189 karma · joined April 20, 2012
Clearly there are a group of elite web designers, UI and UX specialists that parade this site, who, unsurprisingly, have empty profiles. How else are we supposed to see their portfolio of exceptional work so we know what to aspire to?
I'm not saying that it's impossible to receive some good design advice on HN as there are certainly some experienced design-based folks dotted around, but on the whole it's a bit like asking for database optimization advice on Dribbble.
At browser widths of about 1400px and above, a buffer appears on the right hand side of the page. If your cursor is in that area the main content div won't scroll.
I'm thinking it may be an error since the main content div stops expanding at about 1400px but the black header/nav does. At widths lower than 1400px the header and content div expand/shrink together and the scrolling problem does not occur since the content div fills the full width of the page to right.
The first site collates prices/deals, where you can filter by location.
They also carry out a quarterly survey as an attempt to gauge customer satisfaction for each provider (http://www.lowendtalk.com/wiki/top-providers).
I've been looking for a VPS recently and found the above 2 sites very useful.
In regards to the OP, I don't think the examples are related at all. The Pinterest example is more of a functional design choice (which I think works quite well), while the other two are purely aesthetic.
I agree with you on your second paragraph, the Delicious and ALA examples are simply a way to try and look a bit different. The A List Apart logo design choice caused quite a stir when they unveiled the redesign a few months back.
And since you mentioned it, I have been following their Twitter replies and apparently private networks are coming soon (https://twitter.com/digitalocean/status/321650732703023105).
You also cut out a massive section of mobile users that can't use your site when on the go.
Check here for some tips specific to a restaurant site: http://www.better-restaurant-websites.com/
So it's basically a bracket. Not the most well-thought-out approach. Who picks the companies that are even eligible? Why not just have one big poll at the start? Even if they took that approach, I think it's clear EA would still 'win' since there is definitely a votebomb-like effect (much like what happens with MetaCritic ratings occasionally). Clearly the type of people that were aware of this poll in the first place mainly reside on videogame forums (Neogaf, /r/gaming etc), so the mob mentality is natural. Who can honestly say they were aware of this poll?
If you knocked on the door of every household in America and asked them who they thought was the 'Worst Company' in the world, it certainly wouldn't be EA.
I am not defending EA as such, I don't agree with some of their business practices, but there are copious amounts of hyperbole and for people to be treating this like an accurate study is ridiculous.
There is certainly a first-world problems vibe when a videogame publisher wins a poll like this.
http://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/189899/why_are_we_stil...
I recently came across this site that let you print your own dotted paper which is a nice compromise.
I have no idea why it's necessary at all. In fact why not get rid of the blog spam altogether and link straight to the code. Yes, I realise RPS isn't exactly a small site and has quite the following (which seems to extend to HN as well, apparently), but their article adds nothing of real value apart from a quote that was pulled from another article on Kotaku.
Apart from that, I think that for the most part the designs showcased are quite beautiful.
But these designs are well done regardless of the fact that they are 'flat'. Proportions/positioning, typography, color are all great.
"Some suggested that in Apple’s next mobile operating system, Ive is pushing a more “flat design” that is starker and simpler, according to developers who have spoken to Apple employees but didn’t have further details. Overall, they expect any changes to be pretty conservative."
I wouldn't exactly say that switching to a completely flat design as implied in the headline is a 'conservative' change.
It's quite obvious that they are unlikely to go down the overly skeuomorphic route as seen in the Podcast app, so this is a fairly 'safe' rumor to spread. But of course, it incites the usual skeuomorphic vs flat arguments with the added bonus of accusations of 'copying' the Metro style.
There are many misconceptions in regards to categorizing flat vs skeuomorphic design, here is a good article that explains the differences pretty well.
EDIT: Seems people disagree that this isn't complete guesswork. Yes the game runs for a while without a connection, but that doesn't prove that servers aren't necessary as the headline claims. There is no hard, undeniable evidence. It's the same story that has been rehashed since the game was released.
And since the Xbox 720 'leak' fiasco I take these 'sources' with a pinch of salt, regardless of how reputable the site is.
http://www.gamefront.com/tech-sites-fall-for-fake-xbox-720-l...
Where 'pretentious' designers do begin to huff is when it is used in a clearly inappropriately context such as on police notices raising awareness of rape.
The handwriting example isn't particularly good because learning calligraphy is a skill that I assume takes a decent amount of time to reach proficiency in. Making a couple of extra clicks in a word processor and selecting something like Arial is not.
There are also a good amount of mobile/Facebook apps in the list.
If you are being critical of EA then the worst examples are games that were only released 2-3 years ago, such as many of the sports games like FIFA and Madden. Although these have had at least a couple of new iterations since then because of the yearly release schedule for their sports franchises. The majority of the player base tends to move over to the new version very promptly, much like the COD series.
On the whole this list looks far worse than it actually is. I don't think it is entirely unreasonable to shut down the multiplayer component of games that were released 8 years ago.
All major companies have their fair share of controversy. That being said, I've had nothing but good service with Amazon. And Apple/Google for that matter.
Even though RWD is a relatively new concept for a lot of people, I think we are past the "It's a fad!" phase (despite the small amount of middlebrow dismissal/stubbornness that is still evident), and I think it's encouraging that there are a lot of major companies embracing the approach. I made a quick list off the top of my head below.
http://www.time.com
http://bostonglobe.com
http://www.vogue.co.uk
http://www.starbucks.com
http://microsoft.com
http://disney.com/?intoverride=true
http://www.about.com
http://www.sony.com