Big Web Adventure

Episode #002: The Modernist Society I visited The Modernist Society's website, a site that asks you to join something rather than buy something, and then hands you five things to do before you've worked out who they are. Get past the homepage and the about page calms right down and tells the story properly. It names the people who started it, thanks its funders in public and lets someone else's quote describe the magazine better than the site could itself. I spotted a small contradiction abou...

Episode 001: Joe Lycett In the first episode of Web Design Adventure, I visit joelycett.com and find a website that breaks nearly every rule, and gets away with it. There's no headline and no welcome. You land in an archive of small pictures, from Taskmaster in 2017 to work made this year, and it's up to you where to start. The about page is one long, rambling paragraph that somehow fits in two BAFTAs, gallery shows and a stunt that made international news. The shop puts tea towels next to a ...

Every website tells a story about the people who made it. Someone chose what greets you first, where each page leads and what got left out. In each episode, I take a close look at a real website. I start with first impressions: what you see and feel in the first few seconds, before you read a word. Then I pick two or three key pages and ask if each one does its job. I dig into the detail too, from the words, pictures and type to how fast it loads and how it copes on a phone. I care more about...