View Full Version : Best looking website you have ever seen?
Eggeh 07-06-2007, 08:40 PM Hi Guys and Gals,
I'm looking for some design influence, this isn't just a question aimed at the Devs on the forum, just wondering if you can recall the best looking website you have ever seen, if so paste up a link. obviously its a very personalised question but i think it will be interetsting to see what everyone likes.
Once i find one i really like ill paste it up :)
Cheers,
Elliot.
jexdirectedtech 07-06-2007, 09:09 PM For initial inspiration I use www.templatemonster.com or browsed thru stefans portfolio www.realitydreamship.com
Then I decide that I really cant be bothered and get lints to do a design for me :lol:
Eggeh 07-06-2007, 09:14 PM Yeah thats my normal course of action, tempaltemonster.com and pick a design i like and adapt it.
This time i'm trying to get inspiration for something special and just can't find it. I'm very web 2.0 -browsing cssmania.com (good site if you have not seen it) for ideas, but nothing is standing out at the moment.
mulletboy2 07-06-2007, 10:25 PM www.google.com - quick, easy, effective, free of overblown arty-farty crap.
joe_g 07-06-2007, 10:25 PM TA :love:
craiggg 08-06-2007, 12:17 AM whats the website going to be for??
lints 08-06-2007, 01:35 AM www.styleboost.com
http://www.2advanced.com/
http://www.thefwa.com/
http://www.grupow.com/circulo/
HelloDave 08-06-2007, 11:03 AM I'm not sure about the best looking website I've ever seen, but please, whatever you do, don't give the site a Flash "intro" - I hate them with a passion! :)
I could be wrong here, but it seems to me there's two types of web designers - those who are very arty, use Macs and talk with their hands, who produce websites laden with Flash into pages, Flash menus, huge images and download times that have to be measured on a calendar - these sites look great, but that's often about it; you get the feeling they have no idea not everyone uses 10mb+ broadband connections. The second category is those who are still pretty good designers, but are also concerned with site usability, navigation and speed - e.g. Google.com, and they produce the best overall websites IMO :)
mulletboy2 08-06-2007, 11:17 AM Let's look at this objectively .. and take my favourite example, 2advanced (one I've been picking on for years). Anyone with working eyes can see that it's pretty, but as for performing its' function as a website? Ok.. industry is quite obviously web design.
Google "web design" - result - nope, it's not there. Actually, it is, but buried somewhere so deep I couldn't be bothered to search any further. If you search for "2advanced", it appears, and the reason is purely because it's linked to from a lot of sites.
Why doesn't it do well in the search engines? Well,
1) It's entirely flash based. There is no indexable content.
2) This top notch design company has used 0 of the tools available to them to actually make an impact on the search engines. Those not savvy with HTML may wish to look away now:
<html>
<head>
<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=iso-8859-1" />
So, no doctype declaration - that's handy.
<meta name="description" content="">
<meta name="keywords" content="">
<meta name="author" content="">
<meta name="copyright" content="">
Good stuff.. that's useful :lol:
The rest of the code is equally poor, and I won't even touch on the (lack of) accessibility or legibility.
Mullet's verdict: the 2advanced website is very poor. It looks pretty, and no doubt they do ok for customers due to their reputation as a top notch design outfit, but I couldn't in all good conscience recommend anyone to consider using them to promote their business. This is brochureware at its' absolute worst. The purpose of a website is to establish an online presence, and this website fails dismally. Eric Jordan should be shot.
lints 08-06-2007, 01:08 PM i think like you say 2advanced don't give a monkey's :lol: I doubt they get much business from peeps putting 'web design' into google, reputation alone will have their door beaten down im sure :)
it is an interesting topic though mullet :) i think you have to break it down into the 'best website for purpose' to be able to compare apples with apples. so to say 2advanced was better than say ebay would like comparing a show car to a 4 x 4, yep they have wheels but they are setup with a specific task in mind, whether thats ease of use and providing the most simple and effective solution, ebay, google etc.. or whether thats to just be eye candy etc.. (all flash sites lol)
just to give you nightmares mate, here's the site i think emcompasses fiddly flash at it's best ;) http://www.bionic-systems.com/
also slightly OT, the new hybrid site, it doesnt seem to load very quickly for some reason, after the initial preloader has finished it took nearly 30 seconds to have everything finish sliding in, and then none of the buttons work for me? has been like that for a while now when ive had a ganders, thought id flag it up as somehow it's gone all unusable lol.. tbh i think your solution would have encouraged more browsing due to the ease although the buttons not working fr me i dont think i can comment! id be interested to know if stats on page views etc have dropped maybe due to usability issues now it's a little more fiddly? although i am a rare case using a mac etc.. :)
Paul.S 08-06-2007, 01:10 PM I went to a Web Accessibility workshop a few months back.
Very interesting, some very good points etc and that in there, I'd recommend anyone into websites should read up on accessibility for little tips and pointers on how to make a website accessible to all.
lints 08-06-2007, 01:25 PM If you search for "2advanced", it appears, and the reason is purely because it's linked to from a lot of sites.
would also the 'odd/unique' domain name not help it be found too? i know if you put in reflekx into google im always on the front page but ive no content or links and never have had :lol:
(actually, tried it with graftitti.co.uk, graftdesigns.co.uk some domains which i have done nthing with and they all under searches for 'graftdesigns' or graftitti put the sites on the front page. i know nothing about rankings etc.. though :)
Richyuk 08-06-2007, 01:25 PM Also, having looked at their proper sites the programming looks alright :)
Paul.S 08-06-2007, 01:30 PM Yeah, the actual domain name helps a lot in search rankings too.
mulletboy2 08-06-2007, 01:44 PM Multiquote ftw!
i think like you say 2advanced don't give a monkey's :lol: I doubt they get much business from peeps putting 'web design' into google, reputation alone will have their door beaten down im sure :)
And they don't want to earn more money? :lol: All of my company's business comes from word of mouth, but that doesn't mean that we don't have a semi-decent website to keep customers/potential customers up to date.
i think you have to break it down into the 'best website for purpose' to be able to compare apples with apples. so to say 2advanced was better than say ebay would like comparing a show car to a 4 x 4, yep they have wheels but they are setup with a specific task in mind, whether thats ease of use and providing the most simple and effective solution, ebay, google etc.. or whether thats to just be eye candy etc.. (all flash sites lol)
I agree to a certain extent, but 2advanced is revered the world over for his/their website creations. Having seen the crap code that most Flash developers chuck out, is it any wonder when this is their role model? It's an epidemic amongst all but a few of the most savvy Flash developers, and too ******* right I'm going to moan and complain about it!
just to give you nightmares mate, here's the site i think emcompasses fiddly flash at it's best ;) http://www.bionic-systems.com/
My eyes, my beautiful eyes!!! :wow:
also slightly OT, the new hybrid site, it doesnt seem to load very quickly for some reason, after the initial preloader has finished it took nearly 30 seconds to have everything finish sliding in, and then none of the buttons work for me? has been like that for a while now when ive had a ganders, thought id flag it up as somehow it's gone all unusable lol..
The website is now out of my hands mate. I never had time to update it in to a proper CMS site with the features Scott wanted, so he took over the development in order for him to be able to update the content at-will.
tbh i think your solution would have encouraged more browsing due to the ease although the buttons not working fr me i dont think i can comment! id be interested to know if stats on page views etc have dropped maybe due to usability issues now it's a little more fiddly? although i am a rare case using a mac etc.. :)
I have no idea, although it's something I ought to look in to. It's hard to find a compromise between looking best and containing the most up to date content. A lot of the text was up to a year out of date before Scott re-did it.
I went to a Web Accessibility workshop a few months back.
Very interesting, some very good points etc and that in there, I'd recommend anyone into websites should read up on accessibility for little tips and pointers on how to make a website accessible to all.
Why? Accessibility suxx0rz :raz: (just joking, of course)
would also the 'odd/unique' domain name not help it be found too? i know if you put in reflekx into google im always on the front page but ive no content or links and never have had :lol:
No mate. The unusual domain name has nothing to do with whether or not google indexes it, it just means that it's easier to find in the search results IF it's indexed. Your site isn't on google because it has an unusual name, it's on there because you registered it, and/or other people linked to it. If you search for "reflekx" now, it's the 9th link; the 10th link is an already indexed site linking to you - that's what I mean. A few already indexed sites pointing to yours is all it takes.
Also, having looked at their proper sites the programming looks alright :)
And? :lol: I wasn't saying they can't do it properly - just that they haven't.
Jonny-5 08-06-2007, 03:30 PM I like this site
www.leoburnett.com
I like this site
www.leoburnett.com
:smokin:
Paul.S 08-06-2007, 03:34 PM Nice, someone posted a link before to a site made of CSS but with javascript running to animate it etc.. I think it may have been lints.
That was good, as -
If you had javascript disabled, it still looked as standard just without animation etc (I.E. the default figures in the css)
and if you had css disabled, it still worked.
miamivice 10-06-2007, 03:42 PM http://membres.lycos.fr/vincentkirk/
Matt T 10-06-2007, 03:53 PM I like this site
www.leoburnett.com
That sites great, very easy to navigate, looks cool and quick to load. The front end impresses me anyway, no idea what the back end is like coding wise.
Just found this site, which i love too...
http://www.chromazone-imaging.co.uk/flashindex.html
Paul.S 10-06-2007, 04:44 PM http://membres.lycos.fr/vincentkirk/
Nyyyaaaarrrrrrggggh!
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