> there are less extreme examples such as McMaster-Carr. They've had the same design more or less since 2010 at least and it is usually considered both functional and tastefully current.
On desktop, sure. But they don't work in mobile. And that's easily 80% of the troubles of modern design: to avoid building everything twice, today people write "responsive", "mobile first" websites that, on desktop, tend to have an excessive amount of whitespace and other issues (see for example the old vs new reddit layout)
What's being demanded of websites in 2023 is just much more difficult to do well than what people wanted in 2010.
It isn't immediately clear to me what about that website isn't working on Mobile, as it seems to look pretty decent for me? (Firefox on a Galaxy phone.)
It is my first time going on mcmaster.com and it's working great on mobile for me (Android, Firefox). It feels snappy, good button sizes, great filtering options, no dead ends in flow until login to purchase. Top marks from me!
What are you talking about? That site looks great on an iPhone SE. Are there some issues? Sure. That doesn’t mean throw the baby out with the bath water, redesign to whatever’s trendy today, and kick the can down the road.
This? https://www.mcmaster.com/
On desktop, sure. But they don't work in mobile. And that's easily 80% of the troubles of modern design: to avoid building everything twice, today people write "responsive", "mobile first" websites that, on desktop, tend to have an excessive amount of whitespace and other issues (see for example the old vs new reddit layout)
What's being demanded of websites in 2023 is just much more difficult to do well than what people wanted in 2010.