

Web App Site Designs - iisbum
http://designinstruct.com/visual-inspiration/visual-inspiration-30-beautiful-web-app-site-designs/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+designinstruct+(Design+Instruct)

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borski
Not trying to just be contradictory here, but does anyone else notice that
almost all these websites look the same? I mean, CarbonMade stands out, but
almost all these other websites, from a 10-foot view, look exactly the same.

Is that because the design is "right" in some way? Because to me, it just
means that some of these website designs don't stand out in any way.

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olegkikin
Yeah, the author has a very boring taste. Here's a list I made in 5 minutes
(and I think it's way more interesting):

<http://www.roostblog.com/>

<http://www.heathwaller.com/>

<http://www.bohemiadesign.co.uk/>

<http://www.sproutfund.org/spring/>

<http://www.racket.net.au/>

<http://www.thirdculturestudios.com/>

<http://jakeprzespo.com/>

<http://www.brewshop.co.nz/>

<http://patterns.ideo.com/>

<http://www.unconventionalguides.com/>

<http://www.eightytwodesign.com/new/>

<http://www.boxee.tv/>

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MJR
While these may be nice sites, your list isn't comparable to his list. His
list contains 30 web applications. Your list has two web stores and the rest
are generally content sites. So you've kind of missed the point on why he put
the list together.

I don't agree with your opinion about his taste either. He's pointing to 30
sites which generally focus on driving new sales of their products. While they
may have a similar approach, the list does contain a variety of styles and
variations. I suspect the similarities in the designs speaks more to the
selling process and the mainstream techniques used to drive sales rather than
the author's "boring taste".

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kacy
Thanks for the link! I agree that there are some nice designs there that will
inspire me in the future. However, I wanted to remind you of the Hacker News
Guidelines:

"If the original title begins with a number or number + gratuitous adjective,
we'd appreciate it if you'd crop it. E.g. translate "10 Ways To Do X" to "How
To Do X," and "14 Amazing Ys" to "Ys." Exception: when the number is
meaningful, e.g. "The 5 Platonic Solids."" -
<http://ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html>

I up-voted anyway though! Good stuff. Just a reminder for the future. :-)

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KevinMS
I'm trying but I cant figure out the reason for this guideline. Or why, as a
reader, I would care if a subject began with a integer? I know a lot of spammy
submissions are like this on sites like digg, but if blocking spam was this
easy, I could just filter my inbox on the exact phrase "viagra" and defeat all
spammers worldwide.

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wwortiz
My guess is that the number is not meaningful for any reason other than
providing a count.

30 Beautiful Web App Site Designs is no more meaningful than Beautiful Web App
Site Designs, no new information or useful information is included in the
number 30.

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brianlash
I think it does. The former tells us to expect a curated list of more than 29
but fewer than 31 eye-catching designs, at least in OPs eyes. The latter is
just _bleh_ , like a statement on a resume that reads "I managed a lot of
money when I worked for a really huge company." Far more compelling is a line
like "I oversaw a fund of more than $[Big Number] during my tenure as
Investment Manager at [Company Name]." I think that's what's going on here.

I'm not saying that makes it right in the eyes of PG or in terms of the
guidelines. But IMHO those 2 characters tell us a lot about what to expect on
the other side.

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brianlash
I knew that comment was asking for downvotes. I'm sorry, I just disagree.

The number tells us to expect a list. That's information. Then it tells us
that it's a long list, which in turn rules out the likelihood that it's one of
those 3-point time wasters someone from Demand Media whipped together in the
name of page views. More information still.

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jasonkester
This is a good opportunity to reinforce the #1 rule in website design:

You have three seconds.

As in, that's all the time the average person is going to spend on your site
before hitting the back button or deciding to invest more time. If you can't
get your message across in those 3 seconds, you lose.

Nearly half the sites on that list pass the test for me. I can tell that "this
is a website that will help me invoice clients", and decide whether that's
something I care about. The other half though, I have no idea what they do and
likely never will.

If I had to pick a Rule #2, it might be: Make sure they remember your name.
Half those sites (alas, a different half) I'll never find my way back to
because the name is either not given prominently, not memorable, or easily
misspelled.

I might remember that I saw something called Iceberg, but I certainly wouldn't
know to spell it with two R's. Fortunately for me, typing in iceberg.com will
get me to a nice looking web app with a blue background, a picture of an
iceberg, and something to sell me. Unfortunately for Icebrrg, it's somebody
else's business.

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imp
There are actually two different apps on that list with the name Iceberg, and
neither uses iceberg.com.

~~~
jasonkester
Wow. I would have expected that the one would at least have its own domain
name sorted out. It seems that both fail then.

At least the one shows up in a google search (#5 result for its own product
name, which is also not a good sign.)

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theDoug
Despite the death of "Web 2.0" as a term, the trend for large Helvetica
continues unabated!

There are some great services in the list, though. Their work is the stuff
that's more impressive than their design.

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sahillavingia
This is pushed much by the iPhone. It's super-easy to just go with Helvetica
(I do it all the time...) because people associate it with the iPhone.

Besides, it's a nice font. :)

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sushi
I had never seen <http://www.playlistnow.fm/> mentioned in this list before.
It's insanely beautiful website and you can find playlist for the work you are
doing. Like if you are coding mention it there and it will find playlists for
that and so on.

Pretty cool website. Not my website btw.

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Breefield
Yeah, this service seems awesome.

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2arrs2ells
Except that if it gets big enough, the record labels are going to put it out
of business...

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efsavage
The list seems to be more "web app homepage designs", and doesn't really offer
any evaluation (or commentary) on the actual design of the apps.

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Tichy
Am I the only one who has become a bit bored by the current trend in web
design? Those sites all look the same to me, and the big fonts make feel
stupid. W I T H A B I G F O N T I H A V E T O R E A D R E A L L Y S L O W...

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thomasz
As soon as a printout of postmarkapp.com reaches the desk of someone at DHL's
legal department, they will sued into oblivion for trademark infringement.

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sp4rki
Because it features the color yellow? Inspired maybe, but they don't use any
trademarkable elements on their design, and doesn't even have anything similar
to DHL's website than the colors (which are not even the same really). They're
not even in the same industry.

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kirpekar
In a couple of years, you should see the same blog post with a different title
"Designs that are so 2010"

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619Cloud
postmarkapp is a great SMTP service. We use them, and recommend highly.

~~~
davidedicillo
how does that compare to something like Sendgrid (that is awesome btw)?

