A beef with website design

[lost in space]

Agreed. Too many designers seem to want to make websites that look "nice" rather than provide ease of use. A lot of content management systems have themes that lean that way. Too much blank space too, IMO. Makes me miss old sites, where a page might be packed with information instead of space, with lots of links on a page. McMaster Carr comes to mind. Industrial, to be sure, but effective, methinks.

I felt the same way about the new buildings at the university where I used to work, with the buildings saying, "look what our architects can do" instead of making them friendly for the users.