Re: [tlug] [OT] What's up with online Japanese<->Japanese dictionaries?

[Martin Killmann <martin@example.com>]

On Tue, 15 Jun 2010 14:43:13 +0900 
Darren Cook <darren@example.com> wrote:

> > But part of it is also user conditioning. Japan is one of the few
> > countries where a cluttered portal like www.yahoo.co.jp is more popular
> > than the clean www.google.com interface.
> 
> Yep, Yahoo Japan stubbornly refuse to change their interface in case it
> earns them more money. They are a registered charity you see, not a
> commercial company.

Can you prove your theory that website clutter increases earnings? (And
vice versa, that removing clutter would cut into their revenues?)

Anyway, it's quite interesting to compare popular Japanese websites with
their US counterparts. Google vs. Yahoo.co.jp is just one example, I can
also give you:

http://www.amazon.com/ vs. http://www.rakuten.co.jp/
http://www.youtube.com/ vs. http://www.nicovideo.jp/
http://www.pricerunner.co.uk/ vs. http://kakaku.com/

On all western designs, I see clearer structure, larger fonts, less text
overall, less links and less animation.

I haven't seen the data of any of these pages, but from my own
experience I know that on most websites, only a handful of links will be
clicked by 90% of visitors. This raises the question why all the other
500 links are necessary on the main page.

I wonder why there is a design preference for overload and clutter in
Japanese websites and I don't think there is a trivial answer.
It's even more baffling when you consider traditional Japanese
aesthetics.

Martin