Author Archive

Most Visited Site in 2008?

Monday, September 15th, 2008

gas.gif

GasBuddy.com may be one of the most visited sites for 2008. The site itself isn’t a visual masterpiece. It also isn’t full of stuff that elicits ‘oohs and ahhhs’ from its visitors. It is simply a tool. A well liked tool these days! It’s easy to navigate and straightforward with the information you need. It doesn’t get much better than GasBuddy.com when it comes to delivering just what you requested.They definitely follow the K.I.S.S. approach (Keep It Simple Stupid).

So, GasBuddy.com gets “two big thumbs up” from me for simplicity of use and its straightforward reason for existence.

Another Font Resource

Sunday, September 14th, 2008

30 fonts

While looking for some interesting fonts, I came across this article at myinkblog.com that highlighted 30 free fonts. The list contains some really good fonts. In particular, I liked Bleeding Cowboys and Birth of a Hero. The slight “grunge” effect that Birth of a Hero has to it is really nice. I could see it being useful on many newer style websites.

Check out the list! I’m sure you’ll find something useful there too.

Clever Footer Idea

Friday, September 12th, 2008

map footer
Banjax, a web design company based in Belfast, Northern Ireland has come up with a great way to use a footer. Using a Google map to create the footer is an excellent choice for client websites that are created with the intent of offering directions to a physical business location. For service oriented companies or retail stores, this is a clever, unique way of adding a map or directions to a store or office location. It’s a very creative use of space.

Sweet Logo from Muku Studios

Wednesday, September 10th, 2008

Muku logo

While looking around for some fresh crest style logos, I stumbled onto Muku Studios website. There, staring me in the face was a cool, tribal themed crest inspired logo. I like this logo. It says a lot about the owners of Muku and their business. The company is based in Hawaii, the owners love to surf. The website matches up well with its owners. The tropical/surf style matches up perfectly with them. The logo itself reminds me of some sort of wooden, carved idol.

What do you think? Tell me your thoughts about their logo and the them of their site. I’d enjoy hearing your evaluation on it. Thanks! ~~

Another Website with Lots of Cool Features

Tuesday, September 9th, 2008

swiths.gif

Swiths.com is a sweet site that has a lot going happening on its front page. There are several design elements that appeal to me.

1. I like the orientation of the page. It appears that everything is lying on the floor. Notice the Converse sneakers on the right, the nicely colored hardwood floors, etc.

2. I like how the content is displayed. Everything is on the tag (for lack of a better term). The navigation is running vertically up the right side of the tag too.

3. I like the chewed up pencil. It’s realistic and looks good.

4. I like their logo. It’s appealing and looks great.

What’s your opinon of this site? Let me know…I’d be interested in your overall opinion as well.

Extremely Creative Site Design

Monday, September 8th, 2008

jay.gif

I love the creativity that went  into the design of Jay Schulz’s photography website. Visit it…play around with it…you’ll enjoy it. Trust me. Creative layout, creative navigation, creative content design, the entire thing screams creativity.

Jay is a friend of mine. I have always enjoyed playing around with his website. I just keep forgetting to post it here! Thanks for putting together such a cool site Jay!

This one should go into our Top Sites of 2008. What do you think of it? Let me know!

Click & Drag, CSS & JavaScript Navigation

Sunday, September 7th, 2008

CSS

Prabhath Online is the personal portfolio for Prabhath Perera. This site is a nice, clean, professional looking design. Prabhath has made excellent use of CSS and JavaScript to make the navigation at the right movable. You can click and drag the menu items around the page. If you click on the little plus sign at the right in each of the menu items, they expand to reveal information related to the headline. The color combinations are excellent as well. Nicely done! Thanks for submitting your site and allowing us to check it out.

**Attention readers…would you like us to review your website? Let us know about it and we’ll be happy to check it out!

Non-Traditional Website

Thursday, September 4th, 2008

hammer.jpg

In my opinion, this is a very cool website. Enfatico’s site breaks a lot of rules and does it fashionably. No header, no footer, compact, simple navigation and terse content. The big, bold image of the sledgehammer on the front page really sums it all up. It’s effective and in your face. I like it.

“Why slap them on the wrist with a feather when you can belt them over the head with a sledgehammer?”

Katharine Hepburn
American actress

Easy to Use Navigation that’s Fun Too

Wednesday, September 3rd, 2008

 newhall.gif

Okay, maybe I’m simple minded (be nice now), but I like the navigation on the Newhall Ranch site. The ‘little hiker dude’ is entertaining. I really enjoyed watching him almost fall off the side of the navigation header. Anyhow, it’s a feature that I haven’t seen on any other site yet and because of its uniqueness, I thought it deserved to be mentioned. What’s your opinion of it? Do you like it or not??

Interesting Content Article

Tuesday, September 2nd, 2008

books.jpg

Recently, I’ve been searching for some good articles about content. As you know from this blog, I believe that relevant, high quality content is vital to the success of any website. I found a good article discussing the importance of content this evening at SEOmoz, written by Eric Enge. I would encourage you to read his article. I think you’ll appreciate what he has to say about the importance of developing rock solid content. He has quite a few good suggestions that are very applicable to web designers. And, as a refresher…go back and read my article, “Finding a Great Writer for Your Content.”