PingMag - The Tokyo-based magazine about “Design and Making Things” » Archive » The Web Design Trend Obituary & Death Clock

The Web Design Trend Obituary & Death Clock

1 May 2006 Category: Features, Graphics, Technology

The Web Design Trend Obituary & Death Clock

Trends rule the web design world. More so than with other areas of design, the web is very transparent and in a matter of hours I can click my way through the work of maybe hundreds of individual web designers, without even realising it. This ease of access makes “trend osmosis” something of an unfortunate inevitability amongst web designers. However, trends come and go. Here is a small collection of web design trends that I predict we will all be completely sick of in about 6 months. The advent of social and accessible web design (to the uninformed, social and accessible web design means “big fonts ‘n’ gradient fills”) has brought with it a curious gang of design trends and gimmicks - lets take a look at who’s going to snuff it first.

Written by Jon.

Disclaimer: I am just as guilty of using these design trends as you are.

First, though, lets have a little obituary. Here are some of the web design trends that have been long dead, and most of us in the industry look back on with shame, even though they were totally wicked cool at the time.

Pixel fonts

Pixel fonts

I’d say it was around the late 90s when pixel fonts really started to take off. At the time, adding a pixel font to any design suddenly transformed it into something “cutting edge”. Pixel fonts provided a certain futuristic and technological je-ne-sais-quois that normal, readable fonts simply couldn’t provide. Popularised by flash gurus such as Joshua Davis, pixel fonts also provided designers with a handy method of putting lots of content up on screen without compromising space. After all, users would be much more inclined to move their faces closer to the screen than have to scroll the page a bit, right? RIGHT? Biggest big-name abuser: K10k. And to this day still. For shame.

Links that don’t look like links

Links that don’t look like links

Another one of those pesky form-over-function design decisions. There was a time when we would try to make links as inconspicuous as possible, so as to preserve the overall aesthetics of the page. Removing the link underline, making links only a tiny shade of difference in colour to the body text…yeah we were pretty silly. Who would have thought that users would want to click on those things anyway? Nowadays with big sites like flickr leading the way with their simple, beautiful blue underlined links, I can once again actually find my way around a website.

Low Contrast

Low Contrast

I distinctly remember a time - again around the late 90s - when the only colours in a web designer’s armoury were #CCCCCC (light grey), #999999 (slightly darker grey), #666666 (slightly darkerer grey), #333333 (dark grey) and whatever glorious variation of grey you could get by picking colours in between those 4 stalwarts. Yes, low-contrast was hot and grey was a convenient scapegoat colour scheme for when you didn’t have any inspiration. An optional extra to your exquisite all-grey colour scheme would be to add some kind of garish pink or orange logo to show that whilst you were all-grey (and thus at the height of cool) you also retained some wild, thrill-seeking sensibilities, proving you were a cut above the rest.

Which brings us now to our death clock predictions. I want to reiterate again - I don’t hate any of these design trends. Yet. In fact, I use them as much as everyone else - but I just feel they are distinctive enough that in 6 months to a year, we will all be completely fed up with them and be looking to Web 2.5a to herald the next wave of design gimmicks that we can all ingest and regurgitate onto the interweb in glorious technicolour.

Application-like Icons

Application-like Icons

Application-like Icons, I forgive you, for you are a victim of circumstance. The boom in web services and web applications has meant that now more than ever, people are doing things on the web that would normally take place in a desktop software application. Organising photos, checking email, writing documents - these are all fairly complex activities that involve metaphors often seen in desktop applications (disk = “save”, blank page with star = “new page”, etc).

Couple this mentality with the fact that there are now many high quality free icon libraries available for use and bam, little icons everywhere, all arrogantly assuming that I understand what the hell they do based on the quality of the metaphor.

Death Clock Prediction: In early 2007 these will be taboo for anything but the most desktop-like of web applications. Use them on your blog at your peril.

Supermarket Stickers

Supermarket Stickers

As a generic way of drawing a user’s attention to something, I really like the supermarket sticker. It has a good mix of being kinda kitsch yet versatile, and it also has a solid grounding in cognitive psychology - everyone knows what a supermarket sticker is, it’s just something I, as a web user or a supermarket shopper, need to look at.

However, just as in real life, the supermarket sticker’s value degrades with overuse. If I walk down an aisle with 100 supermarket stickers on random products throughout, I’m probably not going to look at any - either I’ll be too distracted, or because there are so many my level of expectation will decrease overall and I’ll choose to not give my attention to any particular one. If I have one tip: don’t have more than one supermarket sticker on your site!

Death Clock Prediction: Within the next 6 months Supermarket Stickers will die a grisly, overused death.

Gradient Fills!

Gradient Fills!

I was going to say “big fonts ‘n’ gradient fills” but actually I’m hoping big fonts will stay with us a while longer. Gradient fills however, hoo boy. Gradient fills are slightly more difficult to judge than other web design trends as in some cases they provide a huge amount of personality to the site. Take a look at the mini web-empire created by 37signals, it’s blog, one of its products, it’s public framework - they all feature a bluey greeny gradient fill at the top. Cheap trick or genius branding move? Personally I’m not sure, but I wish that I had thought of it first (I also wish I had a mini web-empire to apply it to).

Death Clock Prediction: Gradient fills will be dead around late 2007. People are having way too much fun with them now, and they aren’t very intrusive. Will remain trendy for a good while.

Shinyness

Shinyness

I think we have Apple to blame for this one. The shiny, glossy look has long been a popular trait of many OS X icons and applications, made ever more popular with the advent of Apple’s Dashboard and it’s chunky 3D-ish shiny icons. The look has since found it’s way into web design in the form of shiny tabbed navigation, shiny buttons, shiny site logos and more. So much more.

Death Clock Prediction: We’re just going to have to wait for Apple to come up with the next cool design convention that we can all nick. OS X 10.5 comes out later this year - fingers crossed.

The use of superfluous visual effects

The use of superfluous visual effects

Curse you, Thomas Fuchs - you made it WAY too easy for people to implement Javascript effects on their website. I’m seeing all sorts of crazy things now - comment forms that only automagically appear when I click “I want to write a comment”, menus that slide in, out and all over the place (I thought that’s why we ditched Flash?). Right now it’s a chaotic world of Effect.Fade out there. Not that I think there is anything wrong with Javascript effects - I think they can be an excellent way of telling the user that something is happening, for example when a user deletes something it fades out instead of instantly disappearing; that’s a helpful metaphor. When effects are used for effect’s sake though…things get ugly.

Death Clock Prediction: After people get over the initial fascination of being able to fade things in and out by adding 2 lines of code, we will hopefully see a bigger focus on using effects for a real purpose, rather than just to make things all fancy-like. I give superfluous effects another 5 months - purposeful effects I hope are here to stay.

171 Comments

Good article Jon! Another excelent class of web design! I think there are some web trends that are like jeans but there are another that are a shame! I will be waiting for the next class, teacher!

Posted by: Eriksen on May 1st, 2006 at 11:05 pm
I think we need more design trends that help accessibilty for disabled users. Changeable font sizes is only the start of it.

And WEB STANDARDS! WEB STANDARDS, PEOPLE! Although I can’t talk right now with my Wordpress-theme-based-on-tables blog

.>

Posted by: Chidade on May 1st, 2006 at 11:53 pm
It’s a constant tug-of-war between designers who understand design that works — that makes it easy for the user to do whatever they came to the website for in the first place — and clients who want whatever eye candy is trendy right now. A prospective client of mine wanted a site done entirely in Flash, not because there was any functionality that it needed which could only be achieved in Flash, but because they liked “how crisp it looks.” All other considerations, from accessibility for the visually impaired (not just the totally blind but even people who just need bigger fonts) to search-engine friendliness were secondary, if they were considered at all. Looking “crisp” was all that mattered. Sadly, we have met the enemy and he is us. All too many designers have abjured their role as designers and just code up what the client asks for, even if it’s detrimental to that client’s business. They’re the Web equivalent of doctors who ask the patient what kind of pills he wants and sign the prescription. Even worse are the ones who push useless glitz on the client because it’s easier to sell (oooh! shiny! and the checkbook comes out) or because they can get more money for it, like the shady car inspection place that always tells you that you need something obscure and expensive repaired.

We’re designers, not just walking, talking WYSIWYG tools. It’s our responsibility to ascertain what a client’s actual needs are and create designs that fulfill them, and educate the client on why it should be done that way. Anyone who says “yeah, I know it’s junk but it’s what the client wanted” is no more deserving of the title of designer than a doctor who says “yeah, I know it won’t do any good, and might kill him, but it’s what the patient wanted” as he signs the prescriptions is deserving of the title of doctor.

Good design is good design, just as it has been since the first scribe tried to arrange words in some ancient script to be more organized and readable. What makes good design good has not changed now that we do it on the Web, any more than it changed because it was done with metal type instead of quill pens or papyrus instead of wet clay. There is no “new design” — only new tools to achieve the same goals that design has always had, and always will have. We forget that at our, and our clients’, peril.

Posted by: Jean on May 2nd, 2006 at 12:13 am
Hello,

Um. I’m not sure if the premise of your article is inline with your contents. You make it sound like trends are bad - pixel fonts and links that are not blue and underlined, sure they were trendy, but they’re still around because they fill a need. You’re right that pixel fonts fill space efficiently, and that nonblue nonunderlined links can fit in with the page theme more - so, more power to the designer that uses them, I say! There is a difference between picking up a trend and using it because it fits with your needs, and just following a trend because everyone else is doing it - you do state this later in your article. In this spirit, then, I would like to praise those that still use the “trendy” devices that you deride as dead early on (and K10K, far from being in need of some shaming, deserves some praise for its unique yet functional style, in my opinion). Trends come and go, but the good innovations remain.

Cheers,
Tuan

Posted by: Tuan on May 2nd, 2006 at 4:17 am
This shows I don’t really follow the design trend :P However, I do agree that links need to look like links - thus underline or something dramatic are needed! Overall, very educational article!

Posted by: bentong on May 2nd, 2006 at 6:15 am
Can we add crap.taculo.us URLs to the list as well? It’s so hard to remember where the stupid dots go…

Posted by: jayKayEss on May 2nd, 2006 at 10:07 am
awww man, im not even cool enough to use pixel fonts yet >_<

Posted by: cooper on May 2nd, 2006 at 10:11 am
Tuan, trends are bad. Biting trends is not “design”. It’s amateur DIY.

Posted by: mGee on May 2nd, 2006 at 10:41 am
I’m not sure I agree with this assessment, they are popular because they are easy to look at. Eye-candy is good!

Posted by: TheWeb20Dev on May 2nd, 2006 at 10:51 am
To say that “biting” trends is not design is a little close-minded. Some design techniques become trends for a good reason: they work. Trends aren’t necessarily bad, designers just need to know when and where to use it, and how to use it properly.

Posted by: Brownspank on May 2nd, 2006 at 11:07 am
@Chidade
“And WEB STANDARDS”

W3C doesn’t publish web standards, but recommendations. There is an ISO HTML standard, but I am sure you’re not yelling about that one.

Posted by: John on May 2nd, 2006 at 11:26 am
Insightful and funny article! I would say I am 100% innocent of contributing to the uprise of these trends — but that’d be a lie. Also, Jean, great comments.

Posted by: CJ on May 2nd, 2006 at 11:27 am
How about using high contrast colors for the text but very low contrast for links?

Posted by: Stu on May 2nd, 2006 at 11:59 am
I hope big fonts stay for a long, long time. I’m soooo tired of looking at tiny font for no good reason.

I actually don’t mind gradients too much. Everything else you mentioned must die sooner than later.

Posted by: foobar on May 2nd, 2006 at 11:59 am
Big fonts are why I use Opera, you can zoom in on the page and the images get bigger too.

Posted by: Stu on May 2nd, 2006 at 12:06 pm
Well done. Thank you for intelligently articulating what I have been thinking. I despise when designers are so derivative. I have seen too much shine and too | much | of | this | shit to be entertained. Cheers from NY.

Posted by: mamus on May 2nd, 2006 at 12:15 pm
oops - this is my earl

Posted by: mamus on May 2nd, 2006 at 12:19 pm
Don’t forget the lots and lots of closely spaced diagonal lines as a background trend. That’s all over the place right now!

Posted by: fil on May 2nd, 2006 at 12:24 pm
what about reflections? Apple’s responsible for that one and now there’s a whole bunch of websites using it…

Posted by: nick on May 2nd, 2006 at 1:08 pm
Speaking of low contrast, love the super faint blue on stark white you have going for your links.

Posted by: Anonymous on May 2nd, 2006 at 2:24 pm
@John who said: “W3C doesn’t publish web standards, but recommendations.”

I’m thrilled to hear what is your definition of a “Standard Organization”. Please share with us.

Posted by: moo on May 2nd, 2006 at 2:46 pm
i don’t agree with the most predictions you have made. gradient fills are a nice way to color content in a light way if the background comes with a opacity like 10% oder 20%.

pixelfonts will survive. unless adobe will stop the development of flash. ;-) for normal html websites it makes no sense, sure but pixelfonts are often used in flash cause of the long malpractice on how to render ‘normal’ fonts.

icons… wtf? are you kidding me? icons will always survive. they help users to realise content faster and separate it from each other. think about the small rss icon in your blog. do you think people will find the link if you only write ‘rss feed’? the trend for desktoplike applications just begin. buzzword for this is ajax. websites now could behave like normal applications so the users will expect icons to navigate.

shiny buttons and nice bling bling fx. i think it’s a subjective prediction you gave. rich media is entering the web, hi speed internet connections and better ria technologies will help the user to ‘feel’ the web. so there will visual fx to entertain the user.

i think the combination of new ria technologies and the awareness of standards compliant development will be the trend. ajax will meet accessibility and so on.

thank you for your predictions but i don’ think they will happen. ;-)

Posted by: rene on May 2nd, 2006 at 2:58 pm
how about dropshadows? rounded edges? fixed widths? hijacking my font settings? that said, i love this list…many of the items i just thought…”hey, this bothers someone else too ?!?!”.

Posted by: grumpY! on May 2nd, 2006 at 3:15 pm
Does this comment box fade out when I press ‘Ping!’?

Posted by: raf on May 2nd, 2006 at 3:16 pm
Rene I think you need to reread the article.

He was talking about pixelfonts on normal html websites, he was talking about icons but websites filled with icon buttons that mimic applications without explaining themselves.

I personally hate shiny things that don’t have to be shiny. They don’t serve a purpose and attract more attention to themselves

Posted by: lorenzosama on May 2nd, 2006 at 3:18 pm
Thank you lorenzosama.

Rene > I think you missed the point about the icons. It’s application-like icons that are in the death clock prediction. The RSS icon is probably the only real example of a bona-fide made-for-web icon that I can think of off hand. It serves a real purpose and it’s an accepted standard. Hence, it happily graces my blog.

Application-like icons could be useful in the future, but only if there is a similar level of standardisation. As you say, the amount of web applications is only going to grow - if I have to “learn” how to use an interface with every new web service that comes out because of all these little icons with their slightly differing design metaphors for the same activities (save, create, destroy etc) then the web is going to become a really frustrating place to use, IMO.

And on a more general note -

Welcome, visitors from digg.com (again). Please note that I have already stated in this article - I don’t dislike any of these design trends. I really like supermarket stickers. I also think icons can cute-up a page to no end. However, I do think that these are passing obsessions, the same way 6 years ago we all thought that putting a flash site in a pop-up was web design perfection.

At the rate people are using things like application-like icons, I feel that we will be sick of them in X amount of months time, and things will begin to level off. Sites that need to use them for a real purpose will continue to use them, and sites that didn’t need to use them in the first place will simply latch onto the next cool trend (that’s what we have the May 1st CSS Reboot for!).

Posted by: Jon on May 2nd, 2006 at 4:39 pm
John said “W3C doesn’t publish web standards, but recommendations.”

See http://www.w3.org/TR/ :
“A W3C Recommendation is a specification or set of guidelines [...] Note: W3C Recommendations are similar to the standards published by other organizations.”

Posted by: FlorentG on May 2nd, 2006 at 7:05 pm
Hi,

For those who are interested, we regularly write and comment about web design trends over at fadtastic (http://fadtastic.net)

Andy.

Posted by: Andrew Faulkner on May 2nd, 2006 at 7:39 pm
If a client want’s any of the above because they have seen it elsewhere, then so be it. Their putting food on the table and in the end thats what really matters.

That aside, I nice article and good breakdown.

Posted by: Bodom78 on May 2nd, 2006 at 8:22 pm
[...] From a friend in the not so horribly chilly anymore north comes this half-serious list of web design trends and projected dates of demise. [...]

Posted by: Greenviolet » Blog Archive » trends obituary on May 2nd, 2006 at 8:28 pm
Hey! gradiant fills and non-underlined, non-blue links are good! And don’t insult Apple!

Posted by: me on May 2nd, 2006 at 8:55 pm
[...] The Web Design Trend Obituary & Death Clock (tags: design webdesign funny) [...]

Posted by: » links for 2006-05-02 « marksdigital on May 2nd, 2006 at 8:59 pm
click ye for thy shalt do as i must say

Posted by: ye on May 2nd, 2006 at 9:23 pm
What the hell? You should really have someone proofread your stuff before you post it and look like a huge moron.

it’s = it is

Posted by: RW on May 2nd, 2006 at 11:50 pm
when in doubt, attack the grammar.

Posted by: Jon on May 3rd, 2006 at 12:02 am
you’re stupid

Posted by: Jacob Reinhold on May 3rd, 2006 at 12:26 am
[...] Stando a pingmag ad essere out sono (o saranno): [...]

Posted by: Trend nel web design >> Web café on May 3rd, 2006 at 12:36 am
Another trend: blog pages that predict trends. Yet another trend: impatience with current graphic trends. Thanks for letting us know what’s trendy and what’s not.

Posted by: bears on May 3rd, 2006 at 12:37 am
BUY STUFF FROM HERE!!!!!!

Posted by: fdfsdf on May 3rd, 2006 at 12:39 am
so you’re pretty much saying ALL these trends will be dead within the next 2 years?

wow. you’re retarded. congratulations.

Posted by: noopzilla on May 3rd, 2006 at 12:44 am
Who the hell are you? Nostradamus? Damn! Congratulations for another failed forecast. Idiot!

Posted by: Design Guru on May 3rd, 2006 at 12:49 am
Wow Everything will die (including this site) in 2007

Posted by: Ranky Rank on May 3rd, 2006 at 1:05 am
[...] PingMag - The Tokyo-based magazine about “Design and Making Things” » Archive » The Web Design Trend Obituary & Death Clock (tags: article cool culture design history internet web webdesign reference advice blog) [...]

Posted by: links for 2006-05-02 at reDefined//V2.0 on May 3rd, 2006 at 1:17 am
There are two kinds of people in this world: creators, and masturbators. Take this into consideration when you think you are a web designer.

-he who stacks pork

Posted by: Leopold Porkstacker on May 3rd, 2006 at 1:34 am
telling to see as the digg count rises, the intellect of the comments drops proportionally. d00d.

Posted by: bughouse on May 3rd, 2006 at 1:45 am
So no death-clock prediction for blog comments?

Posted by: James McDugal on May 3rd, 2006 at 2:02 am
If you want to play blind man, go walk with the shepherd.

Posted by: Rod Ass on May 3rd, 2006 at 2:39 am
I’m really surprised that all-flash, full screen websites didn’t make the list but then again I’ve seen some really nice implementation with those lately.

The thing that really pisses me off for some reason or another is when people call themselves “web designers” but all they do is take a blog system like wordpress and change out the template files. I saw one guys site that was done this way and his “portfolio” was one wordpress blog after another. It also seemed to be a competition to see how many plugins could be used for people to view flickr photos and his latest purchase from iTunes….and why should I care?

Posted by: drezden on May 3rd, 2006 at 2:42 am
What about a prediction on the death of isometric pixel art? http://rhysd.syntesis.org/tutorial/chapter5point5.html

I’m starting to get sick of it already

Posted by: peleken on May 3rd, 2006 at 3:23 am
Talking about what trends are dead is such a dead trend. Let the real artists call the shots, blowhard.

Posted by: Aaron on May 3rd, 2006 at 3:28 am
Well, these ‘predictions’ are extremely similar to few other articles on the web regarding the same subject, so no need to kiss the arse and keep repeating “you’re so smart and original to come up with this”.. The post here is just an opinion of one man, and that’s about it.. Personally, I don’t think that we need to stick to whatever style that was first invented and used quite a lot of years ago for links or anything else.. If some site is difficult to navigate, then it’s not the controls or styles used, it’s the usabily and design, that sucks.. So, don’t mix one and another.. Personally, I don’t like design of this site - too much of colors, too much of everything that distracts a user.. Thanks God the background is not something flashy and blinking…

As for icons on sites.. Well, I’m no expert here and no designer by any means, but I see that my audience works much better with images for actions than text or dull buttons.

There are a lot of opinions out there, but PLEASE don’t pretend that your ‘opinion’ is something worth the word ‘prediction’.. Everything will evolve and follow fashion in one way or another..

Posted by: Alex on May 3rd, 2006 at 3:45 am
I think it’s a good article and a good opinion. Afterall, aren’t we all entitled to our opinions? Some of you on here who continue calling the author names are no different. Merely opinions and no one should resort to cursing or getting angry. It’s no big deal. The internet will go where the internet goes and none of you, nor I, can change it.

As a designer I tend to favor functionality, simplicity, and usability. I use what’s needed when it’s needed and don’t think about what’s popular. I know the trends, but I don’t design with them in mind. If they happen to appear in my work, then it’s because they’re needed.

We can’t generalize everything. We can’t say all gradients are bad. Or all pixel-fonts are bad. Or all icons are bad. If they’re needed, then they’re good, correct? If they’re not needed and they’re used, then 9 times out of 10 it’s decorative and doesn’t really fit the concept, therefore resulting in unsucessful design.

Afterall, design is not art; it’s a problem solving methodology.

Posted by: Chris on May 3rd, 2006 at 3:54 am
bla bla bal….do any of you even have jobs anymore? It looks like you have way too much time on your hands to be writing all of this.

GET A JOB!

Posted by: jow mama on May 3rd, 2006 at 4:25 am
You know what web trend I wish would die a horrible screaming painful death?

Fixed width content columns.

Like this article and just about every blog, online newspaper and magazine.

This is the web, not a newspaper or a magazine. Come, join us in the internet age and stop assuming that everybody wants to read our content in a fixed 40 to 80 column width.

We have the technology, and we can use it. In fact, it is easier to use a non-fixed width for content than it is to use fixed widths.

Just say no.

Posted by: LCB on May 3rd, 2006 at 6:25 am
Ah man, you beat me to the punch! :)

Absolutely great article and clever presentation.

Posted by: P.J. Onori on May 3rd, 2006 at 6:32 am
[...] Este link te llevará de la mano para que veas y razones por qué seguir tendencias (o mejor, marcar tendencias).. Escribe tu comentario [...]

Posted by: Kuro / Jorge Cocompech » Las tendencias web 2.0 on May 3rd, 2006 at 7:06 am
[...] PingMag has an article on certain web design trends might start to disappear - grey means lack of inspiration. [...]

Posted by: Norty Pig » Blog Archive » The End For Some Trends on May 3rd, 2006 at 7:14 am
[...] If you’re into web design, you must check out this article over at the Tokyo-based design site PingMag. They have gathered a great list of current web design trends and writtten comments on all of them. [...]

Posted by: Current web design trends - Fosfor on May 3rd, 2006 at 7:44 am
[...] Ich habe auf [pingmag.jp] einen amüsanten Artikel über die Kurzlebigkeit von Design-Trends gelesen. Als ich mir heute mal den CSS Spring Reboot 2006 angeschaut habe, musste ich feststellen, dass fast alle CSS Seiten heutzutage gleich aussehen. Der aktuelle Trend sind große Links à la Digg.com, komische Namen wie flickr.com und AJAX-Technologie und Social Ware, wo das Auge hinreicht. Wie soll ich meine drei Seiten also gestalten? Lohnt es sich, dem Trend zu folgen? Was haben wir nicht schon alles sterben sehen: Pixelfonts, die gegen Ende der 90er populär geworden sind (danke an Flash), Links, die nicht wie Links aussehen, kontrastarme Seiten, die im schönen grau gehalten worden sind, poppige Icons, die das Web in eine Anwendung transformieren sollen und zu guter letzt die unzähligen Verläufe, leuchtenen Farben, “Supermarkt Sticker“, riesen Schriftarten und “Apples” schimmernden Reflektionen, die heute aktuell sind. Und auch sie werden wieder untergehen. Auch ich habe mich bei unzähligen dieser Trends bedient. Sie sind für den Moment cool und definieren die aktuelle Ästhetik. Aber seien wir mal ehrlich. Die hässlichsten oder einfachsten Seiten generieren den meisten Traffic. Design does not always matter. von uy Kategorie: Webdesign Hinzufügen bei: del.icio.us | Yahoo MyWeb [...]

Posted by: PfuyAds » Blog Archive » Design-Trends sterben wie die Fliegen on May 3rd, 2006 at 7:54 am
If you wouldn’t have left a message to welcome digg visitors, I could have guess it just as well. The level of the comments in dugg sites always reaches a low as the first “I only visit digg to see what I can rant about” visitors appear. Then, as the digg choice get re-blogged and then commented by more serious visitors, the level of comments goes up and down for a while, until the “dugg” post gets out from the main page on digg. That’s when the comments get as bright as they used to be.

(I’m sorry if my grammar is a disaster, my written English is a little rusted)

Posted by: Nimari on May 3rd, 2006 at 7:55 am
And in late summer 2006 we’ll see the end of blog’s headers - I wish that was true already…

Excellent reading. Please keep it up!

Posted by: fortunato caragliano on May 3rd, 2006 at 8:24 am
Web designers are miserable angsty folks, especially the ones who have the totality of their creative outlet stuck on just web design.

If I meet someone and they tell me they are a Web Designer, I think to myself, “ah, sorry chap”. Do yourself a favor, never call yourself as a web designer. Just be a designer. If you call your self a “Web Designer” but all you really do is build websites, then you are not a designer - you are a web monkey.

Think about it - The web is the most disposable medium, your work is disposable, you are disposable. Your output starts to rot after it’s a week old. Your output only exists in pixels. You make nothing that can be touched, nothing that matters, and there are a thousand 19 year olds in South Korea alone that are more creative than you are.

You can never keep up. If you are lucky enough to be recognized for a design and get your 15 minutes of Lame, it only fuels your need for recognition. You feel like “just another designer” most of the time.

And then you end up commenting on a design blog, that really, truly, is meaningless.

You hangliding whilst frying on acid. Have a bad trip. Cry. Sweat. Piss your pants. Feel yourself. Have a disruptive experience.

If you must stare at a screen 8 hours a day and design for a living (like me), do it with a sense of humor. Lighten up. This shit doesn’t matter, and when you realize it doesn’t matter, it will make you a better designer.

Posted by: Pity on May 3rd, 2006 at 9:42 am
[...] Business issues aside but still on web design. I came across (from my fave news site Digg) a very nice article about web design trends. I have always spoke to others about how there are trends in web design much like the fashion industry and this article puts a lot of this into perspective much better then my words. From what I have generally seen the web design trends infact set the trends early for design for mainstream media like TV and magazines. Some people may disagree but I certainly have seen some good examples especially on Big Brother promo material and quite a bit of Channel 10 promo material as well. [...]

Posted by: Finally making some progress at Lone Space on May 3rd, 2006 at 9:42 am
That comment from “Pity” above is irritating because it’s true.

It’s also irritating because his grammar sucks.

Posted by: JazzBee on May 3rd, 2006 at 9:49 am
It’s a never ending battle… I wonder when will the “pixel” itself go out of style… Will it ever change to another size or form… like round instead of square maybe?

Predictions are actually stupid, I think. They are for people who can only think as long as their lifespan. These things aren’t new anymore people…we are simply recycling what’s left of this world. If you really want something “NEW” - only God or creator or whatever you call the guy (or so..) who created all of us and whatever there is knew how to make one.

Posted by: Axis on May 3rd, 2006 at 11:03 am
Sad to say … I’m guilty of the first two bad design moves. Stupid me!

Posted by: hacker not cracker on May 3rd, 2006 at 12:26 pm
You have listed many of these trends as a mistake because of the loss of usability. Usability has its place, compromising some of it for a better design seems to me a valid choice, especially when designers are the target of the site.
Your harsh comments about k10k force me to compare the design here to theirs and I must say pingmag ends up looking like a below-average blog design

Posted by: pixelfreak on May 3rd, 2006 at 3:42 pm
@pixelfreak,

Your site looks like k10k! I’d say you are a little biased…

Posted by: onlooker on May 3rd, 2006 at 4:12 pm
Just to say, that I never saw Joshua Davis using pixel Fonts, mostly he uses Arial.

Posted by: fausto g pacheco on May 3rd, 2006 at 5:49 pm
Then you haven’t been following his work for very long. Take a look at the studio portfolio and see his work on the praystation project from the late 90s (the era I was talking about in the article). It’s all very tight and pixel-font based. Not saying that’s bad - at the time it looked awesome and was hugely influential.

http://ps3.praystation.com/pound/v2/
http://ps1.praystation.com/pound/v2/

Posted by: Jon on May 3rd, 2006 at 6:38 pm
This is far to the unethicallybus, if you read this you just wasted the same amount of time than me… haha!

Posted by: gaygal on May 3rd, 2006 at 8:17 pm
NOBODY CARES

Posted by: Rod Ass on May 3rd, 2006 at 11:56 pm
[...] am so guilty of using these web trends posted by steph tekano at 7:44 am | | permalink Leave aReply [...]

Posted by: Steph Tekano | Steady Vibe Design | Vancouver on May 4th, 2006 at 12:45 am
i read somewhere or someone told me once that gradients and drop shadows are just a way for a designer to hide the fact that they don’t have a strong concept.

Posted by: someone on May 4th, 2006 at 12:51 am
[...] The Web Design Trend and Obituary Clock a small collection of web design trends that I predict we will all be completely sick of in about 6 months. Tags: [No Tags] Related Posts: [ ] [...]

Posted by: A Blog Apart // on May 4th, 2006 at 1:08 am
[...] Pixel-fonts, falta de contraste, brilho e degradantes - digo, degradê - são algumas das tendências para a próxima coleção de web design, apontadas no artigo da PigMag, revista de desing japonesa. Eu incluiria também bordas arredondadas, sombras e “visual” blog. Vale um clique. [...]

Posted by: bl01gSeção de dados do blog » Web design outono-inverno on May 4th, 2006 at 1:23 am
[...] [...]

Posted by: Jack Cheng on May 4th, 2006 at 1:38 am
I miss the blink tag… It was far superior to the marquee tag

Posted by: Queeto on May 4th, 2006 at 3:56 am
THIS IS SILLY. The goal of good design is communication. If a pixel font or a gradient helps the end result so be it! If we start basing design work off what is “trendy” we’ll become no more usefull than the content of the “in’s” and “out’s” of some elitist fashion zine.

Posted by: Jason on May 4th, 2006 at 6:18 am
Wonderfully written, funny, witty, concise with just the right LOD so to speak, and I largely* agree. (*Like the big type on a page) Whew! I score my site as not on the obits list just yet. Pixelfonts, Nope. Hidden/obfuscated links, gradient fills, “shininess”, Nope. Well, I do have sort of a sticker, more the roadsign. But hey, might be fun to point out in another article, that these trendy tricks are also lots of superfluous work, and I’m naturally lazy! Style-lessness as a style in itself, that’s my goal, I’ll always win! ;-)

Posted by: jim lemon on May 4th, 2006 at 10:50 am
“aggorantly”: NAW (not a word)

I have a severe cred issue with someone who misspells “its” three times in one sentence. Do you also say her’s/our’s/their’s???

Posted by: eecummings on May 4th, 2006 at 3:28 pm
You forgot reflections.

Posted by: Josh on May 4th, 2006 at 11:41 pm
To the author-
As a designer, I think you may have a point with your comments. As a human, I know that overly-analystic studies and arrogant comments will only speed up the outsourcing of web design and development to the machines of the future. My point… you will be looking for work elsewhere in the future. Web will be assembled by the machines we now love and hold dear. Thanks

Posted by: Discip on May 5th, 2006 at 12:11 am
Speaking of which, you should have included this webpage as an example. This has to rank as one of the ugliest pages I’ve seen.

Posted by: johnny on May 5th, 2006 at 3:32 am
we should include this site for one of the biggest trends of last year–use of CMYK in design. Grats on your Cyan.

Oh, lets not forget the icon roll call that is on every design site “Share and Enjoy”, you can read it at the bottom of this page.

And the background-color change on roll over, wow - thats the first time ive seen that.

Now, are trends bad? Not necessarily. They’re trendy for a reason. Is being a trendwhore bad? Hardly. 95% of the people who have ever browsed the web have no clue what internet trends are. Its the 5% elitists that try to point this out and make some sort of stuck up comment about originality. Hello, Van Gogh followed trend, Trotsky followed trends,its common - and only a real artist can stem their own style from a trend.

As for usability and functionality of a website, thats entirely different. When you want a site that really pops, and attracts a user to a product/movie/artist group band, you have to take sacrafices, such as your site might not fit on 800×600 resolution screens.

This is where your audience comes in. Some sites have to be spelled out for browsers, while sharp internet-saavy folks can just get right through the site.

You should write an article about internet trends implemented unconventionally, like using 6px pixel fonts for huge paragraphs on a website, or using clashing gradient backgrounds red/blue.

Posted by: hahan00b on May 5th, 2006 at 4:14 pm
A few valid points, namely colour contrast and clearly defined links being fairly essential these days. These days? They’ve been essential for years outside of anything other than a designer’s self indulgence.

The impending “death” of the other trends you focus on is a matter of personal opinion. Obviously most mentioned have been used so often that they’ve become as common as muck. Still, some of the nicest design work out there has profited from them at the same time and I guess it sort of depends on how those trends are used and to what extent they’re pushed on a given site.

Odd that you’d write a condemnation piece about trends that you still freely utilise. It seems to have stirred up a bit of interest though so mission accomplished.

P.S. The chuckle brother who just dropped a turd in regard to designers who pander to their clients’ whims (comparatively, a doctor prescribing per request) needs to loosen that arse up a bit.

Posted by: Valero on May 6th, 2006 at 12:40 am
[...] The Web Design Trend Obituary And Death Clock Tagged as: blog design web [...]

Posted by: Rue Plumet » Interesting Sites For This Week on May 8th, 2006 at 11:42 am
[...] The web design trend obituary and death clock. [...]

Posted by: Justin Blanton | The web design trend obituary and death clock on May 8th, 2006 at 1:41 pm
@Valero: “The chuckle brother who just dropped a turd in regard to designers who pander to their clients’ whims (comparatively, a doctor prescribing per request) needs to loosen that arse up a bit.”

I agree with him completely. I had one client who insisted on having yellow text on a white background. My partner (being from the customer-is-always-right school of thought) promised him everything he wanted and then couldn’t understand when I refused to do it as asked.

In the end, you should try to incorporate the client’s desires as much as possible, but not at the cost of good (or even tolerable) design.

Posted by: nyob on May 9th, 2006 at 6:03 am
“I agree with him completely. I had one client who insisted on having yellow text on a white background. My partner (being from the customer-is-always-right school of thought) promised him everything he wanted and then couldn’t understand when I refused to do it as asked.

In the end, you should try to incorporate the client’s desires as much as possible, but not at the cost of good (or even tolerable) design.

Posted by: nyob on May 9th, 2006 at 6:03 am”

I think you’re using an extreme case there, most clients will listen to reason upon hearing the percentage of users they’re excluding through bad colour combos, throw in the fact that it’s failed to meet the minimum W3C guidelines on the issue and they tend to be sold or at least willing to come to a compromise.

The only time I’ve ever had a problem in that regard is when brand guidelines dictate what flies and said guidelines were utter pump.

That’s irrelevant though, he’s used an emotive analogy which is way off track. Take away the element of livelihood and health being on the line and any other comparison wouldn’t really hit home with the same seriousness.

I don’t condone pedalling shit to make a buck, but at the same time you’re supplying a service and if your recommendations aren’t acted upon then the client has noone to blame but themselves.

A more apt comparison would be to a mechanic as opposed to a doctor. If some idiot came to you with a merc and asked you to spray paint it luminous green against you’re better judgement,then had a grievance 6 months down the line about not acting upon advice he was given nobody’s going to kick the bucket as a result.

Just a bad analogy to make. Misleading to make a point.

Posted by: Valero on May 9th, 2006 at 9:57 pm
You are talkin shit dude.

Posted by: Adolf on May 10th, 2006 at 1:22 am
You superb designer-trend-guru please tell us what the trends are in 2007! We are alle stupid and only you know whats in and whats out ahhh…

Posted by: Rudolf on May 10th, 2006 at 1:26 am
Thanks for this great artikle!

Posted by: Billigflug on May 10th, 2006 at 2:15 am
Most of these won’t be missed, too.

Posted by: j2 on May 10th, 2006 at 4:24 am
There is something I miss: The death clock prediction for images without width and height tags which still mess up the layout or cause heavy redraws during loading. Same goes for missing alt-Tags, which is handy in case an image has failed loading or is still in the http request queue - not to mention accessibility demands.

Posted by: TS on May 10th, 2006 at 4:48 am
haha. class..

Posted by: the smiling princess on May 10th, 2006 at 7:50 am
Great article.

I’m not sure if all these trends are going to die before 2007, but I’m glad you’re vocal about your observations – It keeps this place fresh.

Embossingly yours,
Oo

Posted by: gumey on May 10th, 2006 at 9:24 am
Interesting. Any thoughts on page structure trends?

Posted by: Zach on May 10th, 2006 at 9:44 am
Jesus wept. What horrible comments. Digg is like Fark needed its own Slashdot.

Posted by: moo on May 10th, 2006 at 11:38 am
what made you decide that a blue underlined link was beautiful?

Posted by: Andrew on May 11th, 2006 at 1:10 am
It’s gotten trendy to blast trends

Posted by: Marc on May 11th, 2006 at 2:14 am
Very interesting! I hope your wishes will come true …

Posted by: webdesigner on May 11th, 2006 at 5:21 pm
[...] Laut dem japanische Ping Magazin gibt es ein paar Dinge die in Zukunft im Webdesign aussterben werden: [...]

Posted by: thone.at » Blog Archive » Designtrends on May 11th, 2006 at 5:54 pm
[...] Pingmag heeft een mooi lijstje gemaakt met webdesign trends die óf totaal niet gebruiksvriendelijk óf juist heel erg cliché zijn. Ook ik bezondig me wel eens aan het gebruiken van enkele van die trends. Maar hey, als deze trends je niet bekend in de oren klinken dan ben je ook geen echte webdesigner lijkt mij. [...]

Posted by: Een frisse kijk op.. | Webdesign trends on May 11th, 2006 at 9:30 pm
you’re right jon. but what will be in the future? which effects we gonna see, what comes after the supermarket stickers, etc, etc… questions over questions. i think it would be more interesting to see what comes, not what’s history. isn’t it?!

Posted by: Steve on May 11th, 2006 at 11:44 pm
[...] I am aware that this is a relatively common topic in the design community. Unfortunately, this topic is still very relevant and worth writing about. Personally, I feel the more people who write about this, the more it will eventually seep into the public consciousness much like the web standards movement. If the wheel squeaks loud enough, it will get the WD40 it so badly needs. This article is not intended to call people out as I feel we all are guilty of this mindset from time to time. Rather, it is just another voice asking for us all to take a step back and give careful consideration to what we do. Technorati Tags: apple, design, drag, drop shadows, gradients, opinion, rounded corners, style, trends, web design [...]

Posted by: DRAG-ing Your Design Down - How To Style Yourself To Anonymity » SOME RANDOM DUDE on May 12th, 2006 at 2:24 pm
good article!

Posted by: Anthony Rodriguez on May 13th, 2006 at 6:28 am
[...] jon cockle (pingmag.jp) setzt sich kritisch mit 8 aktuellen (und nicht so aktuellen) designtrends und deren natürlicher halbwertszeit auseinander. lesenswert! [...]

Posted by: nachtgedanken » Blog Archive » designtrends und ihre biologische uhr on May 17th, 2006 at 6:29 pm
I don’t think large text will die out so quickly. Reading the text on this site at 1600×1200 screen resolution is already enough to give you eyestrain, and before very long everybody will have systems with higher resolutions still.

Posted by: Anonymous on May 20th, 2006 at 4:06 am
Great reading! Isn’t it so that whenever there is a new software update from for example Flash there are new ‘trends’? So shouldn’t the new features of a software package reveal the new trends at forehand…?

Posted by: Erick Schluter on May 25th, 2006 at 1:04 am
So wait.. you complain about low contrast in your article but yet your links are light blue on white? Kettle, meet pot.

Posted by: John on May 25th, 2006 at 11:13 am
John > this magazine is a collaborative effort. It’s not like one person makes all the design decisions. If any one person had it their way, I’m sure this site would look very different.

Posted by: Administrator on May 25th, 2006 at 11:16 am
Wow, I hope no-one I know ever gets ‘digged’…

Posted by: Hubris Sonic on May 26th, 2006 at 5:35 pm
another trend spotted (again and lasts years already) - look at the pingmap.jp logo
http://fadtastic.net/2006/05/28/logo-design-where-1-1-3/

Posted by: Johan van den rym on May 28th, 2006 at 11:30 pm
Wow! I really like this article, and to tell you the truth…I would hate to see a dozen of those supermarket signs. And I hate those little links that you can’t see, or have to chase it around to click on it. Personally, a lot of times, sites use the gradient scale thingy, and it doesn’t look good. I don’t really like gradient scale, but I guess it’s okay at times. I don’t like using shiny fonts because at times, it may not fit or blend in with the website or design. But yes, love your article. :D

Posted by: Sue on June 1st, 2006 at 12:39 am
Agree with many of the points on your posting, except the use og flash, which has come a long way over the last two years and is great for building web apps. check out the lurve-licious http://www.beck.com

Posted by: pedro on June 6th, 2006 at 3:00 am
[...] Ping magazin, revista japonesa de diseño y maravillas japonesas, tiene dos muy buenos articulos - ademas de un podcast increible, entrevistas,ensayos, fotografia, etc, etc, etc, - uno llamado Los cinco pasos para alcanzar el paraiso CSS y el otro es un pronostico de cuando moriran ciertas tendencias en diseño de la web actual. Posted by matiasjajaja Filed in Internet, web design, CSS, Diseño [...]

Posted by: Matiasjajaja - Novedades digitales y Web Actual » Blog Archive » Cinco pasos para llegar el cielo css on June 9th, 2006 at 12:10 am
[...] Super sloooooow today, both in terms of work and news. i did find something cool over at pingmag though. jon over at pingmag counts down the death clock on played out web design trends like the pixel fonts and shiny buttons. nothing critical, but some light reading if you’re bored like i am today… [...]

Posted by: dying trends-- str1ke.us on June 15th, 2006 at 3:24 am
[...] PingMag hat einige aktuelle Design-Trends ausgemacht und sagt voraus, welche davon in absehbarer Zeit aussterben werden: [...]

Posted by: blog.deobald.org » Blog Archive » Web 2.5a - Welche Webdesign-Trends sterben aus? on July 24th, 2006 at 6:39 pm
Some interesting points but the way you organised the content is miserable. The layout is crap!

Posted by: bin on August 8th, 2006 at 9:18 pm
[...] Ok I had some free time thought design some Web 2.0 based Badges a little bit of gradient and wet floor effect. (If Don’t know what I am talking about read this and this.) Viola here they are. Different Colors for every one . [...]

Posted by: The BlogCamp T-shirt Design and Badges part 2 at The Bluesaze Blog on August 9th, 2006 at 6:18 pm
[...] Find out when current beloved design trends such as that spiky circular label and shiny navigation bars are going to DIE.read more | digg story [...]

Posted by: Designs » Current Web Design Trends “Death Clock”! on August 31st, 2006 at 11:08 pm
[...] This kind of ‘2.0’ checklist has been listed elsewhere at lengths especially here and here. It’s all probably going to look dated in the next two years anyway. Doomsday here. [...]

Posted by: Brand Empire » 3 Generations of The Project Office Website. on September 18th, 2006 at 4:16 am
[...] Check out The Web Design Trend and Obituary Clock. It’s a good article outlining Web design trends (especially the Web 2.0 designs) and making predictions about when they’ll flame out. [...]

Posted by: Ad Fed Blog :: Which trends will die first? on September 22nd, 2006 at 1:29 am
Ur own design is crappy and white is awful for eyes, what a stuck-up article!

Posted by: WTF on October 1st, 2006 at 3:49 am
Hello, Great info, and a great design made it very easy to navigate!
http://didrex-on.tripod.com
Thanks!

Posted by: PITON on October 4th, 2006 at 9:54 am
Hello, Great info, and a great design made it very easy to navigate!
http://phendime-trazine.tripod.com
Thanks!

Posted by: Dudka on October 4th, 2006 at 9:54 am
http:/www.logoorange.com

LogoOrange branding consultancy updated portfolio website.

Posted by: Thor Johnson on November 15th, 2006 at 12:41 am
hahaha.. yea I agree with most of the thing. I really remember how I designed websites back in late 90s and early 2000 with most of of the things you mentioned above. However, I’m no longer victim of trend as I dont do any of the things you predict to be dead, because to me, cool trendy eyecandy is nothing when used only for its sake. so yeah, I agree with you anyway :P

the funniest thing you said was “We’re just going to have to wait for Apple to come up with the next cool design convention that we can all nick. OS X 10.5 comes out later this year - fingers crossed.”

Posted by: donkei on November 26th, 2006 at 9:36 am
[...] web design trend obituary [...]

Posted by: aaronrutledge.com » web design trend obituary (and death clock!) on December 4th, 2006 at 1:19 pm
Hi! Very nice site! Thanks you very much! fbr9fgkaDpacp

Posted by: Ojn4t7PVf2 on January 16th, 2007 at 9:28 am
[...] O rodapé do site é uma larga imagem dividida em 3 links. Além de sofrer dos mesmos males ressaltados no 2o item, não usufrui dos mesmos benefícios, uma vez que as fontes em pixel fazem parte de uma tendência em queda já há tempos no webdesign. Como se isso não bastasse, o rodapé contém o crédito do site, e sendo uma imagem, mais uma vez passa batida nos mecanismos de busca. [...]

Posted by: fabrica 021 » Blog Archive » 5 erros de webdesign da Revista Piauí on January 30th, 2007 at 9:06 pm
help

Posted by: janie on February 1st, 2007 at 6:27 am
yo yo dadio

Posted by: Joe on February 15th, 2007 at 11:26 pm
To show the breadth of web standards

As a handy tool for developers during the production phase of websites

As an aid for developers who are interested in moving towards web standards

A site built to web standards should ideally be lean, clean, CSS-based, accessible, usable and search engine friendly.

Posted by: Web Solution India on February 22nd, 2007 at 2:45 pm
[...] http://www.pingmag.jp/2006/05/01/the-web-design-trend-obituary-death-clock/ [...]

Posted by: pixel-blog » Blog Archive » Modas pasadas y presentes en el diseño web on February 23rd, 2007 at 4:43 pm
http://www.hypronex.com has professional, custom website design.

Posted by: Roger on March 1st, 2007 at 12:06 pm
Good points

Posted by: Death Date on March 27th, 2007 at 10:07 pm
Funny, well written article. I enjoyed it and look forward to your comments on what’s next in teh design world…

Thanks!

Posted by: Matthew Bowden on March 29th, 2007 at 7:16 pm
Dear fren,
what are u talking about? i am a newbie webdesigner here, was checking google for some trends and i come here
and find this ? is this humuor or reality ?

Posted by: KillerSkunk on April 18th, 2007 at 3:16 pm
New life finds its way dot
irie japan saaya*
He wears no stillsuit Jessica said dot

Posted by: hexpx on May 5th, 2007 at 8:48 am
munitions but ineffectual against the Grand Army of God which
google.xom*
and ghastly like a city that had arisen from its grave dot

Posted by: pdzja on May 6th, 2007 at 2:15 pm
lanes and bypaths of literaturein the genial summertime dot
naruto hintai*
There certainly are seasons replied the Baron when Nature

Posted by: nreea on May 6th, 2007 at 8:33 pm
it not the less then surely the lives of literary men are most
mile18*
AllSaints in its majestic holy stillnessthe river flowed so

Posted by: cjfdx on May 7th, 2007 at 4:21 pm
rainstorm and the birds fly to and fro and shriek dot Where do they
communist manifesto surrealism*
Here Flemming was introduced to his illustrious countryman a

Posted by: communist hwfd on May 11th, 2007 at 2:58 am
should water such a sorrow dot Had they been men they would have made
penes gerard butler gay*
existence and which in itself is a prayer and a thanksgiving dot I

Posted by: kdokkjd on May 12th, 2007 at 1:48 am
unpleasing in literary life which for the most part makes today
gerard butler biography*
there is of most nice dot I drink my water and am good! Do you not

Posted by: twrygiq on May 13th, 2007 at 9:15 am
How to Prevent Valueless Design in Social Web Sites?

Posted by: Web Designer on June 12th, 2007 at 4:03 pm
after reading this article and the various responses, “trends” or “fashion” just happens, change is constant, there is no one “design” or “trend” that stays for long, I agree that it will die sooner or later, there is a possibility of it actually happening earlier or later depending on how people will react.

My professors from Seneca@Yotk College, Toronto, Ontario forbids us to use “Lens Flares” why, because it’s simply “used up”, “overused” and etc. Same thing with the trends of pixel-fonts and gradients and shinny icons and whatever.

So yes it will die eventually, the only question is when.

Just remember, change always happens, you, whoever you are, whatever you are, whatever position you have in a company, web-designer, graphic designer, creative-director etc. can’t stop it.

Posted by: cramcomplex on July 19th, 2007 at 1:55 pm
Hello
Great Article, thanks..

Posted by: Katalog Stron on September 29th, 2007 at 7:08 am
Death clock! but i don’t think so!!!

Posted by: Jas Kalsi on October 5th, 2007 at 8:49 pm
Design should follow
W3C
Or
Web2.0 rules

Posted by: Shoes from Ashley Bond on October 23rd, 2007 at 8:30 pm
great article and also first few comments, great when people are sharing thoughts and experience!

Posted by: Dubai website designer on October 30th, 2007 at 2:07 am
Since visitors see website as a whole rather than reading every word and when they don t find what hey need in seconds then that offends they must and they don t mind to turn off the website as fast as possible.

Posted by: Web development company on October 30th, 2007 at 2:02 pm
UR0FfZ 3v3445vtt075nvn0g8d0nb

Posted by: John on November 22nd, 2007 at 3:08 pm
Yes, yes.. form AND function ne

Posted by: Yuu on January 6th, 2008 at 8:20 pm
[...] Klik hier voor het lijstje! [...]

Posted by: Webdesign trends « Multimedia ontwerp on January 14th, 2008 at 5:49 am
A site built to web standards should ideally be lean, clean, CSS-based, accessible, usable and search engine friendly.

Posted by: kurye on February 23rd, 2008 at 8:57 am
It is really funny to take a look back on how much things change. It’s true, that most web designers follow Apple trends. I to am guilty of it. But hey, they are the best.

Posted by: cleveland web development on March 30th, 2008 at 2:18 am
A creative layout is better than a boring jungle of boxes and lines…
-points to this page-

Posted by: Anonymous on May 4th, 2008 at 12:13 pm
There is something I miss: The death clock prediction for images without width and height tags which still mess up the layout or cause heavy redraws during loading. Same goes for missing alt-Tags, which is handy in case an image has failed loading or is still in the http request queue - not to mention accessibility demands.

Posted by: website design on May 5th, 2008 at 5:10 pm
[...] - são algumas das tendências para a próxima coleção de web design apontadas no artigo da PigMag, revista de design japonesa. Eu incluiria também bordas arredondadas, sombras e “visual” blog. [...]

Posted by: blØ1g » Web design outono-inverno on June 21st, 2008 at 4:41 am
Thanks a lot for these tips

Posted by: MIraclestudios web design on June 26th, 2008 at 2:53 pm
yes, webdesigners everyday product new ideas. sometimes we shocked. we say whwt is this.

Posted by: araba on August 21st, 2008 at 7:43 pm
death clock :) nobody knows when will die.

Posted by: msn adresleri on September 3rd, 2008 at 4:51 am
Great info!

Posted by: Adriatic Web Design Company on October 25th, 2008 at 11:38 pm
Love these notes. But I believe the car labelled as an e90 is in fact the convertible, the e93.

Posted by: web design on February 4th, 2009 at 11:37 pm
[...] click here to read the article [...]

Posted by: The Wet Cat - Mylkhead's Guide to Your Creative Side » Blog Archive » Web Design Trends That Will Die on February 21st, 2009 at 5:11 pm
[...] 3 - The Web Design Trend Obituary & Death Clock [...]

Posted by: sobre blogs « honey of who? on July 2nd, 2009 at 7:02 pm
Found on BIH first!

Posted by: Peter on September 6th, 2009 at 8:46 pm
nice post mate…..

Cirrogram

Posted by: webdesign on October 28th, 2009 at 8:49 pm

Share and Enjoy:

Previously on PingMag

Notice

As of December 31, 2008, PingMag and sister site PingMag MAKE are both on extended hiatus, and will not be updated for the foreseeable future. We are eternally grateful for your fantastic support over the years.

Browse PingMag