Web Software
1st edition — by Patrick McNeil — Sep. 11, 2007
The Design Element
This new category titled Web Software is very closely related to, and in some ways indistinguishable from, the Web Services category. If I could go back, I would likely move some of the web services to this new category. In my thinking, web software is for web sites offering applications that would otherwise be a stand alone package that you install on your machine. Web services on the other hand would be sites offering features you either don't use on a PC disconnected from the web (think book making, file sharing etc). Web services would also be micro apps that you typically plug into a web site.
Anyhow, one thing I noticed right away when looking at these apps is that they all use blue and green. This wasn't the case with the web services category. I think this is interesting, and I believe it stems from one main need. Web software is typically going to be used by a broader audience. For example, the type of people who have need of a simple invoicing system that pulls from basecamp is very broad. As such, the design of such a site needs to be rather universal (think
SimplyInvoices
)
; blue and green offers the safest most universally appealing pallet of colors.
So I suppose the use of blue and green is both a suggestion and a warning. A suggestion in the sense that many other web apps have used the combo, and they look beautiful and useable for it. But, a great way to stand out in the crowded market place would be to deviate from this standard pallet.
Sample Usage
