Vandelay Website Design Blog

Entries Tagged as 'Galleries'

25 Websites with Creative and Unique Layouts

If you’re looking for a way to break out of the box with a design, creating a unique layout is one way to accomplish this. In this post we’ll look at 25 sites that make use of a creative and unique layout.

Alexarts

Alexarts

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30 CommentsCategorized: Galleries | June 30th, 2009

35+ Horizontal Websites for Your Design Inspiration

Websites that use horizontal scrolling in addition to, or instead of, vertical scrolling are becoming more popular. While this trend isn’t a good idea in every situation, the sites showcased here may give you some ideas or inspiration for using this approach in one of your own projects.

Suie Paparude

Suie Paparude

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28 CommentsCategorized: Galleries | June 22nd, 2009

Premium Theme and Template Options for Real Estate Websites

Most people who are looking to buy or sell a home are doing research online. As a result, there is a great need for real estate companies and agents to have a website that will provide potential buyers and sellers with the information that they are looking for.

Having a website that can be easily maintained is ideal since listings will come and go rather frequently. WordPress is pretty popular for real estate sites because some quality premium themes exist and it gives the agent or the company the ability to manage the site on their own.

In this post we’ll feature 19 premium themes and templates that have been created specifically for real estate. While there are some free real estate themes and templates available, the quality is generally much lower than the premium options. Of course, having a custom design will allow for much more flexibility, but these are the options for low price ranges.

If you have any experience working with real estate agent sites and you have any recommendations, please share in the comments.

WordPress Themes:

Agent Theme - $59.95 at Studio Press

Agent Theme

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8 CommentsCategorized: Galleries | June 18th, 2009

25 of the Best Photographer Portfolio Websites - Part Two

Last year I published 25 of the Best Photographer Portfolio Websites. Today I’d like to follow up with another set of 25 sites for your design inspiration.

In this collection you’ll see a good deal of variety between the sites. Some use a minimal layout that showcases the photos without distraction, and others are a bit more flashy.

Joshua Sterns

Joshua Sterns

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36 CommentsCategorized: Galleries | June 15th, 2009

Gallery of 3D Elements in Web Design

If you pay attention to web trends you have probably noticed that a growing number of sites are using designs that give the appearance of three dimensions. 3D design elements can help to make the design look more unique, as well as to highlight something in particular by drawing the visitor’s attention. In this post you’ll see 25 websites that use some type of 3D element in the design.

Yoast

Yoast

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34 CommentsCategorized: Galleries | June 8th, 2009

Announcing the Launch of 5 Niche Galleries

Today I’m happy to announce that I have launched a network of five niche gallery sites! Many of us visit design and CSS galleries on a consistent basis for design inspiration, and there is no shortage of galleries to choose from. Some of my favorite galleries are those that exist to showcase work of a specific kind (We Love WP is a good example, it is a showcase of WordPress-powered sites).

Niche galleries are especially useful for designers because they allow you to get the specific type of inspiration that you are looking for without being overwhelmed by too much that doesn’t interest you. You can go to a niche gallery and quickly find helpful and relevant inspiration that applies to your own situation. With that in mind, I have chosen five topics for galleries that I thought would be of use to many designers.

If you have any interest in some of these types of design, please check out what has been posted already and subscribe to the feed or follow on Twitter. Each gallery has been launched with more than 30 showcased items and they will be updated consistently (The amount of new additions will depend partly on how many quality submissions are received, so please feel free to submit your work for consideration. Ideally, there will be about 10 additions each week per gallery).

Minimal Exhibit

Minimal Exhibit

Some of the most popular posts that have ever been published on the Vandelay Design blog are the collections of websites with a minimalist design style. Minimal Exhibit is a niche gallery that showcases only sites with excellent use of minimalism in the design.

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31 CommentsCategorized: Galleries | June 8th, 2009

40 of the Best Websites of Non-Profit Organizations

Budget limitations are common with non-profit and charitable organizations. As a result, organizations often compromise on the need for an effective and attractive website. However, the websites shown here represent some of the most well designed websites of non-profits.

The Memphis Zoo

The Memphis Zoo

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65 CommentsCategorized: Galleries | June 1st, 2009

Major Networks of Websites: Trends and Showcase

Networks of websites owned by the same company are obviously very common. I thought it would be interesting to take a look at some of the trends of major networks as well as to provide a showcase of the various sites that make up the network, so in this post we’ll do just that. We’ll look at 7 major networks and make some observations about common practices and trends.

Trends in Network Sites:

1. Common Identity

Part of the reason a network of sites may be stronger than the individual sites would be collectively is that visitors are able to associate the sites as being connected. If a visitor is new to a particular site in the network, the site may still have a familiar feel because he or she has already been to other sites in the network.

Branding and identity are important for any website or business, but a network of sites is able to capitalize on this more so than an individual site. The identity may be established by displaying the logo of the network, by stating that it is part of the network, or just by having a familiar look and feel that indicates it is part of the network.

Sports Illustrated

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15 CommentsCategorized: Galleries | May 28th, 2009

Showcase of Testimonials in Web Design

Testimonials from customers and clients are used on a lot of websites to demonstrate credibility and build trust. In response to a reader request, I put together this post to showcase testimonials in action on a variety of websites. Here you’ll see more than 25 sites using testimonials, many with different approaches. Hopefully these will give you some ideas for use in your own design work.

SEO Group

SEO Group

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19 CommentsCategorized: Galleries | May 26th, 2009

25 of the Best Websites for Educational Institutions

The need for schools, universities and other educational institutions to have a quality website is constantly increasing as online technologies become a bigger part of the educational process, and as students and prospective students turn to the internet for information.

In this post we’ll feature 25 well-designed educational websites.

Stone Laboratory

Stone Laboratory

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37 CommentsCategorized: Galleries | May 19th, 2009