A stupid question about web sites

A stupid question about web sites - Printable Version

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A stupid question about web sites - mypapa12 - 2009-09-04

For the background, I'm reading the book RTK 1 (from scratch once again, I stopped at 600 kanjis 6 months ago), I know a few things about anime, mangas, and japanese culture through the movies and TV shows but there is one thing, one little thing, that I can't understand: why are japanese websites so "simple"?

Yes, it's a stupid question but I've seen a lot of japanese personal websites who are so simple I want to know why. These sites have at most 2 colors (one for the background, another one for the emphasis of sections), no pictures, no photos, just a few links and some text. And I want to know why! Is it cultural? Are those sites specially made for mobile phones? (which I doubt considering some of those sites talk about computer programming, which I'm doing as my job)

The commercial japanese websites are a little bit more complicated, but they are still simple and clean, which I understand, but personal websites? Does it come from a japanese philosophy not to be a "show-off"?

I'd really like to know, but thanks for reading even if you can't answer Smile

A stupid question about web sites - Proxx - 2009-09-04

Really? I had the opposite impression.
Just look at one of the most popular websites in Japan:
http://www.rakuten.co.jp/

I always find the websites to be overloaded with colorful images, flash animations(or gif) and "untidy".

Can you give any examples of these "simple" websites?

A stupid question about web sites - mypapa12 - 2009-09-04

I'll try to find a few examples of simple sites if I find them. The rakuten web site is the perfect example of the commercial I've seen: made in the 90s and not updated since.

But maybe it's just me and I've seen too few japanese websites, I don't know.

Edit: it seems I was mistaken, a lot of the japanese websites I've found on Google are either commercial (made in the 90s, or have a more "current" design), generated automatically (like blogs, with the same design found on "american" websites), or personal websites (the sites I was talking about, no pictures or anything).

My Google foo is weak, I'll need to work more Smile

A stupid question about web sites - ocircle - 2009-09-04

Yeah.. a lot of Japanese homepages look like they were built in 2000, but I have no idea why that is the case. Maybe it's just a case of "Keep it simple, stupid"?

A stupid question about web sites - alantin - 2009-09-04

Maybe the websites, you've visited are meant to be browsed mostly with mobile phones..?
My impression of a Japanese website is eihter the overly simplistic mobile version or an overly flashy "welcome to teletubbies" -style sites created with outdated techniques.
Not much in the between..

A stupid question about web sites - QuackingShoe - 2009-09-04

alantin Wrote:Maybe the websites, you've visited are meant to be browsed mostly with mobile phones..?
My impression of a Japanese website is eihter the overly simplistic mobile version or an overly flashy "welcome to teletubbies" -style sites created with outdated techniques.
Not much in the between..

This has also been my experience.
Of the two, hey, I prefer the mobile. Even though it's honestly pretty ugly most of the time.

A stupid question about web sites - bombpersons - 2009-09-04

For some reason most Japanese websites suffer from very bad web design =(

A stupid question about web sites - rrrrrray - 2009-09-04

I don't visit Japanese websites all that often, but I get what you mean.

I sometime visit the Japanese Wikipedia, and often time, there are no image on a page when its English counterpart has plenty.

A stupid question about web sites - FL1PPY - 2009-09-04

ocircle Wrote:Yeah.. a lot of Japanese homepages look like they were built in 2000

Exactly! What's up with that? Mixi looks good though.

A stupid question about web sites - thermal - 2009-09-04

Yes Japanese websites are not on the whole as sexy as English websites, however the other big factor is that google sucks at searching across Japanese sites. A lot of old crappy sites appear in the results.

Apparently yahoo is a lot better at Japanese stuff.

A stupid question about web sites - rrrrrray - 2009-09-04

thermal Wrote:Yes Japanese websites are not on the whole as sexy as English websites, however the other big factor is that google sucks at searching across Japanese sites. A lot of old crappy sites appear in the results.

Apparently yahoo is a lot better at Japanese stuff.

I have heard of that as well.

A stupid question about web sites - aslx3 - 2009-09-04

rrrrrray Wrote:
thermal Wrote:Yes Japanese websites are not on the whole as sexy as English websites, however the other big factor is that google sucks at searching across Japanese sites. A lot of old crappy sites appear in the results.

Apparently yahoo is a lot better at Japanese stuff.
I have heard of that as well.

Yeah. When I went to Japan this summer, she used Yahoo all the time. She asked me why used google so much. xD

-edit-
er, whoops. I meant My host sister asked me. XD

A stupid question about web sites - Nuriko - 2009-09-04

90's = http://unkar.jp