No one cares about your website | Hacker News Reader

No one cares about your website

jasonlynes.com

4 pointsjasonlynes7 comments

An interesting title to pull me into a blog that confused me, was it about design or content. Jason seems to be saying content is the most important factor of a web site, i'd agree, but we live in a world that enjoys sleek and sexy.

I think Jason is wrong, people do care about design, it just depends on what site you are on. I for one definitely care about design of the Twitter pages I set up for people, and one's I look at. I appreciate the time people have put into the look and feel of a web site.

Sure people care about design, but they care about it most in a negative way, when it gets in the way and prevents them from getting to what they want. To me, the point of the article was that people notice bad design much more than they notice good design, and usability should come before shiny.

but some of us designers think usability and good design are the same thing! therefore, one cannot come before the other (in some hierarchical sense).

I think that's what he's actually trying to say there. In my own terminology, I agree good design is equivalent to good usability, but design is too often understood as "looks good", which is what the article is arguing against as less important.

I agree usability should come before shiny.

doesn't a lot of a/b testing refute what jason is saying here? I agree that if design gets in the way of the user, then of course it is going to have a negative effect. But it is my understanding that effective use of colors, borders, etc. can influence the actions your users take on the site.

don't confuse the post to say you or your design shouldn't be sexy. sexiness is a huge part of content. but what's underneath the shininess? people don't care unless there's something legitimate, and usually only if there's something that will help them personally..

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