Why hackipedia's web design "sucks"
by Jonathan Campbell

   You have have noticed that Hackipedia's web design is minimalist.
Why should it look that way, when 90% of the web sites out there
have shiny graphics and AJAX interfaces?

   Well, despite the fact that I am actually a very capable web
designer, I chose to make Hackipedia minimalist for several reasons
related to speed, reliability, and accessibility.

   + Minimal javascript

     Many modern websites rely heavily on Javascript to run their
     interfaces or even to display properly. Hackipedia ensures
     readability everywhere by not using Javascript or keeping it
     to a minimum, ensuring that you can navigate the site even
     from text-mode browsers like Links or even from your mobile
     phone.

   + Minimalist image content

     Hackipedia lists documentation. Why waste bandwidth with images
     that don't need to be there? Fewer images also means a wider
     audience, including those still on dialup.

   + A "files and folders" directory listing format

     Many people consider it passe, but exposing the site's file
     structure is actually the easiest way to maintain Hackipedia.
     It keeps the server side scripts simple, and it keeps the job of
     updating and maintaining the site simple. It also mirrors the
     files and folders layout that most people have become accustomed
     to on their desktop.

     This also avoids a mistake some websites make where everything
     is unnecessarily tied into a large centralized database with
     an obscure link coding system. You may have seen such sites,
     often for a particular article the URL will contain something
     like /document.php?id=24214142. At first such a system might make
     the site more "efficient", but in the long run, maintenance
     becomes harder to manage and none of it makes any apparent sense
     (document ID 2424142 is what file now? and where is it stored?).
     It's a lot easier to code and maintain if you simply avoid that,
     and it's a lot more robust (maintaining backups is a lot easier
     too!).

   So you may chortle at Hackipedia's "old-school" design, but the
design is on purpose to keep things simple and straightforward for
everyone.