JamaicaObserver.com a few months ago changed the design of their website much to us and all their readers elation. The previous site was over give years old and well, sucked. Since they’ve made the change, their website traffic has gone up more than 50%, which oughta be the case, everyone likes a pretty and functional news website. And it wasn’t done by no large local or American firm, instead it was a designer, a programmer and an inside guy who did it and that must be commended.
However having said that, I recently went to popstylejamaica.com the leading Jamaican fashion blog run by Tesi Johnson and I was like, hold up ahmm this site design looks familiar. So I opened two separate windows, one at jamaicaobserver.com and the other at popstylejamaica.com and then it hit me, they are template twins. You have a look at that pic and tell me.
11 Comments on “JamaicaObserver.com and PopStyleJamaica.com template twins?”
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…they do look alike, but what is true about design & layout is that if something works it works! and everyone will want to go with what works - with a little variation on the theme so to speak.
June 24th, 2009 at 11:40 am
I think they have a few similarities but that’s all. I wouldn’t say twins.
June 24th, 2009 at 1:33 pm
[...] JamaicaObserver.com and PopStyleJamaica.com template twins? [...]
June 24th, 2009 at 2:27 pm
@Suzette…and yes you are write…they clearly came from the same template, but each tweaked theirs to make it unique for their brand. And this is a great ad to support open source templates and that sites like these, do not need to cost a lot of money to be effective and meaningful to the site owner and site visitor.
June 24th, 2009 at 2:33 pm
While they look similar, a quick examination of the source shows that they were crafted independently. My view: JamaicaObserver’s was done in-house and PopstyleJamaica is from a template shop. They even run on different kinds of backends. Maybe someone was inspired by the other’s layout though.
June 24th, 2009 at 3:58 pm
@paul is 100% correct. Have seen the template for popstyle jamaica already. and the observers was definitely hand crafted as i know the designer
June 24th, 2009 at 7:13 pm
similar in design but as said above different templates
June 29th, 2009 at 10:24 pm
I can assure you absolutely no templates were used or inspired the design of the Jamaica Observer website.
June 30th, 2009 at 3:04 pm
[...] Here is the original post: JamaicaObserver.com and PopStyleJamaica.com template twins? [...]
July 1st, 2009 at 6:55 pm
Well, speaking as the developer of Popstyle and doing a comparison myself, I´d say that the designs have clear similarities but they aren´t the same template. Popstyle is built using PHP while the Observer is built using ASP. News Portal templates are varied but alot of them have similar characteristics, as the use and placement of articles, blogs, and other features are commonly used and it wouldnt be surprising if layouts look similar.
July 9th, 2009 at 9:45 pm
Neil, how u tek so long star?! Glad to hear you finally joining the conversation. Thanks for your valuable input.
July 9th, 2009 at 10:45 pm