It used to be so much better than this. Every article that you came across wasn’t a tutorial or list. Hell, the majority of them weren’t tutorials or lists. There were articles that actually talked about design. There were articles that made you think how you could become a better designer and encouraged intellectual discussion on design. Those articles still exist here and there, but they are drowned out by the copycats.

The web design community is split into two sides: 1. loves to view every single list article there is 2. hates that list articles were ever invented. I fall into both camps because to me some list articles do serve a purpose, but when we start to see Design Trends of Spa Websites I think we might be going a bit too far.

Back in 2003, I started to write about design on a blog called Whitespace, which is now Wisdump and owned by Splashpress, and on it I enjoyed talking about design because I have a passion for it. Although I will never claim to be a designer, I wanted to share my thoughts with the world and I wanted to talk about the ideas that other people had as well. I liked that anyone could have an opinion on design and that it was a field where the experts are people whose work you could actually see, unlike the work of all of you social media experts out there.

During my time with Whitespace, the online design community was young and vibrant. We were all still exploring new ways to engage our audience through design so everyone was experimenting and it was exciting. I was enjoying myself so much that I wanted to contribute in another way so I started the CSSVault. It was the first site on the web that showcased sites with beautiful designs using CSS. There were a couple of great gallery sites before the CSSVault, but they included sites with tables and Flash while my goal was to show the world that CSS could be beautiful. Dave Shea probably did a better job doing this with his wonderful creation, css Zen Garden, but I like to think we both did a lot of good for the design and development community back then.

The problem with creating the CSSVault though was that it was a simple site that anyone could duplicate and many others did. Many of them were people I was close to within the community so I was always taken aback that they would lift something I had started without innovating. You see, the problem is not when you take something and copy it, the problem is when you don’t push the idea further. Now you have over 200+ CSS gallery sites and they are all the same. I can’t lie, when I discovered this it made me feel as though I had opened a box of HIV and threw it on the web. It has gotten to the point where you don’t even want to visit any of them because the idea of another gallery does nothing but annoy you. Who knows how many people I have indirectly pissed off because they came across another shitty CSS gallery that was somehow influenced by me.

(With that being said, the Drawar Gallery is great.)

Just when I thought the age of the copycats had disappeared Smashing Magazine comes into the picture. I enjoy some of the stuff that Smashing Magazine puts out so what you are about to read might seem a little weird. If you were following them at the beginning back in 2006 then you know that they got their start by posting lists. And when I say lists, I mean a ton of lists. It was a non-stop, blogging diarrhea of lists. These lists made them popular because it got them on Digg and del.icio.us, which is a great thing for any site looking to build an audience. However, when others started to notice this they knew they could do the same thing and start to receive a ton of traffic as well. It was the CSSVault all over again, but this was far worse because they were taking over the discussions that were so important to the community before.

What has followed over the past two years is a non-stop influx of posts that talk about nothing more than the next great trend. You know what kind of harm that does to a community when all the pieces of intellectual discussion are removed from it? It creates a community of copycats. There were enough copycats before this whole thing started, but now it has gotten out of control. A bigger issue is that the people who are pumping out the great designs don’t bother to get involved in the community anymore because there is no point. What are they supposed to say when everyone isn’t even going to bother reading them if there aren’t 50 images of websites attached to their words?

Have you read the comments that belong to a Smashing Magazine post? Have you ever left there feeling that you learned something? If you haven’t read the comments they usually boil down to two types:

1. Great finds! Keep up the great work!
2. This is basic stuff, everyone knows this. Article was a waste of my time.

I know we can’t demand that every website in the world has the types of discussions that we wish for, but you would at least want the leading site in the community to enrich your life just a little bit I would think.

Smashing Magazine is one of the most popular blogs on the web and they are raking in the money so why shouldn’t everyone follow their model? The problem is it seems like everyone is following their model, even down to the million and one ads in a sidebar. The money these sites earn makes you almost understand why they want every article to be linkbait. However, why can’t you have those entries along with other great entries that either teach their readers about design or offer an opinion on it? An entry that gives back to the design community that is so graciously clicking on those Twitter links to view your content wouldn’t hurt you. Trust me, you don’t have to follow the Smashing Magazine model to be a success. Let them do them, while you start to learn how to do you.

Problem is, what if these people really don’t have an opinion on design though? What if they don’t even care about design, they just saw an opening to make some easy money and went for it? And please don’t tell me it is hard work coming up with these entries or how many hours of research you pour into them. If research is typing 500 cool websites into Google and collecting the urls then I was doing it all wrong back in college. If they really are in it just for the money then it is even more important for us to help the greater content standout.

Zeldman posted a great article on self-promotion and it was an enjoyable read because it was his voice and his uncensored opinion and it made you think. You know how the article would’ve went on these other sites? The title would probably be similar to 37 Ways To Creatively Promote Yourself Using Social Media And Termites and the author’s opinion would simply be that self-promotion is good. Have some balls every once in a while and go out on a limb. Critique a design that you like or don’t like. Rip into a site every once in a while and follow it up with praise for another.

Return to being different.

Not everyone is going to push out an individual design for every well-written entry like Jason Santa Maria, but we aren’t always looking for that. Personally I just want to see more people talking about the ideology of design instead of…well hell, anything else.

After all this ranting and raving is said and done, I will still visit many of these sites because they do provide some good to the community. It is just a shame that we are overloaded with what they write on a constant basis and rarely does it differ from one article to the next. The ones who do have an opinion deserve their chance to shine right next to the big guys. Nothing negative comes from great discussions so lets try our best to make it happen again. The web design community deserves better.