Don't reinvent the wheel?

so finally, what was the aim of the thread ?

Since we're discussing UIs,  my new microwave oven arrived without an owners manual.  The industry understood a need for standardization.  The UI is so homogenous across makes & models now that we no longer need a manual.  

OK.  So what does that say about  re-inventing the wheel every time you do something?    Change for the sake of change upsets people as evidenced time and time again when Adobe changes the UI on  [insert product here].   I don't think re-invention is  practical or productive unless the situation really calls for it.   Besides, re-invention is expensive.  One must plan accordingly.

pziecina  wrote We are back into the holiday period, so I thought a little discussion might help to break the monotony. in another discussion I have posted in, (not in this forum) I have read a post that says, "do not try to re-invent the wheel", but should that not be, "do not try to re-invent conventions" especially when it comes to the web? We all know that a main menu should be close to the top of the page, (no matter how it works), but is the way a menu is presented so well established that the current method cannot be improved, or should not be changed? This applies to just about everything on the web, after all is it possible that within 30 years of the invention of the www, everything is 'fixed' and the best ways to present something to the user should not and cannot be re-thought or improved upon? The same question as above can be applied to anything, (component, feature, anything) when it comes to web site/app design/development. This is not a question of how to do something, but one of, 'is that it'. Web sites/app designers, (and developers) are being told not to reinvent the wheel, should they be even allowed to think that they should not, or should they be encoraged to look at things differently? Don't forget, this is not a discussion about how to do something, (or even if it is possible) but of how a web site/app, (complete site or just components) is presented to the end user, and if what many think of as the only way to present a site/app now, is really the final and best solution.

I think responsive changed the way developers looked at presentation and how to design for various screens. I'm thinking its going to take something big like that to fuel inject any near future different/innovative ways to approach presenting a web-site. Grid is too young to say if that will provide a welcome deviation or have any impact at all from what has over the last 6 years become quite bland, pleasant to observe but the distinct feeling of Deja vu. It might just be the longer you are associated with web-development the more you become 'bored' with it.

Summers coming, get out in the garden on those long, lazy hot days or go sit by the river with an ice-cream and forget web-development. Some day you have to let it go and move on to more enjoyable pastimes.

Hello, Paula,

the fact is that today the web, in itself, no longer means anything specific.

a website in 2019 no longer has anything to do with a website from 1996... and certainly has nothing to do with a website from 2036

Moreover, what are we talking about in terms of interface, usability, accessibility...?

the screens are becoming more democratic and diversified in a non-homogeneous way, in terms of size, shape (ratio L x W), usability... and this is not to mention that the interfaces in plan base (2d) should include those that emerge in three dimensions, or concerning the Internet of things... and all of things... shoes are different than glasses, themselves differents than car... washingmchine, fridge, watches... and so on... (by the way, does interface must also be completed by arduino ... or in a largest way raspberry )

to answer your question (if I understood it well) yes I strongly think that web developers must innovate, explore, propose, test... in short... create interfaces in perpetual motion, continually question themselves, transgress... and especially dare to make mistakes

but perhaps as often I'm beside your original question