We need a better word to describe a redesigned website than “cleaner”

When the New York Times website got a new look, a Times executive called it “cleaner.” But the company had said the same thing about the last redesign — in 2006. Can’t we find a better word?

When a website gets redesigned, people always seem to say the new look is “cleaner.”

After the New York Times unveiled its big redesign early this year, Times executive Denise Warren said the restyled home page and section fronts provide “a cleaner, more engaging user experience.”

And the Times isn’t alone in its commitment to cleanliness. The redesign of the Los Angeles Times website was described as “cleaner, crisper.” Mashable said NPR’s redesign had “a cleaner, simpler layout.” And when CNN’s home page got a new design shortly after Jeff Zucker took over as the news channel’s president, TVNewser reported that “the moves carry Zucker’s fingerprints, including a cleaner look…”

And it turns out that all types of websites have been getting cleansed. YouTube recently “adopted a cleaner website design,” while MyCoupons.com opted for “a cleaner, contemporary, responsive design.” And it seems quite fitting that the redesign of the website for Mint Cleaner, a robotic vacuum, was described as “cleaner.”

(It’s apparently okay if today’s cleaner design is an improvement over the last redesign, which was also described as, uh, cleaner. In 2006, the last time the New York Times site was redesigned, the newspaper declared that it was a “cleaner design.”)

What’s behind our obsession with clean websites? It’s partly a response to the simple human tendency to grow bored with the familiar. When we look repeatedly at the same thing, it gets tiresome.

That’s why automakers change designs even on their most popular cars. An old design is considered a little grimy; new models are sparkling and pure. (Sure enough, Motor Trend praises the new 2014 Mercedes-Benz E-Class for its “cleaner, more organic design.”)

Another reason we so often use “cleaner” to describe web design is that we simply can’t think of another word. Websites are a relatively new phenomenon and we don’t have much of a vocabulary to describe them. The terms that website designers use (navigation bar, right rail, “above the fold”) aren’t well-known outside the world of web publishing. So when most people see a newly designed website, they don’t say, “Great nav bar!”

By contrast, other topics of criticism have been around longer and have a more established vocabulary. Take movies, for example. There are many aspects of a movie to discuss (the theme, plot, acting, mood, pacing, special effects) and there are many words to describe each one. The criticism can be specific (“That was his worst performance since Naked Gun 2½.”) or more general (“The acting was lame.”)

It’s harder for people to critique websites because they’re so new and there are no standard features. Not every website has a right rail or a navigation bar. We also lack a common vocabulary for the concepts of web design, such as how quickly we can find what we’re looking for or whether it takes a lot of clicks to complete a single article (singleclickleness?).

And things are moving so fast in the digital age that what looks sleek today will look like last year’s E-Class sedan tomorrow.

So, asked what we think of a new website, we reach for the most handy word we can find that will make us sound like we know what we’re talking about. “I like it,” we say. “It’s cleaner.”

How can we find better descriptions?

Be specific. Instead of using vague terms like “cleaner, crisper” (which can apply to a Chardonnay as well as they do a website), we should be precise. “I like the headline fonts on the home page” or “The graphics are too small and hard to understand.”

Don’t forget what’s missing. We often do a good job describing what we can see, but we often neglect to mention critical things that are left out. What is the website missing? (Or for that matter, what is the Chardonnay missing?)

Describe actions. We often describe how things look, but we sometimes neglect our experiences with clicking, dragging and pointing. I’m constantly frustrated by menus that roll down and then disappear before I can click, but I don’t think I’ve ever articulated it (until now).