Websites should be more like Star Wars

I have to admit I'm not the biggest Star Wars fan, but I can enjoy one of the movies from time to time. Whenever I watch one there is one thing that always stands out: the movement in everything Star Wars related feels… odd.

Here's what I mean with that: whenever a door slides open or a non-human character speaks, whenever a droid walks or moves; those movements feel a little unnatural to me. It makes the characters feel like puppets, and it makes objects like sliding doors feel like they have no actual weight.

Here's an example:

Baby Yoda feels like it's a hand played puppet, its movements don't seem natural at all. There is, of course, a good reason that Star Wars uses this approach: it's a style they continued to use ever since the oldest movies which, back in the day, had to deal with much more technical limitations and where the puppet-like feeling was unavoidable. They decided to continue to use the same style of movement, not because it was necessary, but because of the charm and nostalgia feeling.

So what does that have to do with websites?

I was a toddler when the internet began to grow, so I'm too young to have witnessed its rise first hand. Still I got into web development at an early age, starting with HTML when I was 12. These were times when the web was still shaping itself to what we know today. Just like Star Wars, the web had to deal with lots of technical limitations but with those limitations came creativity.

When I browse the web today, there's little creativity left to find. Sure, most websites are as polished as can be, but compare their design to ten others in the same niche, and you'll quickly start to see pattern emerging. While so many websites these days are pixel-perfect, they lack the soul and personality the web used to have.

Test it yourself: think about a topic and do a simple google search. Whether it's email campaigns, travel blogs, social media or news sites; there's little distinction between them.

I wish more websites aimed to be more like Star Wars: not sticking to the modern day rules and instead hold on to the things that give character, that make your website unique. We're allowed to break free from best practices, we're allowed to experiment.

The web still allows you to do so, the only thing holding us back is us.