Somewhere along the way, we collectively decided that every website needs to be a cinematic masterpiece. That scrolling should feel like floating through a perfectly choreographed sequence, with animations and parallax effects gently guiding you toward enlightenment. That buttons should pulsate with micro-interactions like they have a heartbeat. That the homepage should tell an intricate story before—God forbid—just showing the user what they came for.
And this is exactly how we got to the current mess: websites bloated with unnecessary scripts, lagging animations, and a user experience so convoluted that people bounce before the page even loads.
Look, I love beautiful websites. I appreciate good design. But at the end of the day, a website is a tool, not a theatre production.
The ‘Experience’ Obsession Is Hurting Users
You know who doesn’t care about your elaborate transitions? Your customers. They’re just trying to find your pricing, your contact form, or whatever basic thing they came for.
Yet, we still see businesses falling for the same trap:
- “Let’s add a full-screen video background!” – Cool, now the page takes 10 seconds to load.
- “Let’s make the navigation super minimal!” – Fantastic, now nobody can find the menu.
- “Let’s add more animations so it feels dynamic!” – Great, now users have motion sickness.
People don’t visit a website to experience it. They visit to use it. If you get in their way, they will leave.
The Difference Between Art and Usability
There’s a reason we don’t make road signs ‘artistic’. Imagine driving and seeing a street sign designed in an elegant calligraphy font, lightly fading in as you pass. It would be beautiful—and also completely useless.
Web design isn’t just about looking good; it’s about functionality. Sure, a unique brand aesthetic is important, but not at the expense of usability. The best websites strike a balance between design and clarity. The moment you prioritise “artistic vision” over user experience, you’ve already lost.
When ‘Simple’ Wins
Some of the best-performing websites are painfully simple. Craigslist still looks like it was built in the early 2000s, yet it works. Google’s homepage is literally a logo and a search bar. Amazon’s website looks cluttered, but it’s engineered to convert.
Why? Because they understand that people value speed, ease, and clarity more than fancy visuals.
Build Websites That Do Their Job
Not every website needs to be an interactive masterpiece. Unless you’re building a portfolio or a site meant to show off, stop treating web design like a creative experiment.
Ask yourself:
- Can users find what they need in three clicks or less?
- Does the site load fast, even on bad internet?
- Does the design support the content, or is it distracting from it?
Because at the end of the day, nobody is going to sit there admiring your smooth page transitions. They just want the damn information.