
Best Websites for Entrepreneurs and Startups - idesigni
https://online.abdn.ac.uk/global-mba/blog/best-business-websites/
======
colmvp
Two of the listed websites refer to a design blog and site of the day website.
As a designer, the problem I've always had with those categories is a lack of
data backing up claims of good design and usability. It still feels like
industry writeups are based on anecdata, personal experience presented as
fact.

Yes, there are some mostly accepted guidelines, such as don't choose a font
that's highly distracting, don't go overboard with colors, make things that
are important easily accessible to the user... though even those can be broken
in certain cases.

But when we extrapolate good practices simply based on what other companies
do, we can be susceptible to make assumptions that are true... until they are
not. For example, hiding navigation in the hidden left menu (via the hamburger
icon) is completely fine because its practiced by most Android apps and
Facebook/Spotify... until Facebook/Spotify redesigns their iOS apps to
navigate main sections from the bottom, and Google releases their 2016
Material Design style guide that explicitly provides specs for a bottom
navigation.

Then, for websites that get showcased by dint of high ratings from design
judges, it seems like it's largely based on what's visually stunning, leaning
heavily towards one-off marketing sites than considering whether or not it was
ultimately successful in terms of impacting the users. I've certainly seen my
fair share of things that seemed to look and feel good, only to perform quite
badly in a real world environment. That's not to say that inspiration and
aesthetics have no merit, but instead that design is a complex discipline that
includes many considerations of the experience from a user, and that only
focusing on the visual reinforces the unfortunate stereotype that designers
only care about what looks pretty.

~~~
idesigni
That's actually a very interesting point of view that I hadn't considered -
that people blindly adhering to 'accepted' design guidelines might be stifling
unique design approaches or perpetuating mistaken assumptions.

Given that, are there any sites that would be better recommended for
startups/entrepreneurs who are inexperienced in web design as this article
seems to be aiming at? Or is the whole point that people shouldn't rely on
conventional design wisdom?

------
sailfast
Listing their own Business Toolbox at the bottom is a pretty great submarine
marketing strategy. Plus, now I've visited the University of Aberdeen's
Business School site. Well done.

Not a bad list, overall for people completely outside the market but I
somewhat wonder about their approach. Are they looking for tools, or for
techniques? Both? (Shopify / Automattic presence indicates maybe both?) No
mention of companies I would consider similar enablers / bloggers about
starting up and no mention of VC-type discussions about starting up.

~~~
idesigni
That's something I've noticed becoming increasingly common in list articles of
this kind actually - probably because it's pretty effective as you say.

The approach seems to encompass any mix of things that could be of use to
people setting up either a business or a website. Which companies in
particular did you have in mind? There's actually a distinct lack of
explicitly finance or investment related sites, now that you mention it - the
tools and techniques are almost universally related to digital/online business
practice.

------
charlieegan3
Duplicate of:
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14089343](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14089343)

~~~
idesigni
Oh, what's the procedure in the case of duplicate submissions? Should I remove
and upvote previous or...?

~~~
charlieegan3
There's a search box at the bottom of the page to check before posting
duplicate links. These two URLs are the same though so it's odd they weren't
automatically linked. Perhaps one was edited after being submitted - I'm not
sure.

~~~
idesigni
Ah thanks very much!

