educational

Facebook Fundamentals Drive Adult Web Design

From its comforting color scheme, to its minimalistic iconography and eye pleasing typography, social networking giant Facebook’s design has become an instant classic that is being widely copied, or “serving as the inspiration for,” many other websites’ designs.

Subtle design approaches that incorporate Facebook-style headers, footers and other on-page elements, have been around since the site became popular — as have outright visual rip-offs of the site, down to pirated CSS coding and other scripting.

Building something “light” like this is easy for designers using any of today’s popular gridbased development tools.

While nothing is as popular as popularity, copying another site’s colors, design, logos and marketing, as closely as is seen in some examples, is not just creative laziness, but an example of the type of trade dress infringement and undeniable brand dilution that many registered trademark owners love to pursue — and try convincing a jury that your rip-off site really isn’t a rip-off, after you have so carefully copied the distinctive Facebook look.

With that being said, the graphically simplistic nature, open “airy” feel and subdued color scheme, are common to the default templates used by many adult and mainstream scripts, from TGPs to tube sites, CMS templates and more — all of which can be used as an easy starting point — just don’t add the graphic embellishments you might normally use on an adult site. As a bonus, Google and your visitors love these faster-loading pages.

Building something “light” like this is easy for designers using any of today’s popular gridbased development tools, where simple CSS shading of basic frameworks will yield the results you seek, providing something original, while saving hours of design time.

There are also a number of templates and tools for building Facebook “fan” pages, which offer a look and feel that is not too far from the standard Facebook look, allowing designers to take a slippery shortcut to the results they desire.

Consider also how design emulation goes beyond a website’s look, to its functions.

For example, Facebook images seem to load super-fast when viewing the next and previous images in a series. This is due to the site’s practice of pre-loading those images — something that many adult sites could benefit from, as waiting for images to display becomes a thing of the past — even though your bandwidth increases, by loading photos that may never be viewed…

Finally, for those determined to incorporate advanced Facebook-style features into their websites, Blogfreakz offers a collection of tutorials at http://blogfreakz.com/web-design/tutorials-and-resources-for-creating-facebook-style-interface/ that provides many interesting examples and downloadable code snippets that all sites could benefit from.

Facebook hit a home run with its classic design; and while they say copying is the best form of flattery, it’s also against the law — laws that don’t have to be broken, just because you want to enjoy the fruits of someone else’s successful design investment — the fundamentals of which can be easily (and originally) incorporated into any website.

Related:  

Copyright © 2024 Adnet Media. All Rights Reserved. XBIZ is a trademark of Adnet Media.
Reproduction in whole or in part in any form or medium without express written permission is prohibited.

More Articles

opinion

To Cloud or Not to Cloud, That Is the Question

Let’s be honest. It just sounds way cooler to say your business is “in the cloud,” right? Buzzwords make everything sound chic and relevant. In fact, someone uninformed might even assume that any hosting that is not in the cloud is inferior. So what’s the truth?

Brad Mitchell ·
opinion

Upcoming Visa Price Changes to Registration, Transaction Fees

Visa is updating its fee structure. Effective April 1, both the card brand’s initial nonrefundable application fee and annual renewal fee will increase from $500 to $950. Visa is also introducing a fee of 10 cents for each transaction, and 10 basis points — 0.1% — on the payment volume of certain merchant accounts.

Jonathan Corona ·
opinion

Unpacking the New Digital Services Act

Do you hear the word “regulation” and get nervous? When it comes to the EU’s Digital Services Act (DSA), you shouldn’t worry. If you’re complying with the most up-to-date card brand regulations, you can breathe a sigh of relief.

Cathy Beardsley ·
opinion

The Perils of Relying on ChatGPT for Legal Advice

It surprised me how many people admitted that they had used ChatGPT or similar services either to draft legal documents or to provide legal advice. “Surprised” is probably an understatement of my reaction to learning about this, as “horrified” more accurately describes my emotional response.

Corey D. Silverstein ·
profile

WIA Profile: Holly Randall

If you’re one of the many regular listeners to Holly Randall’s celebrated podcast, you are already familiar with her charming intro spiel: “Hi, I’m Holly Randall and welcome to my podcast, ‘Holly Randall Unfiltered.’ This is the show about sex, the adult industry and the people in it.

Women In Adult ·
trends

What's Hot Now: Leading Content Players on Trending Genres, Monetization Strategies

The juggernaut creator economy hurtles along, fueled by ever-ascendant demand for personality-based authenticity and intimacy — yet any reports of the demise of the traditional paysite are greatly exaggerated.

Alejandro Freixes ·
opinion

An Ethical Approach to Global Tech Staffing

One thing my 24-year career as a technologist working to support the online adult entertainment industry has taught me about is the power of global staffing. Without a doubt, I have achieved significantly more business success as a direct result of hiring abroad.

Brad Mitchell ·
opinion

Finding the Right Payment Partner

Whenever I am talking with businesses that are just getting started, one particular question comes up a lot: “How do I get a merchant account?” It’s a simple question, but it has a complicated answer.

Jonathan Corona ·
opinion

The Taxman Cometh for Every Business

February may be the month of romance, but it is also a time when we need to think about something that inspires very little love: taxes. April is not far away, and the taxman is always waiting. This year, federal and most state income taxes are due Monday, April 15.

Cathy Beardsley ·
opinion

The Continuous Journey of Legal Compliance in Adult

The adult entertainment industry is teeming with opportunity but is also fraught with challenges, from anticipating consumer behavior to keeping up with technological innovation. The most labyrinthine of all challenges, however, is the world of legal compliance.

Corey D. Silverstein ·
Show More