Design: CSS Websites

If you've ever been to the Louvre, you know it's chock full of art students, who spend hours in the museum with their sketchpads, copying the works of the Masters. Poets do it too; that's why English majors spend hours doing "close readings" of Shakespeare before they begin to write their own stuff.

The "Learn from the Masters" philosophy is what's behind Project Cool's "Sightings" section, and I think it's a sound one. Every day, one of their Dev-X editors chooses a site with outstanding design to inspire you to new web-mastering heights. If you really want to improve your web-building skills quickly, sign up to receive their daily "Sightings" newsletter, and spend ten minutes a day studying a great website. If you hate having your mailbox stuffed to capacity, you can also just browse their archives for ideas.

Here are some recent examples:

KG Worldwide http://www.kgworldwide.com/index1.htm Says Sightings, "Here's an example of how well a simple design can work. This site presents a clear navigation path for the user, but still maintains a professional designer's flair. Go to "The History" page to see a cool horizontal scroll interface."

Fourmilab Switzerland http://www.fourmilab.ch/ "OK, so the site looks like the early days of the Web, with bare-bones text and annoying frames, but what this site lacks in visual appeal it more than makes up for in compelling content."

FuriFuri Co. http://www.furifuri.com/ "This Tokyo design company has a delightfully cool splash page, followed by a nice use of vertical links in a script-like font. In color and design, the site echoes its culture. Nice job."

And today's sighting, which is just a well-designed 404 Error Page! http://noahgrey.com/404.shtml Take a look at Noah Grey's homepage as well--his content and design is just as interesting as his error pages. http://noahgrey.com/oldindex.shtml

If you're looking for something in particular (say you want to find other e-commerce/business sites to get ideas for yours), Sightings is a quick way to get some help here-their thumbnail descriptions immediately clue you in to what to skip--and what to click.

About the author: Stefene Russell will do a complete analysis of your site, including personalized tips on copy and design at http://fixmywebsite.com/analysis.htm Whether you're an e-business or a content provider, find ut how to make your site professional and effective. Read Stefene's free web site tips at http://FixMyWebsite.com Reach her at stefene@drnunley.com or 801-328-9006.