There is no denying that there are some significant cultural differences between East and West. Since we here at Pingdom deal a lot with web hosting companies and are generally interested in the hosting industry, we have on occasion stumbled upon some Asian hosting websites which to our Western eyes have a very different look (and not just because we can’t read a word 😉 ).
This post has screenshots of some interesting examples from Japan, China and South Korea. The designs are sometimes strikingly different from what you would expect to see from a Western hosting company website, and often quite charming.
Colors and cartoons
Keep it colorful… very colorful. And don’t forget the happy cartoon characters (leprechauns, anyone?)
Screenshot from www.lolipop.jp. (Japan)
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Screenshot from www.muumuu-domain.com. (Japan)
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Screenshot from www.kornet.net. (South Korea)
Cram in a LOT of information
We don’t understand a word of this, but that looks like a lot of information crammed into one page…
Screenshot from www.mireene.com. (South Korea)
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Screenshot from www.firstserver.ne.jp. (Japan)
Cute animals
Cute animals and puppies seem to work well all over the world, including China and Japan.
Screenshot from www.winet.cn. (China)
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Screenshot from rose.ruru.ne.jp. (Japan)
Some other general observations
- For us in Europe at least, websites in China, Japan, South Korea and other Asian countries tend to load really slowly.
- You basically can’t find a Chinese hosting website that doesn’t offer some form of live support chat.
- Did we mention that we really don’t understand a word on these websites?
And before anyone makes this comment: There are of course plenty of examples where the hosting website looks more or less like a conventional Western website. But that wouldn’t have been much fun to look at, would it? 😉
