[ryanSrich]

Success != a great product.

Often times users have no choice but to use the only choice. That's like saying people choose Comcast because it's a great product. No. People choose Comcast because it's the only product.

Craigslist became popular at a time when thoughtful UI design wasn't repeated or regarded as necessary.

[carrotleads]

Why is craigslist still popular when there are better looking sites around?

Why are sites like HN and the one linked earlier following a similar style.

Cause core of design != look which is how the 3 apps mentioned above seemed to be looking at.

Function needs to be the core of design.

[ryanSrich]

Because all of those sites are established and have unparalleled content. There are no competitors to those websites.

[carrotleads]

established sites with good content go out of business day in and day out... that happens when they don't have a good functional design and when better options come along.

If they are the only game in town, then I will put up with bad functional design and if needed crawl on my knees to solve a problem of mine.

I remember years back trawling through multiple expertsexchange pages to solve some coding issues.. Now I don't as better options have come along...

Why is the same not happening with craigslist, cause they do the basic job well.. have a functional designed site which solves peoples problem easily.

[angersock]

You know, I'm not sure I want to take advice about what makes a great product from somebody whose own homepage fails to properly hyperlink to their own projects.

Sure looks like good design though. Pity about the functionality. :P

[jimmaswell]

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9378532