There’s something about restaurant websites that get under my skin. It’s mostly because there are so many mediocre tools out there that help restaurant owners bloat their websites and make them terrible to use.
This is the website for Han Palace, a Chinese restaurant down the street from me. You might be tempted to make fun of the solid image homepage and the widespread use of <tr>’s. But before you do all that take a second and think about the experience you might have with this website.
Most people who arrive here are looking for the phone number, hours and possibly a menu. This isn’t a 5 star restaurant in a casino on the Las Vegas strip, their website doesn’t have to be try and represent it that way either. Sure it won’t win any awards, but customers get what they want when they need it. It’s not responsive either, but the mobile experience was just fine.
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The point I’m making is that all too often people try to build websites the way “they’re supposed to built” but don’t even get close. In that time they put so much icing on a terrible tasting cake all we get is a bad taste in our mouths. Instead just make an old fashion cookie with no frills or special add-ons and you’ll make your customers happy.
Jesse Friedman has been building websites for 20 years, and exclusively with WordPress since 2006. Jesse has written several books, taught 100’s of students as a professor, and organized dozens of local meetups along with a few WordCamps.
Jesse has spoken at tech conferences around the world including SXSW, HOW, Future events and many more; and has consulted for a wide array of companies from small agencies to multi-billion dollar international companies.
Today Jesse is a proud team member of Jetpack at Automattic, where he spends his time working on partnership and marketing strategies.