[andrewl]

I think there's something to this. Whether it's logical or not, a language is partially judged on its web site. The Ruby and Python sites are less whimsical:

https://www.ruby-lang.org

https://www.python.org

I want the language given a chance based on its merits, not dismissed because of a cartoonish site.

[smonff]

This is also interesting that a language would not be only jugged on it's pretty website shell. I mean, if you got a beautiful language, it is logical to create a beautiful packaging for it... But honestly, I am reluctant to these very shinny corporate websites. Languages developed by communities are not companies products, letting it stay out of the corporate philosophy and game with logos, impressive designs and business oriented wills is a good thing: you try the language, read the doc, write some stuff and if you are convinced, you will surely not take care of this kind of logo, it will even become friendly to you.

[phillc73]

I think the R homepage is pretty much perfect:

https://www.r-project.org/

Who wouldn't be excited about learning R after visiting the website!

[jaywunder]

Sarcasm? While it's not a bad website, I wouldn't say it inspires me to get into stats with R. It doesn't have a code example, or much color. I think the python homepage is much better designed

[phillc73]

Slightly, but I love R and make a sizeable part of my living using that language. From a design perspective I much prefer websites like R's, rather than disaster zones like Mashable (although haven't been there for a long time, so maybe it has changed too).

I don't think people interested in R are necessarily going to judge it first by its homepage and website.