Partner Article

How a Website’s Beauty is Not Skin Deep

How do you judge a website’s beauty? In most cases, it’s all in the eyes of the beholder, just like in any other case. The designer might be proud of his unique piece of art, while an everyday user can find it a useless piece of crap, impossible to navigate and understand. And just like in case of art made for art, it’s all right, as long as you don’t expect users to interact with it. You don’t see any vending machines designed by Pablo Picasso, or no ads with a soundtrack done by Trent Reznor. When it comes to everyday use, art is less needed - the focus has to be on common sense and user experience.

But even when you try to be as practical as possible, sometimes you make mistakes. Take Red Flush for example.

Red Flush is an online gaming destination launched in 2012. Its website was great by the standards of those times. Its source code consisted of valid CSS and HTML, its graphics were high contrast and simple. Still, the Red Flush Casino failed to attract enough players to assure its survival in the long run. And it wasn’t because it lacked the information its players needed - they had it right at their fingertips. It wasn’t because it took too long to load, or because of its shortcomings when it comes to services or bonuses. Instead, the Red Flush website focused too much on information, and not enough on the games. And, as people are interested in playing games there, the difficulties in finding said games turned many of them away.

In a few years the Red Flush service was overtaken by a different operator, with much more experience in the world of internet gaming. The website’s basic design was retained for a while, with a bit more focus on the games themselves added. But the time has come for it to go, and let another, simpler, more up to date interface to take the place of the old one.

Today the Red Flush website looks totally different, but still much the same as its predecessor. The change is not that pronounced when it comes to visuals - it uses much the same colors (black, red and grey) than the previous design, and the basic arrangement of the website remained similar to the previous one. But there is a major shift in the focus of the first page: now it makes it clear that this website is about none other than games. And players now have the possibility to start playing their favorite games there with a single click - they don’t need to dig through the website’s innards to find their way.

While good looks are important for a website today, usability and user experience are essential. Even if it is plain and flat, according to today’s trends, it’s how usable a website is that makes all the difference.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Gagan Chhatwal .