What did I learn today ? » good design http://www.urshula.com/wordpress Grin and Beere IT Tue, 20 Dec 2011 23:28:21 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 List of well designed websites http://www.urshula.com/wordpress/design/examples-of-well-designed-websites/ http://www.urshula.com/wordpress/design/examples-of-well-designed-websites/#comments Thu, 23 Jul 2009 07:35:11 +0000 admin1 http://www.urshula.com/wordpress/?p=239 Below are a few simple but well designed sites and Why!!

  • Mozilla.com
  • Iconbuffet.com
  • Boldchat.com
  • Enhancedlabs.com
  • Protolize.org
  • Sumagency.com
  • www.teamviget.com

Mozilla.com

Clear, open, fresh, simple. When you arrive at this site, you’re under no doubt what the site does, or where to start looking for what you want. The design is positive and happy.

mozilla.com screenshot

Iconbuffet.com

The site sells icons, so it lets the icons rule, showing its wares from the first page.

The colours and typography are solid & strong, projecting a trustworthy brand while not getting in the way of the proposition.

iconbuffet.com screenshot

Boldchat.com

Boldchat provide a great live chat service for web sites, which is a very wide market to address.

So the site design is clean, smart, and shiny, using clean copy and smart imagery to communicate the core messages in a compact space.

boldchat.com screenshot

EnhancedLabs.com

Another icon maker, doing bigger, richer icons, so the the site showcases them bigger & richer.

Bold, flattish colour creates a strong first impression and still lets the product stand out.

enhancedlabs.com screenshot

Protolize.org

Tony Yoo’s collection of recommended web resources is a great example of strong graphic elements balancing to make a site that’s bold and easy to use.

Big text, simple nav, high usability, all wrapped in strong colour and finished off with nice graphical touches.

protolize.org screenshot

Sumagency.com

Acres of balanced white space, easy-read text and cute content graphics combining to tell a simple story.

sumagency.com screenshot

I just love the concept with the wall metahpor that this website uses. I also think that the way this site works with all the interaction and movement being done with CSS is very cleaver.

vignet

What Do you think?
When you go to a website that you like do you know why you like it?
Do you even think about why you like it :)

]]> http://www.urshula.com/wordpress/design/examples-of-well-designed-websites/feed/ 1 CSS vs Tables http://www.urshula.com/wordpress/design/cascading-style-sheets/css-vs-tables/ http://www.urshula.com/wordpress/design/cascading-style-sheets/css-vs-tables/#comments Thu, 02 Oct 2008 00:20:51 +0000 admin1 http://www.urshula.com/wordpress/?p=129 Before I begin I must admit there are many site that I really like that uses tables for layout rather than css but I think this is a reflection on the designers rather than tables therefore below are a few reason why I think website development should use css rather than tables.

  1. Separation of formatting information from content- better for updating and maintaining sites
  2. Faster page loading
  3. Redesigns are more efficient
  4. Easier for teams to maintain (and individuals)
  5. Easier for site development to be team based
  6. Accessibility
  7. Quick website-wide updates
  8. Better for SEO
  9. CSS sites download faster than tables
  10. css sites can be viewed on more devices such as mobile phones so have a greater reach and potential audience

Here are some good articles on the subject of CSS vs Tables

why-a-css-website-layout-will-make-you-money

13-reasons-why-css-is-superior-to-tables-in-website-design/

]]> http://www.urshula.com/wordpress/design/cascading-style-sheets/css-vs-tables/feed/ 3 When interfaces attack- Developers beware http://www.urshula.com/wordpress/class-stuff/web-diploma/when-interfaces-attack-developers-beware/ http://www.urshula.com/wordpress/class-stuff/web-diploma/when-interfaces-attack-developers-beware/#comments Sat, 27 Sep 2008 10:16:12 +0000 admin1 http://www.urshula.com/wordpress/?p=126 When designing web interfaces consider the points highlighted in the presentation below which is aimed at developers but the ideas are something we should all be aware of. And remember:

  • user interface is critical
  • effectiveness is important, and
  • people have feelings about software.

Do view it right to the end because it has some great examples of how users scan interfaces.

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