[GrinningFool]

This is asking the wrong question.

Web design has generally been formulaic - but the formula changes and evolves over time.

No, this is the question to be asked: is the current formula the correct one?

My opinion is no. The giant picture-banner that takes up half (or more, depending on device) the page and conveys no useful information is annoying. The odd vertical scrolling behaviors -- almost as if in rebellion against the previous pattern of never requiring users to scroll: now we must always require them to scroll -- are frustrating, particularly for the majority of people who do not have a mac trackpad.

But that's just my opinion. One could just as easily argue that every formula is correct for its time, or else it wouldn't have come to be a common formula.