I wasn't looking for an explanation of how the site was built at all. I really think she could have came up with an explanation of the goals of the redesign that actually meant something. For example:
"We wanted the site to feel fresh, intuitive, and beautiful which why we put a lot of work into the new real-time news feed, gave the homepage a simpler, less cluttered design, and took inspiration from designs that are both modern and timeless".
What was really lacking in the original quote was substance. She could have used the very same first half the quote then pointed at one thing that qualified the redesign as being each of those adjectives and it would have went from buzzword soup to a meaningful statement.
Okay, fair points. I had no idea my one little comment would get so much attention. I'm really not trying to be as critical of Mayer as everything seems to have taken it. I saw a quote, it stood out as being supremely hollow and so I pointed it out. I'm not the typical HN cynic that picks things apart where there's no need. I understand the context. I just thought that quote was funny enough to point out.
You're right that the quote lacks substance but again, this is basically a press release aimed at Joe and Jill Schmoe. They do not care about all the work that went into the site; they only care about the experience of using the site. With this in mind, take your revised sentence:
>"We wanted the site to feel fresh, intuitive, and beautiful which why we put a lot of work into the new real-time news feed, gave the homepage a simpler, less cluttered design, and took inspiration from designs that are both modern and timeless"
And chop it up as such:
>"We wanted the site to feel fresh, intuitive, and beautiful."
Absolutely no relevant facts lost (given the audience) and a much clearer read.
The shorter sentence is also more effective from a marketing perspective because it plants the seed of curiosity in the reader's mind. "How is the site fresh, intuitive, and beautiful? Better visit yahoo.com and find out".
"We wanted the site to feel fresh, intuitive, and beautiful which why we put a lot of work into the new real-time news feed, gave the homepage a simpler, less cluttered design, and took inspiration from designs that are both modern and timeless".
What was really lacking in the original quote was substance. She could have used the very same first half the quote then pointed at one thing that qualified the redesign as being each of those adjectives and it would have went from buzzword soup to a meaningful statement.