Entries Tagged as 'Design'
The Anatomy of a Minimalistic Web Design
Published January 16th, 2008 in Design - 39 Comments
Judging by the amount of interest created by two galleries, 25 Beautiful, Minimalistic Website Designs and 25 Beautiful, Minimalistic Website Designs – Part 2 , many of you have an appreciation for an attractive, yet simple, design. As a result, I’ve taken a look at what makes minimalistic designs successful and I’d like to share my thoughts here. I know that not everyone likes these types of designs, so your opinions of what is good design may differ from mine.
25 Beautiful, Minimalistic Website Designs – Part 2
Published January 14th, 2008 in Design - 123 Comments
A few months ago I published a gallery of 25 Beautiful, Minimalistic Website Designs. I received more feedback on that post than almost any other, so I decided to follow up with another 25 minimalistic websites.
Recently redesigned, this community site for web designers uses a simple, effect design.
Blog Design: What Should Be Above the Fold?
Published January 13th, 2008 in Design - 36 Comments
When designing any type of website, you need to keep in mind what visitors will see immediately upon arriving at the site. Whatever is visible without scrolling down is said to be “above the fold.” The content and design elements that are above the fold will of course draw the first attention from visitors, and hopefully they will be encouraged to check out the entire page’s contents and navigate through the site. For this reason, pay layout and design should be done in a way that creates a positive first experience by making an impact above the fold.
How to Effectively Use a Unique Website Layout
Published January 10th, 2008 in Design - 21 Comments
Last week I published a gallery of 20 Websites With Unique Layouts, which got a mixed response. The post did very well with social media and most of the comments were positive, but some readers didn’t like a few of the sites that were featured or they simply pointed out that particular sites were not user-friendly. I wasn’t at all surprised by this response, primarily because it is true. Several of the sites in that were included feature a unique layout, but some of the qualities that make the layout unique also make the site difficult to use.
20 Websites With Unique Layouts
Published January 1st, 2008 in Design - 186 Comments
When you are creating a new website you may be inspired by seeing other sites that feature unique layouts. The 20 sites listed here don’t simply use a typical two or three column layout. Many of them use background images to interact with and control the layout in some unique way. Some of them I really like, and some I’m not sold on, but all are unique in one way or another.
Popmatik – Freelance web designer Rob Leach uses a unique layout for his portfolio site. The site uses a background image of a bottle and the content of the site appears to be on the label of the bottle.
9 Ways to Gauge Your Visitors’ Experience
Published December 19th, 2007 in Design - 15 Comments
One of the most important factors in the success of a website is the visitors’ opinions and experiences. A site that is liked by visitors will typically be successful, while those that aren’t liked by visitors will struggle. A challenge that all website owners face is determining how visitors feel about their experience on the site. In most cases you won’t have the option to speak directly with visitors to get their opinions.
22 Resources to Easily Create CSS Layouts
Published December 17th, 2007 in Design - 102 Comments
Web designers are always looking for ways to save time and simplify the design process. Well, creating a basic layout doesn’t have to take any time at all. All of the resources listed here will help you to create the structure for CSS-based designs. None of these resources are templates that attempt to replace the need for a design; rather, they all aim to simplify the process by creating a skeleton that you will build upon.
Layout Gala – 40 different CSS-based layouts including fixed and fluid widths.
40+ Resources for Photo Sharing
Published December 3rd, 2007 in Design - 36 Comments
Photo sharing and image hosting services are extremely popular, with thousands of pictures being uploaded each minute at Flickr. While the top few competitors get most of the attention, there are plenty of options available. These services have become very valuable for website owners and bloggers as they can be integrated into your website to save some of your disk space and bandwidth. Here are over 40 options:
21 Factors that Influence the First Impression of Your Website’s Visitors
Published November 27th, 2007 in Design - 171 Comments
When a new visitor comes to your website for the first time an initial impression will be formed pretty quickly. A good first impression will drastically increase the chances of that visitor returning again, and a bad first impression will be difficult to overcome.
This list looks at 21 factors that will influence your visitor’s impression within moments of arriving at your site. These are just some of the factors, not a comprehensive list. Feel free to list some others in the comments that you think should be included. Here they are, in no particular order.
99 Resources for Web 2.0 Design
Published November 12th, 2007 in Design - 321 Comments
[Update: This post was originally published a while ago, however, almost all of the resources mentioned are still relevant. Since this post was published we've added tons of new resources that you may also find useful (see our Popular Posts page). To get all of the new content, subscribe to our RSS feed or by [...]
