Good vs. Great

Do you believe you have the ability to differentiate between good and great? You do! You probably make this judgment more often than you are aware of.

Let’s test this theory. Think of your favorite food in the whole wide world. Why do you enjoy it so much? Is it the smell, the taste, the texture, or how delicious it looks? Now, think of who (a person or restaurant) prepares this food/meal so deliciously that your mouth is beginning to salivate right now. {For some of us, this delightful memory will cause us to close our eyes, squeeze our shoulders together, and stomp our feet, then make a phone call, LOL!}

Next, think of that same food/meal prepared by someone else, maybe someone who is just learning to cook. {WARNING: For some, this memory may cause a choking and/or gagging sensation.} Someone else may do a decent job of preparing it, but if we had our choice we would prefer the mouth-watering, foot-stomping satisfaction of greatness. The type of experience you walk away from and say, “That was great!”

Greatness Recognized

We can apply this same theory to music, movies, fashion, gaming, and sports. There is good music and then there is great music! There are so many good movies, then there are those movies that we could watch over and over again as if we are seeing it for the first time every time we watch it. Many of us determine what we will wear daily based on the look, feel, and intent of our clothing. Think about it: when you decide which pair of shoes you will wear, you are making a judgment between good and great depending on the day's activity, the weather, the color coordination with your outfit, and most importantly how the shoes feel. For sports fans, every season we judge how our team(s) has performed. We may even comment while watching, “That was a good play.” or “That was a great game!”

Developing Greatness in Web Design

How do we determine between good vs great in these different scenarios? It comes down to preference: what do you prefer? How well has someone met and/or exceeded your expectations? The same is true with website development. While there are some research-based fundamentals of website development, as we learned in modules one and two of this unit, we couple those skills with our preference to determine how good or great a website is.

[CC BY 4.0] UNLESS OTHERWISE NOTED | IMAGES: LICENSED AND USED ACCORDING TO TERMS OF SUBSCRIPTION