All The Pretty Websites Get Picked First

It was once famously said

“Prettiness, that’s what’s important. Followed by Navigation then content.”

… OK maybe not that famous but it was said, and it was in response to the question: Which is more important content or navigation? The response in it’s own right has it’s points. People will argue that a site like Google isn’t very pretty, nor is Amazon. What they do offer is function and service, but I would actually argue that Google is full of “prettiness”. Google may not be pretty everyday but she certainly does like to dress up every now and than as seen on the Holiday Logos archive, and there is something else, Google has a certain kind of symmetry.

Why Good HTML is Like a Magic Show

In the movie the Prestige Michael Cain’s character says:

“Every great magic trick consists of three parts or acts. The first part is called “The Pledge”. The magician shows you something ordinary: a deck of cards, a bird or a man. He shows you this object. Perhaps he asks you to inspect it to see if it is indeed real, unaltered, normal. But of course… it probably isn’t. The second act is called “The Turn”. The magician takes the ordinary something and makes it do something extraordinary. Now you’re looking for the secret… but you won’t find it, because of course you’re not really looking. You don’t really want to know. You want to be fooled. But you wouldn’t clap yet. Because making something disappear isn’t enough; you have to bring it back. That’s why every magic trick has a third act, the hardest part, the part we call “The Prestige”.”

So what does this have to do with good web design?