30 votes

Building websites like digital paper-- intuitive, mixed media, flexible, and fun

9 comments

  1. [7]
    feanne
    Link
    I recently met a game designer with a really cool website-- I love the fun, chaotic, Y2K energy of it-- and she kindly shared with me the tool that she used to build it, mmm.page. This post is a...

    I recently met a game designer with a really cool website-- I love the fun, chaotic, Y2K energy of it-- and she kindly shared with me the tool that she used to build it, mmm.page. This post is a link to the tool's creator's vision for web design-- intuitive like paper, with room for mixed media, portable, etc.

    Websites are the most expressive medium I know, but they’re used today in such a tiny narrow way.
    The thing is, they could be like digital paper: back-of-napkin notes, moodboards, journaling, letters, toy apps, lists, sprawling canvases.
    Something with the ease of paper, but the expressiveness and capabilities of software.

    I love this, it's kind of like the updated web 1.0 that I didn't know I wanted. And maybe I've also just gotten tired of the standardized, grid-based, ubiquitous web 2.0 look that I see everywhere.

    What do you think of this web design philosophy, and would you like to share other similar tools that you use?

    P.S. I'm not sure if I posted with the right topic/tags/title, hope someone else can come and improve my post!

    11 votes
    1. [2]
      elgis
      Link Parent
      "Making the Web Fun Again" (2013) might interest you. In this blog post, the author compares social networks to "boring, suburban gated communities." They went on to create Neocities, which hosts...

      "Making the Web Fun Again" (2013) might interest you. In this blog post, the author compares social networks to "boring, suburban gated communities." They went on to create Neocities, which hosts some fun-looking websites. I think it would be nice to see more websites like these in the wild.

      9 votes
      1. feanne
        Link Parent
        Ohh I love this, thanks for sharing! "Making the web fun again" is definitely what I want. I agree that it's gotten boring being on social media platforms with everyone's content presented the...

        Ohh I love this, thanks for sharing! "Making the web fun again" is definitely what I want. I agree that it's gotten boring being on social media platforms with everyone's content presented the same way.

        3 votes
    2. [4]
      g33kphr33k
      (edited )
      Link Parent
      When Wordpress becomes 90% of the personal websites you hit, it feels samey pretty fast. Webflow.com is a no-code page builder, I liken it to old school Dreamweaver just in a web page. Actually,...

      When Wordpress becomes 90% of the personal websites you hit, it feels samey pretty fast.

      Webflow.com is a no-code page builder, I liken it to old school Dreamweaver just in a web page. Actually, can you imagine how fast Dreamweaver and similar pages would load on today's cached web world?

      I'm rambling. This looks like a great tool and I'm going to have a poke about with it.

      4 votes
      1. [3]
        feanne
        Link Parent
        Oh man I remember Dreamweaver! Back before it was owned by Adobe. I haven't tried Webflow yet, did you find it easy to pick up?

        Oh man I remember Dreamweaver! Back before it was owned by Adobe.

        I haven't tried Webflow yet, did you find it easy to pick up?

        2 votes
        1. [2]
          g33kphr33k
          Link Parent
          It's stupidly simple, just a drag and drop builder. It's like a more intuitive Wordpress Elementor. Half of it is behind a paywall, as is the norm these days. There's a whole bunch of templates to...

          It's stupidly simple, just a drag and drop builder. It's like a more intuitive Wordpress Elementor.

          Half of it is behind a paywall, as is the norm these days. There's a whole bunch of templates to help you on your way, and it's set up to do columns and rows for easy positioning using responsive CSS. However, you can create the pages for desktop, tablet and phone, so you can control which layout is shown in each.

          Now I've said all this though, I'm pining for an old school web builder to see how it stands up in modern web.

          3 votes
          1. feanne
            Link Parent
            Great to know, thanks for sharing!

            Great to know, thanks for sharing!

            1 vote
  2. Akir
    Link
    Man is the editing process made satisfying with those sound effects! It’s also super intuitive. There’s no need for instructions because everything is easily discoverable. The design work on this...

    Man is the editing process made satisfying with those sound effects!

    It’s also super intuitive. There’s no need for instructions because everything is easily discoverable.

    The design work on this web app is phenomenal.

    8 votes
  3. Cldfire
    Link
    This is super cool, thanks for sharing!

    This is super cool, thanks for sharing!

    3 votes