Good websites don't have to be ugly!

This is a solid point made against a content guy who states a good website has to be ugly. It’s absolute nonsense and disregards what designers contribute to the web. Imagine where the web would be today if it were not for the contributions of designers! The Internet would be primitive at best.

 

Well, it depends on the eye of the viewer.
I, for one, think that ebay, for example, is a great and professional looking site. Same as google. They use plenty of colors, everything is easy on the eyes... I don't see any reason to call those sites ugly just because they don't use gradients and tons of Photoshop effects.

Did you happen to check out Paypal's new site, though? It's hard to find a site more useful than Paypal but I think their new design is sweet and classy.

If you want to be a big, (corporate?), successful site then you need to project professionalism, and not kiddy-uber-effects.

But then again, to be more precise, you just have to think about each site's design in terms of who would be your primary audience.

I just made a website called WinUpload.org. It's mainly made for artists to upload images and PSD's and keep track of them easily. So I worked up some nice glossy effects. But if I was designing, for example, a corporate site, then it'd look completely different. You wouldn't be able to tell that the same guy designed both sites.

You just have to know what you're doing in this business... And I'm sure that the guys who designed eBay can create much more than that effects-wise. But it's the planning and where to put each color and composition and tons of other stuff you have to think about that makes any design a good design.

 

Good websites, are usually good looking, in my opinion.

 

Of course good websites can be good looking! But it is true designers should put function ahead of looks...can't argue that.

 

good websites must be ugly. that's how the intarweb works!. what defines a good website? uhhh, the content? no wai. can a website with a spectacular and appealing design that is also content-rich be considered a "good" website? hell no. a talking walrus told me so. it's all about the content... if the content is good, shitty design or not, it has the potential to be a popular site.

 

its all about usability and the target audience that the site is trying to reach out to, most people just don't get it and think by slapping up glossy buttons and shiny headers for a real estate site is great! well they're wrong.

to get a small idea all you need to do is check out successful sites. and what type of audience they targeting and notice the design styles. these sites most likely have a team to research the sites audience needs and in turn translate that into a highly usable site structure and design.