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Fugly Friday: iPhone-EZ Products
IPhone-EZ wouldn't be on Fugly Friday if a poor choice of fonts were the only headache-inducing part of the site, though. Witness the same apps listed in three different sidebar! Thrill to the presence of an old-school, Geocities-style hit counter! Lose your mind when you see Comic Sans with drop shadow! Throw up in your mouth a little bit at I EZ P's logo (did they really have to go for the glow on those letters? It makes Comic Sans look dignified by comparison.)
If you need a local weather radar app, or you want quick access to celebrity gossip sites, iPhone EZ might have the app for you. Just make sure you get there by searching the app store, because this site might give you a seizure before you ever manage to click download.
Comments
4
Subscribe to commentsTheOneAndOnlyJHDec 19th 2009 12:22PM
I think you're being a little harsh here. I understand a good standard type font is important for a news or blog page, but this is a sales site. I really don't think it's 100% 'fugly.' I know there are many worse pages than this. They also use different fonts, so it's not like the whole page is in Comic sans.
Also, I think there are some iPhone users who like Comic sans. Not me, but I'm assuming those of the female variety who add pink covers and fake rhinestones to their pods would have no compunctions over the use of such an unprofessional font. In fact, they may prefer the casual nature of it!
Why do you think we all loved Comic sans 15 years ago back some of us were in middle school and computers were just catching on? I know a couple teens today who think it's the 'coolest' looking font. Why are we so quick to scorn our earlier preferences?
just to note though, I wouldn't use Comic anymore either. I wouldn't hate on it, but I just wouldn't use it.
Steve (iPhone EZ Products)Dec 21st 2009 11:48AM
I am a developer for iPhone EZ Products and here's an email I sent to Jay this morning.
My name is Steve Parker, Owner of iPhone EZ Products. I saw your blog post about our website on your "Fugly Friday" write up.
We feel that your blog post is very harsh towards our site. Do you know that the comic sans font is not even used on our site? The font for "Gossip Junkie" is a font called "casual". With that app, we have a certain market we reach out to, & that is young, female gossip readers. That icons suits that market just fine. With over 150 downloads a day of that app, I'd say the icon is just fine considering your harsh portray of it.
Also, have you noticed that a lot of iPhone app developers barley even have a website. Most of the time, it's just enough of a site for their app to pass Apple's approval process (as a website is required for app review). Why didn't we get credit for even having a site that features our products?
Also, our site was slightly modified Sun Morning and some other changes will be coming this month to make it a little more appealing to the eye. I would say our site is not as pleasing to the eye as it could be and that is why it's a work in progress.
Lastly, did you notice we hand out two $10 iTunes Gift Cards every Sunday to two lucky Twitter followers? It is a way that we can give back to the community. How come you didn't tell iPhone owners about that? Something useful.
After reading your blog post we got a little upset, especially after so many hours go into building a site and an app (precious time away from family) just for someone to put it on a "Fugly Friday" blog. What a stab.
Having said the above, we will take any feedback we can and use it to our advantage by making our site better. Thanks for your time Jay.
Steve
TheOneAndOnlyJHDec 21st 2009 3:50PM
Wow.... I thought I was close with my comment about girls with pink cases and rhinestones, and I guess I was!
"we have a certain market we reach out to, & that is young, female gossip readers"
Boy, did I hit that nail on the head! Oh, and by the way, Steve, I gotta side with you on this one. You may not have the prettiest site out there, but it sure ain't the ugliest, not even close. And I do appreciate when a publisher's site is actually useful rather than a placeholder link to an app store. Kudos to you guys.
Jay, if you want an ugly page, please find one that's truly ugly... Notice how few comments you received agreeing how ugly it was? (ie: none) Now when you find a page of 'hot dog stand' caliber, that's worth writing about. Otherwise, don't even bother.
Steve (iPhone EZ Products)Dec 21st 2009 5:44PM
You sure did get that right! LOL You need to come work for us! haha
Anyways, We've been in the middle of a modest website upgrade and in the next few days it will be even better & easier to find a great app.
Currently, its a little cluttered and can look a tad more professional. However, I'M not changing the "Gossip Junkie" icon! LOL My wife helped me design it and I actually love it and so do the 30,000 who have downloaded it! Happy holidays to everyone!
Cheers,
Steve