I noticed that most of the hosting websites all look the same. Why is this? I'd say about 80% of the hosting websites I've seen look very similar. Doesn't anyone have any design experience?

Would be refreshing to see a hosting site that didn't look like the guy next door.

It wouldn't be design experience then but originality and creativity. Designers get inspired from one another and usually the same elements are used throughout many websites. It's not easy to make something 100% original and never seen before.

I would actually attribute it to the fact that quite a few hosting companies use templates. Also all hosting sites include very similar info which could make them all seem similar too.

Mark

Another piece of it may have to do with consumer awareness. You know a car dealership right away when you pass one on the road. You know a search engine when you stumble across one on the Web. Similarly, you know a hosting company when the visuals indicate server technology. That's the only reason I placed them on my own site, which is otherwise quite simple (and I believe user-friendly), by choice.

two words. Template monster.

When you create a site that basicly has the same content as 50,000 other sites out there, it's hard to be origional. Also, if you go to godaddy, network solutions, and various other services, they use templates. The only thing that changes is the color scheme.

You find a lot of this on the net. It's gotten too big to allow real origional work. You'll find at at least 2/5 sites look remarkably similar.

two words. Template monster.


I totally agree! For new hosting companies this is a more cost affective route so many go with it.

or maybe its the fact that 90% of hosts don't realize that design isn't charity work.

look at the template sales forum. there's plenty of nice looking designs going for $50 because most hosts like to rape young designers by paying them nothing

Hey, they're *asking* for nothing. That's not rape, it's prostitution :)

Originally posted by aggidio
I totally agree! For new hosting companies this is a more cost affective route so many go with it.

On the contrary, for as much as you pay for a TM design, you can get them here also. Lots of good work is displayed for sale here for dirt cheap and the designer loses out on a lot.

That's not rape, it's prostitution
Indeed. I stay well away from offering design services to the WHT crowd (in general). There seems to be a certain mindset here that expects something for nothing, and trying to explain that, actually, I have this little thing called a mortgage, doesn't seem to sink in.

However, there's plenty other markets to target. :)

Back on topic, I agree with NikeAero1080 - it is hard to be original. Especially in such a competitive and cut-throat market as hosting. Which is why a lot of hosts feel it's better to go with "the safe option" of a TM site. Better to blend in and look like a hosting company seems to be the attitude, which is a shame. Originality can be achieved though. It just takes a bit of time and either a) money, or b) a designer. Neither of which a lot of startup hosts have.

interesting.

i have to agree with Zopester on the attitude.

about a month ago, my partner and i decided to take up on re-designing a hosting website. it didn't work out in the end, simply because the deal didn't cut well, and secure enough, for me. so i cancelled it.

that's not the point, the point is, that the site that we have created is original, nothing like the majority of the hosting websites. and we have to say, we are proud of what we have done. but alas, it's a shame that it will never go live. :(

i for one, would not like to exchange money for design for webhosting sites. simply because, if i can exchange for hosting, wouldn't that be a better deal in a way? ;)
but it's hard to cut a deal when there's no written contract. the host can just cut me off whenever, which is what i was afraid of and didn't cut the deal last time. :(

another nice website that i see originality, compared to others, is ultraunix.net. :) it has a blend of business and hosting sort of layout/design. (no, i don't work for ultraunix ;))

Originally posted by NikeAero1080
When you create a site that basicly has the same content as 50,000 other sites out there, it's hard to be origional. Also, if you go to godaddy, network solutions, and various other services, they use templates. The only thing that changes is the color scheme.

You find a lot of this on the net. It's gotten too big to allow real origional work. You'll find at at least 2/5 sites look remarkably similar.
More like 400,000 sites. There is somewhat of around 500 thousand hosting businesses around the world and a few thousand probably try to run it without their own website, lol. But anways with 400 thousand other sites using the same content as yours and around 60 million total sites on the net you're bound to have a few sites look exactly like yours and a few hundred or thousand sites look similar to yours.

Please bare in mind it's what the client wants. If a client comes to your and syas I like 'these' elements of their page and their page, and they both look similar, you are then faced with creating a 3rd fairly similar. All the developer can do in this situation is suggest and do as the client wants.

Good point, pmod. You work for the client when designing. I'm not a web design company, but I bet you get most of your clients point you to other sites and say they want a look like that one, correct?

but I bet you get most of your clients point you to other sites and say they want a look like that one, correct?

Yep. I think we've had 1 or 2 open projects where we drew up the concept of design and put forward ideas and suggestions.

none of my clients realy wants to gamble their money on looking too different