April 20, 2024, 10:29 a.m.
New website, the tech racket and why your app is not a product - Koos Looijesteijn's design newsletter Issue #22
Koos Looijesteijn's design newsletter
I know, on my site it says you get premium treatment by following my blog via this newsletter, but I've failed to send you regular updates. (The premium part partly refers to me paying for a nice newsletter tool.) But hey, look at those handpicked bookmarks at the bottom, top notch stuff!
I failed to publish anything at all for a while, because I was changing the software I use to create my website. Before I used Jekyll, now it's Astro. That kept me busy much longer than I expected and it was harder too. Did learn a lot though! I wrote a post about the whole experience, because although I'm happy with the results, Astro didn't really do what I hoped it would (the builds are slower!) and in the end I’m a bit sad letting go of Jekyll, as it's actually really good.
The post Learnings from years of technological progress wasted isn’t about that my website migration though (that only took a few months!). No, it’s about something much more important: that we, the people designing and making software are like playing cards investors play poker with and discard when they don't like their hand. And half of the time, they're cheating with their blockchain, AI and other scam startups.
My latest post is about the problem I have with the word ‘product’. It's not that I think it's the source of all evil, but a lot of things wrong with making apps and websites today can be traced back to notions we've inherited from developing tangible things.
Have a great weekend!
From my blog
Bookmarks
Component Gallery's design systems overview
All the well-known and lesser known design systems.
Maggie Appleton
Maggie's website is so good, it makes me feel I should work on mine a lot more.
404s — gallery of error 404 page designs
Made me realize that ‘404’ is just one of several HTTP status codes that nobody who's not involved in making websites should know, but it’s still fun looking at what others did for their ‘Page not found’ page. Just remember that it's a full screen error message, that people will get to see, no matter how well your website is made.
donotreply.cards
If you insist staying on Twitter, Do Not Reply Cards may make it bearable?
Web development for absolute beginners
Despite me spending way too much time on mine, I believe everyone can and should have their own website. Josh makes it easy and has some foundational approaches that are so good, that if you follow it, you may end up with something that's better than most websites out there.