someone in a casual setting doing a thing on their device
August 26, 2015 5:17 AM Subscribe
These are all very different services. Several of them are cool and useful, but it’s hard to tell them apart. - Send In The Clones
A sans font in white just reeks of customer success.
posted by scruss at 5:49 AM on August 26, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by scruss at 5:49 AM on August 26, 2015 [1 favorite]
The tyranny of the template.
posted by Thorzdad at 5:52 AM on August 26, 2015 [2 favorites]
posted by Thorzdad at 5:52 AM on August 26, 2015 [2 favorites]
It's like Geocities, but for the early 21st C.
People will laugh about this nostalgically in 20 years. Well, you know, while they are rooting for supplies in the devastated remains of our civilizations after the CorpCo startup managed to disrupt disruption.
posted by GenjiandProust at 6:04 AM on August 26, 2015 [12 favorites]
People will laugh about this nostalgically in 20 years. Well, you know, while they are rooting for supplies in the devastated remains of our civilizations after the CorpCo startup managed to disrupt disruption.
posted by GenjiandProust at 6:04 AM on August 26, 2015 [12 favorites]
I mean, yeah, the designs are all very similar, but the most important questions from a UX standpoint are answered: What is this product or service (a clear tag line i.e. "Watch TV shows & movies anytime, anywhere for $7.99/mo")? What is the call to action (a clearly marked "Learn more" or "Sign up/Login" button)? Plus I bet they're all responsive so they look decent on a range of device sizes.
If I had to get worked up about something in these designs, it would be the "let's fill the entire screen but give no (or almost no) indication that you can scroll to see more on the page" thing. That and they're probably using like 2MB of Javascript for a brochureware site.
posted by gwint at 6:06 AM on August 26, 2015 [10 favorites]
If I had to get worked up about something in these designs, it would be the "let's fill the entire screen but give no (or almost no) indication that you can scroll to see more on the page" thing. That and they're probably using like 2MB of Javascript for a brochureware site.
posted by gwint at 6:06 AM on August 26, 2015 [10 favorites]
Here's one that loads several large inlined images on a page without regard to one's bandwidth... oh wait that's just Medium.
posted by RobotVoodooPower at 6:07 AM on August 26, 2015 [15 favorites]
posted by RobotVoodooPower at 6:07 AM on August 26, 2015 [15 favorites]
Bandwidth is still a limitation somewhere?
posted by Joseph Gurl at 6:10 AM on August 26, 2015 [3 favorites]
posted by Joseph Gurl at 6:10 AM on August 26, 2015 [3 favorites]
Can we have one for Mefi? A woman laughing at a plate of beans?
posted by Segundus at 6:11 AM on August 26, 2015 [11 favorites]
posted by Segundus at 6:11 AM on August 26, 2015 [11 favorites]
My company's new website is just like this. We have Laughing People on a Beach, and Woman at Pottery Wheel, and Kid on GoKart, and...none of this says anything at all about what our company does. But "happy people being happy" sells, I guess? Or at least looks like selling?
posted by xingcat at 6:12 AM on August 26, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by xingcat at 6:12 AM on August 26, 2015 [1 favorite]
The eerie thing is that this works. People click the button. There is no need to evolve past this or be creative unless it stops working. This is the Iphone touchscreen of product offering pages.
posted by Potomac Avenue at 6:16 AM on August 26, 2015 [4 favorites]
posted by Potomac Avenue at 6:16 AM on August 26, 2015 [4 favorites]
Can we have one for Mefi? A woman laughing at a plate of beans?
Challenge accepted. Although we actually need one where she's overthinking it.
Boom. Done.
posted by Happy Dave at 6:19 AM on August 26, 2015 [44 favorites]
Challenge accepted. Although we actually need one where she's overthinking it.
Boom. Done.
posted by Happy Dave at 6:19 AM on August 26, 2015 [44 favorites]
We need this photo on the next round of t-shirts.
posted by Dr Dracator at 6:24 AM on August 26, 2015
posted by Dr Dracator at 6:24 AM on August 26, 2015
Honestly, the only problem I have with this trend is that they often reduce the "Log In" button to a tiny little link in the top right corner.
Let me log in without having to hunt for the hidden link. Nobody looks in the top right corner to start. Just... put a log in form somewhere! Don't even have a link! And if someone tries logging in, but doesn't have an account, maybe take them to the rest of the sign-up process?
posted by SansPoint at 6:30 AM on August 26, 2015 [3 favorites]
Let me log in without having to hunt for the hidden link. Nobody looks in the top right corner to start. Just... put a log in form somewhere! Don't even have a link! And if someone tries logging in, but doesn't have an account, maybe take them to the rest of the sign-up process?
posted by SansPoint at 6:30 AM on August 26, 2015 [3 favorites]
Bandwidth is still a limitation somewhere?
Mostly no. But, that doesn't mean you should start loading your pages down with enormous images and other trendy bric-a-brac just because you can.
Even in this day and age, a site that loads almost immediately is going to be favored by visitors than a site that takes an extra few clicks of the second hand to load. This is especially true on mobile devices, where every call to an external source for scripts, fonts, whatnot has a very real effect on the speed of a page completing its loading.
posted by Thorzdad at 6:31 AM on August 26, 2015 [3 favorites]
Mostly no. But, that doesn't mean you should start loading your pages down with enormous images and other trendy bric-a-brac just because you can.
Even in this day and age, a site that loads almost immediately is going to be favored by visitors than a site that takes an extra few clicks of the second hand to load. This is especially true on mobile devices, where every call to an external source for scripts, fonts, whatnot has a very real effect on the speed of a page completing its loading.
posted by Thorzdad at 6:31 AM on August 26, 2015 [3 favorites]
A few months ago I made one for Timecube...
posted by Ian A.T. at 6:31 AM on August 26, 2015 [18 favorites]
posted by Ian A.T. at 6:31 AM on August 26, 2015 [18 favorites]
Bandwidth is still a limitation somewhere?
Greetings from a hotel or other public wifi hotspot in the USA! (Also, LTE costs about $20/GB/mo)
posted by RobotVoodooPower at 6:34 AM on August 26, 2015 [9 favorites]
Greetings from a hotel or other public wifi hotspot in the USA! (Also, LTE costs about $20/GB/mo)
posted by RobotVoodooPower at 6:34 AM on August 26, 2015 [9 favorites]
The ones that get my goat are the ones that fill the background with lush, high-definition video loops to promote the “mood” and “personality” some consultant gave their brand (AirBnB, I'm looking at you), with no regard for the fact that it's your bandwidth and your disk space and your CPU cycles paying for all this lush, high-definition video, the benefit of which to you is homeopathically close to zero.
Can we blame Ayn Rand for this as well?
posted by acb at 6:37 AM on August 26, 2015 [5 favorites]
Can we blame Ayn Rand for this as well?
posted by acb at 6:37 AM on August 26, 2015 [5 favorites]
Bandwidth is still a limitation somewhere?
On almost every mobile device not on wifi when they hit the page. A few pages like this add up quickly.
posted by fatbird at 6:38 AM on August 26, 2015 [8 favorites]
On almost every mobile device not on wifi when they hit the page. A few pages like this add up quickly.
posted by fatbird at 6:38 AM on August 26, 2015 [8 favorites]
Boom. Done.
That says "mulling wistfully," not "overthinking." Bring more suppressed anger in your next mock up.
posted by GenjiandProust at 6:44 AM on August 26, 2015 [1 favorite]
That says "mulling wistfully," not "overthinking." Bring more suppressed anger in your next mock up.
posted by GenjiandProust at 6:44 AM on August 26, 2015 [1 favorite]
I really wanted Harbourly to actually be about harbours. Harbour listicles, best 5 harbours, 5 harbours rocking you this week.
posted by the uncomplicated soups of my childhood at 6:46 AM on August 26, 2015 [2 favorites]
posted by the uncomplicated soups of my childhood at 6:46 AM on August 26, 2015 [2 favorites]
we actually need one where she's overthinking it
Here you go.
posted by neroli at 6:46 AM on August 26, 2015 [39 favorites]
Here you go.
posted by neroli at 6:46 AM on August 26, 2015 [39 favorites]
This is largely a problem of Responsive Design. Funniest line: "Serif type. That’s something."
posted by spock at 6:46 AM on August 26, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by spock at 6:46 AM on August 26, 2015 [1 favorite]
Here you go.
No sale - there's sausages in that plate of beans.
posted by Happy Dave at 6:50 AM on August 26, 2015 [1 favorite]
No sale - there's sausages in that plate of beans.
posted by Happy Dave at 6:50 AM on August 26, 2015 [1 favorite]
No sale - there's sausages in that plate of beans.
I'm trying to see the problem here.
posted by Dr Dracator at 7:05 AM on August 26, 2015 [3 favorites]
I'm trying to see the problem here.
posted by Dr Dracator at 7:05 AM on August 26, 2015 [3 favorites]
That's why she needs to take a closer look and ponder the situation.
posted by RobotVoodooPower at 7:07 AM on August 26, 2015 [2 favorites]
posted by RobotVoodooPower at 7:07 AM on August 26, 2015 [2 favorites]
HI I'M ON METAFILTER AND I COULD OVERTHINK A PLATE OF BEANS AND WEENIES.
j/k no i couldn't
posted by rlk at 7:08 AM on August 26, 2015
j/k no i couldn't
posted by rlk at 7:08 AM on August 26, 2015
I tell clients nobody notices if your web site looks exactly like everyone else's, they notice if it doesn't.
posted by colie at 7:13 AM on August 26, 2015 [5 favorites]
posted by colie at 7:13 AM on August 26, 2015 [5 favorites]
I blame Bootstrap.
Oh absolutely. The ones not using it are probably just cribbing from its design elements with worse code.
It just hit version 4, so we'll probably see a bunch of new cliches!
(I actually really like Bootstrap, particularly for putting together fast working prototypes that don't look like crap, but boy can it look samey. Really nice grids though).
posted by Artw at 7:19 AM on August 26, 2015 [3 favorites]
Oh absolutely. The ones not using it are probably just cribbing from its design elements with worse code.
It just hit version 4, so we'll probably see a bunch of new cliches!
(I actually really like Bootstrap, particularly for putting together fast working prototypes that don't look like crap, but boy can it look samey. Really nice grids though).
posted by Artw at 7:19 AM on August 26, 2015 [3 favorites]
I really wanted Harbourly to actually be about harbours.
Like Uber but for harbormasters.
posted by jedicus at 7:23 AM on August 26, 2015 [5 favorites]
Like Uber but for harbormasters.
posted by jedicus at 7:23 AM on August 26, 2015 [5 favorites]
Like Uber but for harbormasters.
"Find a container ship near you, and..."
"We're disrupting global shipping, but without being literal pirates! Literally."
posted by GenjiandProust at 7:30 AM on August 26, 2015 [5 favorites]
"Find a container ship near you, and..."
"We're disrupting global shipping, but without being literal pirates! Literally."
posted by GenjiandProust at 7:30 AM on August 26, 2015 [5 favorites]
A revolutionary communications platform
for the connected and powerful
[Learn More]
posted by Iridic at 7:38 AM on August 26, 2015 [22 favorites]
Bandwidth is still a limitation somewhere?
I'm jumping on a bandwagon here, but shit yes it is. I'm in the middle of settling into a new city in a new country with no real access to anything but mobile data. Data ain't cheap at the minute.
posted by deadwax at 7:44 AM on August 26, 2015 [2 favorites]
I'm jumping on a bandwagon here, but shit yes it is. I'm in the middle of settling into a new city in a new country with no real access to anything but mobile data. Data ain't cheap at the minute.
posted by deadwax at 7:44 AM on August 26, 2015 [2 favorites]
We're used to websites being infinitely varied and having to figure out how to use each one.
When was the last time you had to decipher how to use a book? Jacket cover with a summary/pitch for the main content. Endorsements on the back. Open it: Chapter listing up front, a series of sections of text, index in the back. They're all the same. That's not a weakness, it's a strength.
Not everything has to be super-trendy and changing every other month.
Maybe this is just a good way to present a certain kind of information.
posted by Tomorrowful at 7:45 AM on August 26, 2015 [4 favorites]
When was the last time you had to decipher how to use a book? Jacket cover with a summary/pitch for the main content. Endorsements on the back. Open it: Chapter listing up front, a series of sections of text, index in the back. They're all the same. That's not a weakness, it's a strength.
Not everything has to be super-trendy and changing every other month.
Maybe this is just a good way to present a certain kind of information.
posted by Tomorrowful at 7:45 AM on August 26, 2015 [4 favorites]
I just assumed every webservice in the world is now using the same wordpress template as me (X, FWIW).
posted by PhoBWanKenobi at 7:56 AM on August 26, 2015
posted by PhoBWanKenobi at 7:56 AM on August 26, 2015
My one complaint with sites like these tends to be that they make it hard to find a site map (or don't have one at all), and are kind of stingy with information on the easy-to-reach pages. If you arrive at one with a specific question, it can be hard to tell whether they don't answer it at all, or whether they answer it but hide the answer somewhere in the bowels of the site.
Still, I'll take sites like these — identical-looking but functional — over all the horrible restaurant websites out there that make it impossible to find the restaurant's menu, address or hours.
posted by nebulawindphone at 8:19 AM on August 26, 2015 [3 favorites]
Still, I'll take sites like these — identical-looking but functional — over all the horrible restaurant websites out there that make it impossible to find the restaurant's menu, address or hours.
posted by nebulawindphone at 8:19 AM on August 26, 2015 [3 favorites]
Those stock photos sites are starting to freak me out in the same way Subservient Chicken did back in the day.
posted by gwint at 8:26 AM on August 26, 2015 [2 favorites]
posted by gwint at 8:26 AM on August 26, 2015 [2 favorites]
they make it hard to find a site map (or don't have one at all
Click the hamburger!
posted by Artw at 8:27 AM on August 26, 2015 [1 favorite]
Click the hamburger!
posted by Artw at 8:27 AM on August 26, 2015 [1 favorite]
over all the horrible restaurant websites out there that make it impossible to find the restaurant's menu, address or hours.
Or artists websites. Give side-scrolling the side-eye.
posted by the man of twists and turns at 8:28 AM on August 26, 2015 [3 favorites]
Or artists websites. Give side-scrolling the side-eye.
posted by the man of twists and turns at 8:28 AM on August 26, 2015 [3 favorites]
Modern artist portfolio sites get special mention for their brave efforts to reproduce everything people hated about Flash in HTML5.
posted by Artw at 8:34 AM on August 26, 2015 [9 favorites]
posted by Artw at 8:34 AM on August 26, 2015 [9 favorites]
I tell clients nobody notices if your web site looks exactly like everyone else's, they notice if it doesn't.
Clones antidote
posted by flabdablet at 8:57 AM on August 26, 2015 [5 favorites]
Clones antidote
posted by flabdablet at 8:57 AM on August 26, 2015 [5 favorites]
Bandwidth is still a limitation somewhere?
My mom's house?
posted by Naberius at 9:02 AM on August 26, 2015 [1 favorite]
My mom's house?
posted by Naberius at 9:02 AM on August 26, 2015 [1 favorite]
We were demoing a mobile app prototype recently and suddenly the imagery stopped loading. Turns out there was a hiccup in connectivity and also, when I looked, the main image was 500k.
Hopefully nothing like that will make it into production. Hopefully.
posted by Artw at 9:04 AM on August 26, 2015 [1 favorite]
Hopefully nothing like that will make it into production. Hopefully.
posted by Artw at 9:04 AM on August 26, 2015 [1 favorite]
Search for "html5 css website designs" and there is a whole category of "single page sites" that is basically this.
posted by clvrmnky at 9:09 AM on August 26, 2015
posted by clvrmnky at 9:09 AM on August 26, 2015
No sale - there's sausages in that plate of beans.
Typical how some people can turn an old running joke into a sausagefest.
posted by eriko at 9:15 AM on August 26, 2015
Typical how some people can turn an old running joke into a sausagefest.
posted by eriko at 9:15 AM on August 26, 2015
I don't think I've ever not laughed at anyone's dumb 'Updog' joke and I hope I always do.
posted by Kwine at 9:20 AM on August 26, 2015 [5 favorites]
posted by Kwine at 9:20 AM on August 26, 2015 [5 favorites]
Bandwidth is still a limitation somewhere?
Yeah, that's exactly what the "design" guys are saying.
posted by straight at 9:27 AM on August 26, 2015 [1 favorite]
Yeah, that's exactly what the "design" guys are saying.
posted by straight at 9:27 AM on August 26, 2015 [1 favorite]
Clones antidote
OMF(wacky)G, check out the FAQ, it's a ViDiO fAq!! Look at "Can I change mileage". Ling is totally the best (something) of the web.
posted by sammyo at 9:49 AM on August 26, 2015 [2 favorites]
OMF(wacky)G, check out the FAQ, it's a ViDiO fAq!! Look at "Can I change mileage". Ling is totally the best (something) of the web.
posted by sammyo at 9:49 AM on August 26, 2015 [2 favorites]
It's all fun and games unless you're actually writing about this stuff. Then you have to remember which randomly marketdroid generated name and which undifferentiated web site delivers which marginally different from the rest service under which hype-rubric.
There was a mildly similar situation back in the day when there were loads of newsstand magazines about computing, usually with some variation on [$Platform] Computing/Monthly/Magazine, and usually with indistinguishable designs/logos/cover themes. When setting up a new one, I always tried to go the Dr Dobbs route and suggested things like What Potato and Egg Fried Monthly, or Digital Lobster!, or somesuch, and we always ended up with Clone Computing Magazine.
Which is why I never had much of a career in publishing management. Well, that and the visceral dislike for being told what to do.
posted by Devonian at 9:51 AM on August 26, 2015
There was a mildly similar situation back in the day when there were loads of newsstand magazines about computing, usually with some variation on [$Platform] Computing/Monthly/Magazine, and usually with indistinguishable designs/logos/cover themes. When setting up a new one, I always tried to go the Dr Dobbs route and suggested things like What Potato and Egg Fried Monthly, or Digital Lobster!, or somesuch, and we always ended up with Clone Computing Magazine.
Which is why I never had much of a career in publishing management. Well, that and the visceral dislike for being told what to do.
posted by Devonian at 9:51 AM on August 26, 2015
I am, however, now considering moving into car leasing. Ling is my people.
posted by Devonian at 10:00 AM on August 26, 2015
posted by Devonian at 10:00 AM on August 26, 2015
"Bandwidth is still a limitation somewhere?"
I thought that was sarcasm, Joseph Gurl. But if it's not, let me echo the above:
-in many rural areas
-in some regions and nations
-among the poor, sometimes
-among the elderly, "
-in hotels and conference centers
I'm typing this in Vermont, where I began the day with minimal broadband (thank you, Fairpoint) and zero cell phone access. Next I drove along one of the state's main north-south roads (#7), watching 3g pop up, disappear, reappear, fade. Now I'm in an airport (BTV) which thankfully provides electrical outlets and free wifi, but it's still slow connectivity, falling to zero along the main departure lounge. Then I'm on a plane for many hours, where I'll experience either no connectivity or a dialup-like trickle for a fee.
End of rant.
posted by doctornemo at 10:20 AM on August 26, 2015 [6 favorites]
I thought that was sarcasm, Joseph Gurl. But if it's not, let me echo the above:
-in many rural areas
-in some regions and nations
-among the poor, sometimes
-among the elderly, "
-in hotels and conference centers
I'm typing this in Vermont, where I began the day with minimal broadband (thank you, Fairpoint) and zero cell phone access. Next I drove along one of the state's main north-south roads (#7), watching 3g pop up, disappear, reappear, fade. Now I'm in an airport (BTV) which thankfully provides electrical outlets and free wifi, but it's still slow connectivity, falling to zero along the main departure lounge. Then I'm on a plane for many hours, where I'll experience either no connectivity or a dialup-like trickle for a fee.
End of rant.
posted by doctornemo at 10:20 AM on August 26, 2015 [6 favorites]
Sausages are disrupting the whole bean paradigm! They're like Uber, but for beans!
posted by blue_beetle at 12:34 PM on August 26, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by blue_beetle at 12:34 PM on August 26, 2015 [1 favorite]
flabdablet: “Clones antidote”I guess that's kind of a joke, but I wound up on this site because I wanted to buy a miniature remote controlled R2-D2. I may never recover.
posted by ob1quixote at 12:56 PM on August 26, 2015
I'm just glad we're slooooowly exiting the age of "HAI! GUD DESEIGN MEANS PUT A AUTO-ROTATING IMAGE CAROUSEL ON THE HOMEPAGE BAI" Why the fuck was that everywhere for 3 years?
posted by Lentrohamsanin at 1:16 PM on August 26, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by Lentrohamsanin at 1:16 PM on August 26, 2015 [1 favorite]
okay for reals are we overthinking the selection of a picture of a woman overthinking a plate of beans now? Is this what we're doing?
posted by You Can't Tip a Buick at 1:18 PM on August 26, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by You Can't Tip a Buick at 1:18 PM on August 26, 2015 [1 favorite]
You Can't Tip a Buick: "okay for reals are we overthinking the selection of a picture of a woman overthinking a plate of beans now? Is this what we're doing?"
I hate to say it, but you're overthinking it.
It's a joke.
A joke about a plate of beans, and stock photos thereof.
posted by Happy Dave at 1:27 PM on August 26, 2015 [1 favorite]
I hate to say it, but you're overthinking it.
It's a joke.
A joke about a plate of beans, and stock photos thereof.
posted by Happy Dave at 1:27 PM on August 26, 2015 [1 favorite]
Oh, yeah, ob1quixote, the Rakuten site is a visual nightmare. Why is it when I click on a product I want to buy, I have to scroll through 200 products I didn't click on to get back to the one I wanted to buy? (I suppose Rakuten might be inclined to accept my criticism if they weren't printing money ... )
posted by oheso at 4:35 AM on August 27, 2015
posted by oheso at 4:35 AM on August 27, 2015
Little girl overthinking a plate of beans
Do jelly beans count?
posted by Unicorn on the cob at 1:42 PM on August 27, 2015
Do jelly beans count?
posted by Unicorn on the cob at 1:42 PM on August 27, 2015
Actually, this stock photo seems to be the best option.
Guess I was overthinking it...
posted by Unicorn on the cob at 1:49 PM on August 27, 2015
Guess I was overthinking it...
posted by Unicorn on the cob at 1:49 PM on August 27, 2015
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posted by Itaxpica at 5:48 AM on August 26, 2015 [5 favorites]