{"id":8079,"date":"2020-05-12T05:51:05","date_gmt":"2020-05-12T11:51:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.zmetro.com\/?p=8079"},"modified":"2020-05-12T05:51:06","modified_gmt":"2020-05-12T11:51:06","slug":"yes-websites-really-are-starting-to-look-more-similar","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.zmetro.com\/?p=8079","title":{"rendered":"Yes, websites really are starting to look more similar"},"content":{"rendered":"

Sam Goree<\/a>:<\/p>\n

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On the one hand, adhering to trends is totally normal in other realms of design, like fashion or architecture. And if designs are becoming more similar because they\u2019re using the same libraries, that means they\u2019re likely becoming more accessible to the visually impaired, since popular libraries are <\/span>generally better at conforming to accessibility standards<\/a><\/u> <\/span>than individual developers. They\u2019re also more user-friendly, since new visitors won\u2019t have to spend as much time learning how to navigate the site\u2019s pages.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

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On the other hand, the internet is a shared cultural artifact, and its distributed, decentralized nature is what makes it unique. As home pages and fully customizable platforms like NeoPets and MySpace fade into memory, web design may lose much of its power as a form of creative expression. The Mozilla Foundation <\/span>has argued<\/a><\/u> <\/span>that consolidation is bad for the \u201chealth\u201d of the internet, and the aesthetics of the web could be seen as one element of its well-being.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

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And if sites are looking more similar because many people are using the same libraries, the large tech companies who maintain those libraries may be gaining a disproportionate power over the visual aesthetics of the internet. While publishing libraries that anyone can use is likely a net benefit for the web over keeping code secret, big tech companies\u2019 design principles are not necessarily right for every site.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

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This outsize power is part a larger story of consolidation in the tech industry \u2013 one that certainly <\/span>could be a cause for concern<\/a><\/u>. We believe aesthetic consolidation should be critically examined as well.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Sam Goree: On the one hand, adhering to trends is totally normal in other realms of design, like fashion or architecture. And if designs are becoming more similar because they\u2019re using the same libraries, that means they\u2019re likely becoming more accessible to the visually impaired, since popular libraries are generally better at conforming to accessibility standards than […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.zmetro.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8079"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.zmetro.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.zmetro.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.zmetro.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.zmetro.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=8079"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.zmetro.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8079\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8080,"href":"https:\/\/www.zmetro.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8079\/revisions\/8080"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.zmetro.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=8079"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.zmetro.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=8079"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.zmetro.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=8079"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}