I believe that the thesis of Frank Chimero's article, "What Screens Want," argues that screens and the overall design of websites and interfaces have settled and have more to unlock in terms of the potential of looks and user interaction. One thought that constantly gets mentioned is that we have our abstractions with the web, meaning we have our assumptions on how and why certain parts of the web work because it has been given to us at face value. Also stems from how we operate in the real world so our perceptions of aspects are already based on previous experiences. The article argues that the web and how it's designed can offer way more in usability and look. The "right" way is a facade because of the trends that corporations build on the web, taking our abstractions of the web entirely based on what's given rather than what it can be.
When it comes to how things on a screen look, I believe I stand more on the side of the flat ideological camp rather than skeuo. My answer may stem from recency bias because of the design trends that have appeared such as minimizing, simplifying, or flattening popular logos, one example being the Warner Brothers logo. When it comes to the overall look of websites, simplicity may offer an easier visual for users rather than complex visual elements that may be hard to look at. Instead of three-dimensional elements that allude to the real world, flat websites substitute them with differentiating factors that work just as well, creating as much depth as you can with 2-D elements. However, as much as the look of the website matters, intent and context matter just as much. If you want to apply some real-world aspects in navigating your website because the content justifies these choices, then there should be no debate about its use.
A zoopraxiscope is a disc with illustrations/photographs on the edge that when spun at a high speed and illuminated from behind, creates this illusion that the images are moving turning it into a scene. Its relation with the web connects movement and change within movement to static elements. Just as the horses are not moving and are static we have a perception that change is happening, the web pushes its possibility with design through how websites can "move" or change through the likes of responsiveness and customizability.
One example of a medium that has inspired digital design is magazine covers. When you think of magazine covers, the two elements that make it a magazine cover are its title and the image behind it. How this inspired digital design is that images are used as the whole background with hero text acting as the website header (the magazine's title). Flat colour blocks are not used and involve collaboration between the image and text. This can offer exploration and website navigation in different ways such as using the image to contextualize pages of your website.