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I'm building a website with my friends. At least one of us has decent technical skills but none of us have a good sense of color or design.
So it is my job to scour the internet for inspiration. Would you mind posting links to your favorite web designs?
We know the structure we want: a three column website with a top navigation bar similar to the one on apple.com. We also know we want the look and feel of the entertainment section of an online news magazine. What we are fuzzy on are color schemes and design details.
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Oooo ... I saw a web page I liked with this type of layout a few days ago when I was discussing web design with Fugu on chat. But now I can't find it.....
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Do not steal the format and color schemes of more successful sites. While it's done regularly, it's also rather rude.
Posts: 37449 | Registered: May 1999
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Thanks Tom. I'm new at this, so if what I propose breaches some type of webdesign etiquette I appreciate you for pointing that out.
We are not really stealing a format, for we've already decided on a three column, folder-style menu format.
So that leaves the color scheme. Is copying someone else's color scheme any different than driving around your neighborhood looking for ideas on what color you should repaint your house in?
Posts: 4116 | Registered: Apr 2002
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What really catches your eye on the sites you listed are the ads. They're the only things with any sort of design to them... even the papers' logos are bland. Is that the look you're going for?
Posts: 1681 | Registered: Jun 2004
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My taste does not border on boring... it resides in Plainsville, the capital of Boring baby!
Yes, the examples I provided are a bit on the drab side. We wanted to go for the professional, trusted website look. I guess it is possible to have a site that looks trustworthy AND fun, but I'm not sure how to go about it. Posts: 4116 | Registered: Apr 2002
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Well, Tom -- there are only so many possible "original" ideas and colors out there. I mean, I don't see anything wrong with them getting ideas from others' work. There is hardly a new idea under the sun any more, with millions of web pages out there.
Kind of like story-writing, there are very few ideas that haven't already been addressed in some way in some other writing.
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You want to be very careful about the tabbed look. Apple's style of tabs look good because apple did a very careful job of working them into the overall page, and because they're in the OS X style (which has been refined to a high degree).
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Wooo... lots of great sitse, keep them coming guys!
Annie ~ I'm usually not a huge fan of black backgrounds, but I love the black/orange contrast you used in the second website. The contrast makes the site memorable without being too distracting.
Farmgirl ~ Your webdesigner read the same design book I did: "The color blue encourages trust in your audience." I think the site looks professional and functional. My only criticism is why are there so many login links? Couldn't you just have one?
Fugu ~ Thanks for the tip regarding the tabs. I'll keep that in mind when we design the top level menu. I love that deep blue color used in that site.
Skillery ~ That is a wonderful and creative site. Unfortunately we are locked into the boring three column design because we have a tremendous amounts of information to organize and our goal is more oriented towards user-friendliness than artistic achievement. The floating menu thing looks cool, we might try that. Posts: 4116 | Registered: Apr 2002
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Also, keep in mind that three column can be done very flexibly. For instance, http://consulting.fugu13.com is a three column layout, though I don't have anything right now in the right column. But its just a table with a cell for the header, a cell for the footer, and three cells in between for the columns. I just moved the contents of one of the columns over so it doesn't look like a traditional three column layout (or more of a two column layout at present).
Posts: 15770 | Registered: Dec 2001
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You can be inspired by other sites, and sites with similar audiences/goals will tend to resemble each other (form follows function), just make sure you don't swipe anyone's code or create a site that gets submitted here.
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Fugu ~ I love how that left column pops out of the main text. The effect is subtle visual treat.
CB ~ my friends are programmers themselves, so they are very sensitive when other people rip off their codes. We definitely won't rip off any codes, but we do need some color ideas.
TMedina ~ how about slightly off white backgrounds? So far, my favorite color scheme is this one . The background is not quite white, but I think it is kind of fun.
Posts: 4116 | Registered: Apr 2002
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I think it's funny to see differences of aesthetic among different groups of people. My design class last semester was beginning flash and web design, and at our final, I think my project (forgive the ads - we had to use tripod) was the only page with any dynamic text at all. When you have a class full of graphic designers do websites, the results are usually full-page images and animations. My roommate, at the same time, was in a CS class that was doing beginning web design and their sites all had super cool programming features with all sorts of pop-down menus and such, and every once in awhile a centered graphic from a clip art page.
Your target audience is a big part of how you design. My pages are targeted to artists - they're image-intensive without too many clickable options. If you're working on something requiring organization of a lot more data, you have to do something akin to Farmgirl's bank. If you're selling something, you have to be catchy and memorable without being obnoxious. And that - my friends - is a very fine line. Posts: 8504 | Registered: Aug 1999
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quote:TMedina ~ how about slightly off white backgrounds? So far, my favorite color scheme is this one . The background is not quite white, but I think it is kind of fun.
Yeah, that was my favorite one out of the group you showed too. The others I found a bit too boring and bland.
Posts: 181 | Registered: Aug 2001
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While I can't help with actual design, I can offer a few basic rules when laying out the site:
Use the whole page! This is a huge pet peeve of mine, most web pages (including all of the ones linked above -except the macnn one-- included) do not use the entire space. The vast majority of websites are set to by 760 pixels wide because in the past most people had 800x600, and in fact many people still do. However, this doesn't mean you should suddenly make your webpage strictly for 1024x768. USE THE DIV ELEMENT. Make the page s-t-r-e-t-c-h to the size of the window, there are an increasing number of us with screens larger than 800x600 and we don't like the white space on the right half of our window. My head is permenantly positioned facing partly left because all my AIM windows are on my left screen, I don't need any more websites to make it worse.
If you decide that your page looks best in a specific width (like apple, and fugu's...which both look pretty hot) center it! CENTER IT CENTER IT CENTER IT! At least it the blank space is cut in half so we don't notice it as much. You're not dealing with a school committee that has to deliberate for days before they allow you to change a single element (like the one I've been hired to work one) so do it!
Three Click to Anywhere! While the three click rule has been disproven it sure is curtious to your users to make sure they can easily find what they're looking for. You don't have to strictly follow the three click rule, but...for the love of Multix, make easy to navigate.
Think small, there are many of us that still have dialup, we'd be glad if your page loaded in under 4,000 years.
Build the site around what it's for, you said that it's dedicated towards a specific game? Try to use game colours. Figure out what information you're displaying. Figure what you want as the main information, put that in the most apparent part of the webpage and build around it. And have fun, that's the best way to make anything look fun, actually have fun with it! Satyagraha
Posts: 359 | Registered: Jun 2001
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And I do know Noel - he might be able to provide some consultation, etc., if you are so inclined. He is a programmer and musician. And likes fun. Tell him I sent you his way -
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Well, here's the other site that I manage: kscops.org
Oh wow! I just discovered that the layout is totally screwed in Firefox -- I created it viewing in I.E. and had never used Firefox before! The links up the left hand side all cram to the bottom! <sigh> Will have to re-do.
Anyway, I set that table to be best viewed in 800x600 (as most people have) but set a different background color outside of the table to at least set it apart no matter what your resolution. I have a lot of improvement to do. I'm learning slow but surely from Fugu...
It isn't that great, but we are extremely low-budget, and I don't know all the fancy javascript and stuff. And didn't have much time.
Beren -- in answer to what you said to me in the post way up there -- yeah, our company site kind of overdoes the blue -- but that is the company color, and the company logo, etc. Overkill. And they can't just make one log in. Because it is different depending on account, I think.
kaioshin00 ~ that's not a website, it's a summer blockbuster movie!
Mack ~ Yeah, that color scheme is ok, but let's face it, the photographs are the real stars. You should give that photographer of yours a raise.
BYU ~ thanks for the great tips. I will try to keep your neck nice and straight. I love the pictures you used for the beloit site: Fire, pollution, birth control... welcome to the real world!
Shan ~ he might not like me so much after he finds out what a pitiful score I got on his quiz.
Farmgirl ~ sounds like the life of a webmaster ain't easy. I will join your rank soon. Eeeeek!
CT ~ Again, unfair cuteness advantage! Of course, if I could work babies into our website....
Fallow ~ that's awesome man. Definitely the most creative site I've seen all day.
[ July 08, 2004, 02:46 AM: Message edited by: Beren One Hand ]
Posts: 4116 | Registered: Apr 2002
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It's okay, Beren - I only got 8 right. He still talks to me.
The worst is - I don;t even know how I got the 8 right 'case there wasn't anything on there that I was really sure I knew . . . Posts: 5609 | Registered: Jan 2003
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Alas, I can't take credit for the pictures, they are only example pictures given to us by the firm that the school hired (for thousands of dollars) to design the site...and they don't even provide a template for us to use...90% of that code was written by me...by hand. Can you tell I'm bitter? Because that site breaks every rule that I listed.
Oh ya, another one: FLASH IS BAD. It's a great tool, just not for your front page. Satyagraha
Oh Lord yes. I can't count the number of times I've just closed a site when the superfluous flash intro began. Doesn't matter if there's a "skip intro" button. I'm not going to your site so you can masturbate on my screen (there's one for the OOC people) I'm going there for some sort of information.
Posts: 3243 | Registered: Apr 2002
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Well, although that was impressive design-wise, I was also sure glad that I was accessing it from my T-1 connection here at work. It took so long to load all of it's fancy stuff on this fast connection that I imagine if I had been home on my 21.5 dial-up, I'd be sitting there until 10 PM tonight.
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That site is off the cuteness charts FG. I especially like their police blotter
Bob, I know how you feel. I especially love it when the "close this ad" button on the flash is actually a trick link that takes you to the advertiser's home page. Yeah, like I'm really going to buy stuff from a company that tricked me into clicking their ad.
naledge, congrats on the award. Your site is fantastic... can't wait for the goodie section to open up. I like the cool music, did you guys compose it? Kudos for giving people the OPTION to listen to music and not force it upon them. Posts: 4116 | Registered: Apr 2002
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