Two more designs added
I've added two more designs to the Web Design Design Gallery out of the 6 or 7 that were submitted. Please keep in mind that this gallery is intended to be a showcase of designs, not an advertising vehicle for Web design firms. I have no problem with linking to a Web design firm, but if your Web site is boring, or does something annoying (like take over my entire screen and require that I have Flash, tell me to turn on my speakers, and then tell me to update an extension once I enter) I won't be adding it to the library.
One other thing, if you're telling me and others that you are a Web designer, then I strongly believe that your Web site should be at least near the edge of the technology. Cutting edge or bleeding edge isn't required, but straight table based layouts are a turnoff to me - I wouldn't hire you to work on my team or build my site... A Web design Web site should be better than what's readily available, not just average.
Show me your stuff. I love to see new designs, and CSS layouts that don't use tables are the most likely types of sites to be added.
Comments
I beg to differ. I think sometimes “cutting edge” can be too much for a web design site. I’ve never been one to use flash or anything like that and a few years ago that was “cutting edge.” I’ve always seen it as superfluous (at least 90% of the time and especially on web design sites).
This site is about “Web Design.” I tend to think the best sites are the ones that are well designed, not always the ones that are XMLed out or full of unusual CSS. Sites can be simple on the tech side but be stunning on the visual side. Some of the best programmers I know don’t know one thing about aesthetics. To me, that’s the most important part of web design, not the CSS or nuts and bolts. Just my 2 cents
But CSS has been around for many years, and the browsers to support them have been around more than 2 years, and make up 80-98% of the market (depending upon the site). CSS isn’t cutting edge, and I’ve seen a lot of Web Design firms building their pages with very complicated table based layout.
It’s fine if you want to be simple and well-designed, but personally, if you want to be hired by me, you need to show that you can design using current techniques.
Table-based layout is both invalid XHTML and old.
Hey, thanks! Those two designs are just great. How do you react when people say that webdesingers who view some ohter webdesingers’ designs are but losers. In my case, I’d like to pick up some inspiration from your designs but not picking the entire idea.
How long are you intending to keep the gallery open?
Tina80: I don’t think that getting designs from other Web sites is a losing proposition - many people do it. So if they’re losers, there are a lot of losers out there.
John: I don’t have any intention of turning off the gallery. And as long as I keep getting submissions, I’ll keep adding to it.
Not trying to be rude, but I must say I find it interesting that this is a website design resource with a gallery, and the sites you are linking to are no offense, but not that great. Quote - “There are two that are really nice - CSS layouts that look really good and one that I’m told is fully accessible (I didn’t check, but it looked like it was).” I would say this is a quite an exaggeration, and, while you may be knowledgeable about web design, shows you really have no ability to judge good website whatsoever. I believe that many beginners come here looking more help and inspiration, and the sites you are saying are “good” will only hurt this industry.
I would also like to say that frankly I found your comment on Flash very annoying. I have never entered this gallery and never will, but as a very well recognized member of the web design industry, owning a corporation that has designed sites for such high-profile clients as Disney and Miramax, I can tell you that you are completely missing the boat. You would be hard pressed to find one new, ground breaking website that is not entirely flash based, or at least does not incorporate flash at all. Flash is an amazing marketing and web design (which apparently you know nothing about) tool, and judging by the number of corporations that use Flash, I would say that it is quickly becoming THE web design medium, and, once it has upgraded usability features, HTML based sites will be few. As far as the sites you referred to that you would not add to your gallery, I can see that updating the flash player can be annoying. However the very foundation and drive of this industry that keeps it pushing further into new ground is these sites that incorporate sound and “full screen” flash.
Furthermore, you going on to say that “One other thing, if you’re telling me and others that you are a Web designer, then I strongly believe that your Web site should be at least near the edge of the technology. Cutting edge or bleeding edge isn’t required…”, when you just criticised a site that most likely was “cutting edge”, makes you appear to be a hypocrite. You are right that table based layouts are fading, but they are still an excellent design tool. Interesting you say “I wouldn’t hire you to work on my team or build my site… A Web design Web site should be better than what’s readily available, not just average.”, when, after looking at these “free templates” you created, I doubt that anyone that knew anything about marketing or had any sense of aesthetics would even give you a second glance. I would be glad to have a discussion about this, but then again, I saw the websites you created.
Shannon: I have never claimed to be an arbiter of style. And the Web Design Gallery is not meant to be a listing of sites that I think look good. What looks good to me might look completely hideous and awful to you. The point of the gallery is to give people a chance to show off their designs - they think they look good, otherwise they wouldn’t ask me to present them.
I also find it interesting that you feel the need to actually attack me and my site without having actually viewed it. You state:
how can you tell me that I’m choosing bad sites or making a poor choices to show people how to design if you’ve never looked at the gallery?
The criticism you are referencing was specifically directed at sites that are offering their services as Web designers. I do have strong opinions there, and while I will (and have) linked to Web design sites that I don’t feel represent the best of our profession, I believe that these sites should be held to a higher standard - thus the comments.
As for the templates I’ve created (and I’m not really sure how this morphed into an attack on them, but okay…) they are intended to show how CSS can be used to create interesting layouts of Web sites. They are not intended to be used exactly as they are, unless, of course, you have the desire or need to have a very plain Web site with just (for example) 3 columns.
You state that you are “a very well recognized member of the web design industry” but you don’t even list your full name in the comment, your email address is from a free Webmail service, you list no URL in the Web site line, and in fact the only identifiable thing I have about you is that your IP is from Time Warner. Whereas, I have been running a site teaching people Web Design and HTML for nearly 10 years. My name is all over the Web when it comes to learning HTML and Web Design. If you’re going to come in and criticize, why not do it “face to face” rather than hiding behind a first name and anonymousness. Who are you to come in and trash me and my site?
“You would be hard pressed to find one new, ground breaking website that is not entirely flash based, or at least does not incorporate flash at all.”
You’d be hard pressed to find it because Google and other search engines have a dickens of a time indexing flash-based sites : )
I don’t have research to point to, but it’s my understanding that more and more people are relying on search to find even the simplest of destinations (”Disney” is often one of the more popular search strings every month at the major engines). Also, it’s becoming more and more important for “every page to be a front door” to the site since any page could be popping up in a search result. By relying exclusively on Flash, you’re preventing readers from easily getting to those deep pages they really want to get to.
I think you’re missing something if you design a pretty snazzy page that will never see the light of day since users can’t get to it from a search engine.
Just my $.02…
A website and a flashsite are two completely different things.
You can use flash to enhance a web site provided that you allow for the fact that a large number of people will not have flash enabled in their browser and so you will need to provide an alternative to anything that you do in flash that is essential to the operation of the page.
A site done completely in flash will need a complete website alongside it if you don’t want to lose all of the potential visitors who don’t want to use flash.
The problem with flash is that too many people with no idea of how to use it properly have created too much flash that is 10000% of the size that it really needs to be and which is therefore rediculously slow to load. This situation may be slowly improving as more people learn how to program in flash properly but there will always be a large number of people who prefer to not install it into their browser as well as lots of disabled people whose web readers don’t support flash at all and who therefore don’t even have the option of installing it.
Flash has its uses. Have you seen the Harry Potter author’s site? very nice
Rockstar: Supernova ’s page was in Flash and very nice
However, Flash is generally way overrated!! Come on, I’ve seen web design sites done completely in flash that end up looking really dumb. If your site is completely flash it means you don’t care if your page fails to load. If flash doesn’t load, neither does your marketing message.
Is that good business? No, it’s oversight in the nth degree.
As far as mentioning “sound” on a website… that is a serious joke.
You cannot convince me that I am the only web surfer who gets seriously irritated at sounds on a webpage. If I visit a site for a music band then I expect music. A site for a movie doesn’t surprise me with sound either. Seen the Bad News Bear site? very nice flash.
When I visit a webpage, any old webpage, and it loads sound… it irks me to no end. Why should you want to make me mad? I have earphones on and I’m listening to music in my media player. All of a sudden, a webpage loads with sound and I groan loud enough for everybody in the room with me to turn their head and give me evil eye stares. Sound on a webpage is childish if there isn’t some reason that would require it. Such as, a rock band would have to have music. When I check out pages on MySpace the first thing I do is shut those music players off. Noisy ads that talk are the worst.
A few years ago there was an AT&T ad I would always encounter on msn pages and I can’t tell you how nice it was when I stopped seeing, err, hearing it. Now there’s an ad I run across for talking webpage characters.
Tell me I am not the only person irritated with the sound effects.