OT: Websites you admire aesthetically?

jonny_trousers

All this talk of the new site layout reminded me of a group mailing I received from a friend of my fiance's asking for tips on what good-looking, sexy, sophisticated websites are out there (in design rather than content). She's a professional violinist who often gets TV and pop work doing those hot-female-string-section things and wants to write a Confessions-of-a... style blog (she has a pretty interesting existence and is rather foxy too so I'll link you up if and when it gets done). She's keen not to use one of the free ready-made blog sites and has friends in the web design industry so will be able to make it look really slick for not too great an expense and is now looking to create a 'scrapbook' of inspiration. "More Agent Provocateur than Anne Summers" is the vibe (excuse the pun) she's after, but like I say, it's general inspiration she is after at this stage rather than a model to copy.

So, any thoughts? Best I could come up with beyond a couple of 'tasteful' porn sites I may accidentally have stumbled upon was Rapha.com, which I do think looks really classy.

Cheers in advance.

davis

http://www.csszengarden.com/

Click some of the many, many, many styles. Some of the designs are really quite classy. Some of them aren't.

itboffin

davis wrote:

http://www.csszengarden.com/

Click some of the many, many, many styles. Some of the designs are really quite classy. Some of them aren't.

I like that site very simple and well constructed but bare in mind a good site should perform well to keep the visitors there, poor performance = high bounce rate & conversion rate if you're selling goods. It's not just about looks, think performance.

http://www.webpagetest.org/result/111110_VP_252C1/

lost_in_thought

davis wrote:

http://www.csszengarden.com/

Click some of the many, many, many styles. Some of the designs are really quite classy. Some of them aren't.

Really? I think it's a bit rubbish - the front page is singularly uninspiring for a site that asserts to focus on design. Not only that but it's not even immediately obvious what the site is for, or even to those who know (like me clicking over from your link there) how one gets to that bit...

I like this one - serves its purpose excellently, very showy without being too brash. Nail-->head for what they do.

http://www.candyandcandy.com/#/home/

essex-commuter

http://www.wiggle.co.uk/

I can stare at it for hours.

rjsterry

itboffin wrote:

davis wrote:

http://www.csszengarden.com/

Click some of the many, many, many styles. Some of the designs are really quite classy. Some of them aren't.

I like that site very simple and well constructed but bare in mind a good site should perform well to keep the visitors there, poor performance = high bounce rate & conversion rate if you're selling goods. It's not just about looks, think performance.

http://www.webpagetest.org/result/111110_VP_252C1/

Agree that it working well is as important as how it looks - I've seen plenty of very pretty websites that are really cack-handed to navigate and full of duff links - you get fed up very quickly and go and look for something else. Here is the website of the people who did our office website and identity.

rick_chasey

Of the online (UK) newspapers, I find the Guardian is easiest to navigate and kindest on the eye.

CrackFox

Rapha's site is good. It even gets an honourable mention in 'The Art & Science of CSS'.

davis

lost_in_thought wrote:

davis wrote:

http://www.csszengarden.com/

Click some of the many, many, many styles. Some of the designs are really quite classy. Some of them aren't.

Really? I think it's a bit rubbish - the front page is singularly uninspiring for a site that asserts to focus on design. Not only that but it's not even immediately obvious what the site is for, or even to those who know (like me clicking over from your link there) how one gets to that bit...

I like this one - serves its purpose excellently, very showy without being too brash. Nail-->head for what they do.

http://www.candyandcandy.com/#/home/

I agree the first default style isn't all that pretty. The CSS Zen Garden is trying to show how much difference you can make by changing just a site's CSS file(s). Switching from one design to another simply changes one file*; the content doesn't change at all, and will work in any web browser/search engine.

The site you linked to, while pretty enough, isn't exactly a tour de force of the best web design. It's just pretty graphics (well, Flash). To me, it looks like it was chosen by the same person who picks the no doubt thick card marketing brochures, and who thinks the web should be the same as physical publishing.

(Yeah, I know. I'm being a bit accessibility/standards ranty. I'm not always on such a high horse.)

*: might be more than one file, but could all be put into one.

Zachariah

New tech-news site The Verge is an excellent example of current fashion.

Clear, no-nonsense words from a leading sci-fi author Charlie Stross.

jonny_trousers

Sorry I haven't posted back on this one guys, I completely forgot about it. Thanks to those of you who took the time and effort.

I totally agree that a website needs to perform well in order to retain its visitors, but I do think looks matter hugely too. Especially given the sheer number of sites offering something similar to what the girl wants to create out there - something which is even more important given the genre she wants to write in and how such sites can easily come across as tacky: if the site looks classy then the visitor is immediately reassured that what they are about to explore should be too. I'd say looks and functionality are equally important.

I'm afraid I have to agree with those who are not fans of the csszengarden examples. I think they look rather amateur (which I guess they are). Lit's offering looks very slick, however.

Thanks again all and do keep any other examples coming.

Clever Pun

CrackFox wrote:

Rapha's site is good. It even gets an honourable mention in 'The Art & Science of CSS'.

I think the .com(mentioned above) and .cc sites are rather different

jonny_trousers

Clever Pun wrote:

CrackFox wrote:

Rapha's site is good. It even gets an honourable mention in 'The Art & Science of CSS'.

I think the .com(mentioned above) and .cc sites are rather different

Ha! Never noticed that before. You are quite right Rapha.com is not at all what I would consider to be a classy looking site. They do offer 'vibrational therapy' however.

LeDomestiqueTours

itboffin wrote:

davis wrote:

http://www.csszengarden.com/

Click some of the many, many, many styles. Some of the designs are really quite classy. Some of them aren't.

I like that site very simple and well constructed but bare in mind a good site should perform well to keep the visitors there, poor performance = high bounce rate & conversion rate if you're selling goods. It's not just about looks, think performance.

http://www.webpagetest.org/result/111110_VP_252C1/

Ohh thanks for posting that link. Haven't seen that before. Just run it on our website and its given me a few things to ask our developer to tweak!

bails87

Zachariah wrote:

New tech-news site The Verge is an excellent example of current fashion.

It's a white page, with everything written down the left hand side of the screen in blue Times New Roman. I think something might have gone wrong, or we've got different ideas of 'current fashion'.

For a nast, uncluttered design I actually think this is a pretty good design. Possibly a bit too minimalist for the OP though?

il_principe

I'd agree about Rapha. Also think Apple's site (except for the Store) is well designed. Easy on the eye and easy to navigate. Same for Mr.Porter.

On the other end of the spectrum, Govt sites tend to be v poor, especially local council ones. Navigating Wandsworth's makes me angry.

MonkeyMonster

ahem...

http://www.webpagetest.org/result/111116_M6_26VFZ/ @ jeff

jonny_trousers

bails87 wrote:

For a nast, uncluttered design I actually think this is a pretty good design. Possibly a bit too minimalist for the OP though?

Hmm... I guess I ought to run a virus check now then. It's probably not a good idea for anyone else to click on the above link.

jonny_trousers

Il Principe wrote:

I'd agree about Rapha. Also think Apple's site (except for the Store) is well designed. Easy on the eye and easy to navigate. Same for Mr.Porter.

On the other end of the spectrum, Govt sites tend to be v poor, especially local council ones. Navigating Wandsworth's makes me angry.

Good call on Apple. Have to agree.

tptvmbircn

I develop on the Zen Garden, its mainly used as a template foundation to build on, very well thought out theme however examples there do not do it justice.

Zen Garden wrote:

There is clearly a need for CSS to be taken seriously by graphic artists. The Zen Garden aims to excite, inspire, and encourage participation. To begin, view some of the existing designs in the list. Clicking on any one will load the style sheet into this very page. The code remains the same, the only thing that has changed is the external .css file. Yes, really.

for an artist website, something with a full page background injected with jQuery and a page slider to the blog content as linked above by:

lost_in_thought wrote:

http://www.candyandcandy.com/#/home/

stay away from flash sites like the above link, but as I say it can be easily done with JS

bails87

Jonny_Trousers wrote:

bails87 wrote:

For a nast, uncluttered design I actually think this is a pretty good design. Possibly a bit too minimalist for the OP though?

Hmm... I guess I ought to run a virus check now then. It's probably not a good idea for anyone else to click on the above link.

Really? It's just a clusterf#ck of images, wordart and clashing text!

tptvmbircn

bails87 wrote:

Jonny_Trousers wrote:

bails87 wrote:

For a nast, uncluttered design I actually think this is a pretty good design. Possibly a bit too minimalist for the OP though?

Hmm... I guess I ought to run a virus check now then. It's probably not a good idea for anyone else to click on the above link.

Really? It's just a clusterf#ck of images, wordart and clashing text!

ooh missed that one skimming through the thread, I wonder how much business it actually gets out of interest!

jimmypippa

Has mentioned the timecube yet?

:twisted:

It has its own wiki entry, which might be worth looking for before clicking on the above link...

tptvmbircn

my eyes!

bails87

To save us veering off topic: viewtopic.php?f=40012&t=12812673