I guess I'm the outlier, but I think this page is trying too hard. It turns me off because it seems fake, sugary sweet, attempting to be cute for the sake of being cute. The bios barely say anything of value about the people; they're idealized descriptions of what the perfect person for each job would be. I do think it's nice visually, but the length of the page annoys me.
Yup. I find the 'our-whole-office-is-staffed-by-fun-people-who-love-(office-admin|client-management|sales|.+)' trope really grating. These are people going to an office to do their jobs. Maybe they're good at their jobs, and maybe it's a nice place to work, but it's not summer camp, it's not a four-year liberal arts college, and it's not a heist movie in which a crack team of experts come together for one last big score. It's a software company. Get a grip.
I don't mind that atmosphere and we have it at my office (my employees, interns and the freelancers we share office space with), but it's a bit grating when it's piled on so thick and sugary-sweet.
The page shouts "fakers" to me. Yeah it looks nice and all, but that says more to me about the photographer than it does about the company. Anyone can hire a good photographer.
I don't feel like I understand anything about these people...and that's kind of the point of an about us page.
+1. Plus, if I'm the programmer or designer or PA or whatever, I'd also hate to be described by the common stereotypes. I once helped out designing some basic but clean slides for an awards night and was there on the night when the CEO mentioned me in his thankyous as a "web wizard" or "design wizard" or whatever it was and I absolutely cringed. Nice thought and his heart was in the right place, but I'd rather go unmentioned or just get a plain thanks amongst a list of others.
Pretty much. If these are good photos, they're too good. It looks like stock photography. And this makes the company nondescript without a lot of personality, which seems like the opposite of their aim.
Very engaging. A good design with decent writing made me enjoy reading the entire thing (and made me want to). I'll definitely save this page in my list of examples of great web page designs.
It's so great to see Valve sticking with this franchise. I've had a lot of fun with Team Fortress 2, and I'm really looking forward to this new loadout of classes and the bold new visual style this is exploring. I can't wait to play nerd-on-artist matchups!
Yeah, some of them (like the ones before "that" and "when") are a negative transfer from German. Trivial to fix though, and something tells me they will. Definitely a beautifully put-together page.
Ahh, is this a translation thing? I was reading through this page gritting my teeth at the appalling misuse of commas---and I am certainly not one to skimp on commas.
I don't think it's a translation thing: I think this was written in English by a native German-speaker, who applied German comma-use habits to English. I'm American, but I spent many of my early years in Germany and attended German schools through the fifth grade. After that my family moved back to the states and I finished my education here. To this day, I still have to make a conscious effort not to over-use commas. After I finish a first draft, a big part of my first editing pass is cutting out extraneous commas. I instantly recognized the comma overuse in the bios page because it's how I'm naturally inclined to write.
A "negative transfer" is when you apply habits from one language to another and make usage choices that are not necessarily errors, but sound awkward to native speakers. It's not so much a translation thing as it is a non-native speaker thing.
In case anyone's wondering, Wunderlist is written in HTML/JS/CSS using Appcelerator's Titanium Desktop packaging tool to make it native using the WebKit framework.
You can check out their source inside the app package. Pretty neat stuff. Pretty clean coding.
I thought Appcelerator Titanium was supposed to compile to native code? I downloaded it myself, saw all the HTML and JS files in the package and wondered, what the heck is the point in making this a standalone app instead of a web app. It's a ton of UI for a very simple to-do list. If it's just a webpage running in WebKit, and this is all the binary encapsulates, I see no reason to put it online, and then add http://fluidapp.com/ to allow people to use it offline as a desktop app, if they really want. Or, just use HTML5 manifests to make it work offline in any browser.
I think the general point is that for certain apps, a native environment is better suited to allow easy access and organization mentally. For a to-do list, it makes some sense. That way you can ⌘+TAB over to it, add or check your to-dos, then go back to whatever it is you were doing without worrying about browser tabs.
Another benefit is that you don't have to worry about cross-browser compatibility. If it looks good in your app on your dev computer, it should look the same on everyone else's.
I do agree that since it's written using web tech, they should have a web accessible version as well. Maybe they do, and I didn't see it?
Regardless, I think the end product is more important then HOW they made it or what language was used. If it works great and looks great, who really cares?
I actually like their team page. I think it's well done overall Funny, the one issue that bothers me about it is how their social media buttons column along the far left edge are intentionally placed partially cropped off the page. Looks like the page width doesn't fit in the browser even though its intentional in there design. Looks fine when you hover over but otherwise..
On a different note I think this is a clever team page that brings levity and keeps you on the page longer: hover over the avatar photos http://www.walltowall.com/3/about
It took me a minute to remember where this was, but I always thought this was a great "team" page: http://www.tamtam.nl/people.aspx
Most of the individuals have a looping video if you click on them. Gives you a better idea on personality, yet doesn't take anything away from the experience.
I think the page is gorgeous, and as jjcm put it, very engaging. I understand where a few are coming from with the "tries too hard" objection but isn't "doesn't try hard enough" a greater offense? At least these guys give us something to talk about. I guess I'm just so tired of the characteristic uninspired About Us that I find this refreshing, if a little cutesy.
Also, anyone notice The Assistant's copy of Founders at Work?
