Scoble is missing the point

Robert Scoble threw the web community into an uproar with his recent post about “ugly” design. His argument, basically, is that eBay, Amazon, and Craigslist are successful because of their ugly designs, because they’re focused on content delivery instead of design.

As virtually everyone in the community has pointed out already, he’s missing the point – These sites are successful DESPITE their ugly design, not because of it.

Greg Storey over at Airbag puts it best, though.

Wow, if that’s the only reason Craigslist or Myspace became successful then screw design. Kill it until it is dead, dead, dead. I’m hoping on the first flight to Ohio to hire a former employee who is an excellent color-blind programmer.

…Damn! I’ve struck gold! Quit your day job people, it doesn’t matter if you have a good idea, it just doesn’t matter. Go into Microsoft Frontpage and select Build > Community > Non-Designed > Ugly > Cash Cow and just wait for someone to offer hundreds-of-millions to buy you out.