pages :-)
* either build them in-house if there are skills;
* or buy a template and customise it;
* or hire a designer/developer/team to do it. The awesomeness of the result directly depends on clarity of requirements, I think.
As an example, I recently designed a website for BinaryNights [0], and we did use Linear.app as a starting reference, but during the discussions quickly shifted towards more minimalistic approach.
A lot of them pay external design houses to do it. There are several design houses that I know of that are ex YC founders so the connection is already there.
Comments
Aah, that's always a controversial question, on one hand, some universal rules of usability do exist, but on the other hand, everyone's habits, taste and use cases are very different.
The most neutral definition of a "well designed" website, without any further context, could be "created in a way that helps users achieve intended goals efficiently, while keeping max number of users happy about its look".
Again, different audiences will have very different answers. Here at HN, sites like https://www.mcmaster.com/ and https://www.craigslist.org win – because HN users appreciate old look and how efficient these sites are.
https://www.apple.com/ is an industry standard of a marketing site for consumer tech. It's not universally "well designed".
Other examples of well done marketing pages: https://www.sketch.com/ ; https://statamic.com/ ; https://linear.app/ got its share of hype recently.
Other times, a website is well designed because its content is awesome and is easy to consume. See https://ciechanow.ski/ and https://www.joshwcomeau.com/
Is https://github.com/ well designed? As an amateur developers, I'd say yes.
Is https://htmx.org/ well designed? Hmm, at a glance, there's no design at all. Is no design also design? That's a rabbit hole.
P.S. I often hear my website is well-designed :-)
That's right! To me, personally, a well-designed website is: - Quick and responsive - Easy on the eyes - Easy on the mind - Doesn't yell at me with unpleasant effects, oversized videos, or nervous ads - Doesn't surprise me
That is universal for any kind of website.
I should have said "objective", not "universal" probably. E.g. "Doesn't surprise me" will be different for different people.
Tbh I don't think craigslist is well designed. I love craigslist from an artistic perspective, but in terms of design there's a lot of confusing aspects.
slightly tangential, but where do people get awesome landing pages like linear(https://fig.io/. has similar landing page) etc. Do they build them in-house or buy templates somewhere? Many of the recently launched YC companies have awesome landing pages. eg. https://automorphic.ai/,
I guess people get awesome landing pages the same way they get any other pages :-)
* either build them in-house if there are skills;
* or buy a template and customise it;
* or hire a designer/developer/team to do it. The awesomeness of the result directly depends on clarity of requirements, I think.
As an example, I recently designed a website for BinaryNights [0], and we did use Linear.app as a starting reference, but during the discussions quickly shifted towards more minimalistic approach.
[0] https://binarynights.com/
A lot of them pay external design houses to do it. There are several design houses that I know of that are ex YC founders so the connection is already there.