[rudiger]

If Qato is going to copy someone's design, can't they find something better than Quora?

I mean, Quora's design isn't going to win them any awards; it looks like Quora didn't even use Photoshop, just straight-up CSS.

[mikeryan]

It doesn't just look like they don't use photoshop.

They "design in code".

http://www.quora.com/Joel-Lewenstein/Life-Without-Photoshop

[famousactress]

Wow, thanks for sharing. Really neat writeup.

[joshu]

Because they are unoriginal followers. If they had any sense of direction they'd be able to build something of their own.

[rhizome]

Originality is overrated. Various sites with CSS-only layouts and minimal interfaces are best described as an emergent aesthetic. Expect more like this.

There are simply too many people drawing from the historical experiences and examples laid by e.g. Metafilter, Digg, image boards, etc. for it to consititute individual acts of copying. That there are so many whitelabel apps & plugins ready for the implementing only accelerates this evolution.

[joshu]

There is a big difference between convergent evolution and wholesale copying.

[rhizome]

It's not convergent evolution when people are copying, but copying doesn't obviate emerging aesthetics. Once upon a time, websites did not all have menu bars across the top, is this a result of despicable copying, or of lots of people simply deciding it was a good idea? Whether or not I think a given UX trope is useful is irrelevant to others choosing so.

[joshu]

Straw man.

We are discussing wholesale duplication.

[rhizome]

My assertion is quantity-neutral. I simply don't think it matters how much is copied, just the fact that any copying is going on at all signals that the look and functionality is having an influence.

[joshu]

Ok. I know it's against the rules, but why is this getting voted down?

This comment comes from my experience (see above) rather than mere negative opinion.