Are trends just the lazy way to design? Each new wave of “cool” brings a new wave of cookie-cutter designs. Is the art of design so fickle that originality is shunned for the “do what works” mentality?
It’s understandable that a specific designer has a style or a signature. However, it is bizarre that an entire culture will follow a design trend almost unwittingly. For the case of Web 2.0, we’ve definitely struck a design nerve and a style for this generation of the web. I don’t have to show you the design similarities between websites vastly different in content from each other, as I’m sure you’re inundated with them every minute you spend online.
Read the best part…
As you might have noticed, the blog got a bit of a facelift. Hi. That’s me.
After 3 months, I thought it was about time some more personality was added to the look of the blog. I’ve been putting off completely redesigning for awhile, but I think this new look will make you very happy. It makes me happy, anyway.
On a monthly basis I’ll be changing the header image to a new wacky photo of myself to keep things fresh. If you have any suggestions as to what pose or what I should wear in a photo, I might be open to ideas.
I want this blog to be a fun and entertaining experience and if you learn something, then great. I love that my readers share their insights and opinions. Rarely do I turn away a comment unless it’s an outright flame. It’s good to hear truth more than it is to hear praise (not that it’s not appreciated), but I like to think of blogging as a conversation with my readers.
Finally, I don’t really think anyone has all the answers — I know I certainly don’t. As big dreamers it’s nice to know we’re all on the same road looking for a big break, a way to the top, or just some form of happiness. The road to success isn’t as lonely as you think.
I want to thank you all for reading and hope that you continue to enjoy, share, and succeed.
Now go own the world.
-Ravi Vora
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Welcome to 2007. Where we don’t have flying cars, teleportation isn’t possible, the apocalypse hasn’t consumed Earth, and we are still designing for 800 x 600.
While all of the cutting edge websites are designing for 1024 x 768 and above, big industries are still focused on the ugly half-brother (ok, 3/4-brother) for usability. However, even from a usability standpoint, the likelihood of someone running 800 x 600 and having the capability to run their snazzy flash banner is very unlikely. They are probably using IE4 on a Pentium III trying to barrel through their text-only version browsing experience wondering, “Where are all the frames and animated gifs?” They just don’t make the internet like they used to. Instead, we have expandable websites, SVGs, and flash. Scrolling isn’t the problem either since most people expect to scroll in a Web 2.0 environment (more information on, statistics about, and knowledge of a “foldless” internet can be found here)
That’s not to say I don’t understand that resolution is a factor when designing for certain platforms or demographics. Yes, the iPhone is cool, can browse the web, and is tiny. That’s why Apple included the two-finger zoom feature (which is the coolest thing on the phone anyway). I know you’re thinking, “but what about the people who have bad vision?” Enter eyeglasses. Enter resizable fonts. Enter screen readers. Exit bad design. Grandma shouldn’t be on MySpace anyway.
Yes, I love my big font Web 2.0 styles. Yes, I love clean and simple design. Yes, I love standards. But most of all, I love standards and design that evolve to cope with the new generation of their audience and user base. So stop designing for 800 x 600 and start making beautiful websites for those obnoxiously high resolutions of the future.
Now go own the world.
-Ravi Vora
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