The old layout

shinobu

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"The site had a redesign"
"What the fuck, it looks like shit"
-- A conversation as old as the Web

TL;DR post redesigns that made you angry or how a website looked like in the past

Remember how Youtube used to look back then? Tumblr? DeviantArt?
Even Twitter and Facebook had a good design and a shit redesign (and the bigger and longer-lived the site is the worse the UI gets over time)

What are user experience and user interface people huffing to think that their redesign improves usability?
Even if they didn't remove useful functionality and it still worked as before, they leave their websites visually ugly and looking the same as everyone else. Even logos suffer from this, becoming simpler for no reason (Firefox, Pepsi, etc.) (aside: Pepsi has a bizarre story about their new logo, in which they sunk a million dollars for this document full of nonsense to be produced. In it the designers define the Pepsi ratio, the Pepsi planet, galaxy, and universe)
Bask in some old examples and grieve about unnecessary changes :melsd:

dA_logo.jpg

db1ldjr-8647dec5-6749-466e-aa79-db7183d8d1bd.png
youtube-2006.png
youtube-2005.png
ddxlidq-651840a9-7a64-4653-9d3e-ff9d63b14f93.png
ddxjpgr-45c722da-4f07-4e48-a8c2-92161736b130.png
 
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brentw

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Oh man, the most recent deviant art update was especially bad. Made the site basically unusable.

And of course there's the >redditcostanzayeahrightsmirk "redesign". Which would be more upsetting if >redditcostanzayeahrightsmirk wasn't such shit.
Still the old design was at least useful for sifting through a lot of content. The new one, not so much.
Related to >redditcostanzayeahrightsmirk we also have imgur trying to turn itself into a social media platform.

Gmail and Microsoft have caused much rage by the constant unnecessary fuckery with their webmail pages.
It's just fucking e-mail you fucking clowns. It already does exactly what we need it to. It doesn't need to change!
 
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Altghost

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What are user experience and user interface people huffing to think that their redesign improves usability?
I'm 99% certain it's because they have bullshit jobs. Their entire paycheck comes from looking busy. They don't actually use or care about the sites they work on. $$$

Oh man, the most recent deviant art update was especially bad. Made the site basically unusable.
I'm pretty peeved at Deviantart for changing everyone's profile from gender to pronouns. I didn't opt into that game.
 

brentw

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I'm 99% certain it's because they have bullshit jobs. Their entire paycheck comes from looking busy. They don't actually use or care about the sites they work on. $$$


I'm pretty peeved at Deviantart for changing everyone's profile from gender to pronouns. I didn't opt into that game.

That reminds me, I've actually read two stories from two different disgruntled ex-employees from two different silicon valley big tech companies.
And in both cases they blamed the constant redesigns on the progressive takeover and diversity hiring push in big tech.

Both of these guys were from the old guard, around when these companies got big.
And after the huge progressive shift occurred most of the old guard, older white men, were pushed out of these companies and replaced with either Indian devs on an H1B visa or young diversity hires fresh out of college who frequently weren't remotely qualified for the roles they were filling. Both could be paid much less than the old white dudes with a lot of seniority and experience. H1B workers aren't supposed to be paid less, but there are tricks around that and they can be overworked much more easily than Americans who don't have a visa that the company can take away hanging over their head.

(I actually remember when this shit went full tilt, talking to so many guys about how they were forced to train their H1B visa replacements before being laid off.
When H1B visas are supposedly only for jobs that there are no qualified American applicants for. Anyone who supports H1B deserves to be eaten alive by fire ants.)

Anyways, so basically the dudes' stories asserted that the vast majority of the people that built the code-base these companies are operating on, the ones who actually know how it works, are long gone. And that their replacements have no idea what they're doing. So the only thing these kids can really accomplish to justify their existence is to make pointless aesthetic changes.

---

I've also read a few other stories from disgruntled current big tech employees that seem to corroborate this.
They complain about how maybe 10% of the workforce in big tech these days is actually remotely competent (mostly Asian/white guys) and they're doing most of the work.

And that there's a whole faction of the workforce (mostly young women and some non-white men) who spend their entire work days playing activist instead of doing their actual jobs. That these activists are constantly talking in internal chat/boards, harping on diversity and political issues, organizing DIE events, etc. And they don't have to do real work and are completely safe from discipline because if management says anything the activists can go straight to twitter to talk about how the company is discriminating against minorities and doesn't care about diversity issues.
 
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kswiss

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I'm just glad that little anime girl is no longer pointing at me to donate on the front page. It helps make it less distracting for other people trying to check out my screen at the library; now they won't think i'm on some dojin site


/
 
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ZinRicky

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Usability is not important, keeping you scrolling is.
This one hundred times. Users on those platforms are no longer people; they are just numbers for their sales figures to rise.
 
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SolidStateSurvivor

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That reminds me, I've actually read two stories from two different disgruntled ex-employees from two different silicon valley big tech companies.
And in both cases they blamed the constant redesigns on the progressive takeover and diversity hiring push in big tech.

Both of these guys were from the old guard, around when these companies got big.
And after the huge progressive shift occurred most of the old guard, older white men, were pushed out of these companies and replaced with either Indian devs on an H1B visa or young diversity hires fresh out of college who frequently weren't remotely qualified for the roles they were filling. Both could be paid much less than the old white dudes with a lot of seniority and experience. H1B workers aren't supposed to be paid less, but there are tricks around that and they can be overworked much more easily than Americans who don't have a visa that the company can take away hanging over their head.

(I actually remember when this shit went full tilt, talking to so many guys about how they were forced to train their H1B visa replacements before being laid off.
When H1B visas are supposedly only for jobs that there are no qualified American applicants for. Anyone who supports H1B deserves to be eaten alive by fire ants.)

Anyways, so basically the dudes' stories asserted that the vast majority of the people that built the code-base these companies are operating on, the ones who actually know how it works, are long gone. And that their replacements have no idea what they're doing. So the only thing these kids can really accomplish to justify their existence is to make pointless aesthetic changes.

---

I've also read a few other stories from disgruntled current big tech employees that seem to corroborate this.
They complain about how maybe 10% of the workforce in big tech these days is actually remotely competent (mostly Asian/white guys) and they're doing most of the work.

And that there's a whole faction of the workforce (mostly young women and some non-white men) who spend their entire work days playing activist instead of doing their actual jobs. That these activists are constantly talking in internal chat/boards, harping on diversity and political issues, organizing DIE events, etc. And they don't have to do real work and are completely safe from discipline because if management says anything the activists can go straight to twitter to talk about how the company is discriminating against minorities and doesn't care about diversity issues.
I've heard similar stories to this as well when it comes to training foreign replacements and hiring dead weight. Those dead weight token employees are usually a result of HR trying to LARP as an activist when it comes to hiring. As a result they can slowly internally shift the workplace culture to fit their ideology.

The trends you wrote of are one of the main reasons mainstream gaming is falling off in quality too. It's only these bloated mega companies that can afford to waste so much money on unskilled employees. Meanwhile small teams of like minded indie devs are pumping out polished products.

These practices go all the way up to the corporate level, where some states and financial backers even mandate diversity. At the end of the day affirmative action is just woke nepotism.

They know what they're doing. It's about dopamine. Usability is not important, keeping you scrolling is.
I have this personally held "conspiracy" that some web re-designs with hard to find crucial info and broken features are intentionally left in so they can keep you captive and clicking around longer. Afterall, more clicks equals more ad engagement. But that might be giving their incompetence too much credit.
 
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MorphedSnowman

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That reminds me, I've actually read two stories from two different disgruntled ex-employees from two different silicon valley big tech companies.
And in both cases they blamed the constant redesigns on the progressive takeover and diversity hiring push in big tech.

Both of these guys were from the old guard, around when these companies got big.
And after the huge progressive shift occurred most of the old guard, older white men, were pushed out of these companies and replaced with either Indian devs on an H1B visa or young diversity hires fresh out of college who frequently weren't remotely qualified for the roles they were filling. Both could be paid much less than the old white dudes with a lot of seniority and experience. H1B workers aren't supposed to be paid less, but there are tricks around that and they can be overworked much more easily than Americans who don't have a visa that the company can take away hanging over their head.
Lmao, this reads like some /pol/tard fantasy about "muh whites", which if we talk about these companies, all of them are multi millionaires who can retire and never have to worry about getting a job for centuries, getting displaced. The reason these layouts look different is mostly because of phone users or changes in how these services function. You can see how lot of these old websites had their layout essentially stitched with images instead of CSS rules. Newgrounds is a good example. The layout was for pc only, which meant they had no reason not to simply make the layout in paint or what not and stitch it back together on the website. Just take a look from newgrounds in 2010 and you can right click and see "view image" on nearly every UI element. Modern layouts are made using css which isn't really that great at getting that look. It's way more easier to go for the flat boring look and just making it mobile responsive by writing few rules. Most companies nowadays even make the site mobile first, then try to make it desktop friendly.
 
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ignika98

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Lmao, this reads like some /pol/tard fantasy about "muh whites", which if we talk about these companies, all of them are multi millionaires who can retire and never have to worry about getting a job for centuries, getting displaced. The reason these layouts look different is mostly because of phone users or changes in how these services function. You can see how lot of these old websites had their layout essentially stitched with images instead of CSS rules. Newgrounds is a good example. The layout was for pc only, which meant they had no reason not to simply make the layout in paint or what not and stitch it back together on the website. Just take a look from newgrounds in 2010 and you can right click and see "view image" on nearly every UI element. Modern layouts are made using css which isn't really that great at getting that look. It's way more easier to go for the flat boring look and just making it mobile responsive by writing few rules. Most companies nowadays even make the site mobile first, then try to make it desktop friendly.
Shitty website redesigns are a lot older than the current push to mobile that the internet is going through. It really does seem like it's being done for the sake of it rather than for any practical benefit. There's no reason for established sites like Facebook, Twitter, and Youtube to redesign their desktop sites when they already have dedicated mobile apps, and it's not like it's impossible to have a good looking website using CSS.

The only other reason I can think of for companies to redesign their websites like this is to keep themselves relevant in the public consciousness and perhaps attract a new kind of audience that might be inspired to check the site out after hearing everyone talk about the design change.
 
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MorphedSnowman

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Shitty website redesigns are a lot older than the current push to mobile that the internet is going through. It really does seem like it's being done for the sake of it rather than for any practical benefit. There's no reason for established sites like Facebook, Twitter, and Youtube to redesign their desktop sites when they already have dedicated mobile apps, and it's not like it's impossible to have a good looking website using CSS.

The only other reason I can think of for companies to redesign their websites like this is to keep themselves relevant in the public consciousness and perhaps attract a new kind of audience that might be inspired to check the site out after hearing everyone talk about the design change.
Sure, bad redesigns happen, always have and always will. Nothing that is constantly used looks the same. But the push for flat design with endless scrolling and fluid animations everywhere is kinda an attempt at replicating the feel of apps in your browser. And internet nowdays is mostly made of smartphones. It's way easier to design for multiple screens if you go with flat looks than something image based for obvious reasons.
 
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gsyme

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Metroid Database. Probably one of the first sites I was seriously into and actually on the forums for.

Site's been going since 1996, and TJ Rappel, the original webmaster is an artist who took page design very seriously, but he stepped down probably a decade or more ago and handed the project off to some 3rd gen staffer. It looks like garbage now vs. how it did back in the early 2000s.
 

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power gem

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with all the talk about accessibility and equity you'd think webdevs would realize that huge bloated JS sites are inaccessible to anyone using low end devices or older browsers. the deviantart redesign is especially bad for this - on my old cheapo laptop it was so slow that it was unusable. i feel deep sadness for all the people who can no longer share their alvin and the chipmunks inflation porn with the world simply because they are poor.
 
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gsyme

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Sad. I bet you it's now mobile friendly. And up to date with all the lame standards and uses jQuery and other nonsense.

Sad thing is, you could totally replicate the visual feel of 2003 MDb's layout and use adaptive web techniques to keep it mobile friendly without compromising anything. Like I'm tearing the page apart right now thinking about how easy it would be.

The original is a classic table-based layout that you wouldn't really want to do these days, but functionally, it's just a 3-column page with a header and footer. You could do it with floats or flexboxes and do up all of the sizes in percents and it would work fine in modern HTML5/CSS.
 

wot

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you'd think webdevs would realize that huge bloated JS sites are inaccessible to anyone using low end devices or older browsers.
Most developers (web or otherwise) seem to live in an upper-class urban bubble where everyone has the latest and greatest hardware with internet speeds to match. So the idea of someone having a computer/phone more than a few years old or sub-gigabit internet speeds is just alien to them.
 
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