My friend, J.D., remarked to me today that Amazon is really starting to take over the entire world of ecommerce with its new offerings to website owners and operators. I agree and it’s becoming increasingly clear that their Web services, allowing website developers to integrate their content with Amazon’s content, tools, and resources, are excellent.
But when you look at a site like Amazon Lite, which is a super-pared-down version of Amazon.com, it makes you wonder what the real logic of the redesign is. The interface is dull, the content is minimal, and the idea that websites need to be inherently simplified is pretty ridiculous. Some sites, like Amazon’s, need to be complex — and if they are not, it’s likely that consumer will not trust them. I’m all for innovation and revitalizing what is tired and trite, but I’m pretty sure that the current trend in Web design and development, which I call “simplifying for simplication’s sake,” is, well, simply simple.