web -8- xkcd

XKCD is a fairly new website to me; I only started reading it a few months ago after remembering the name from a parody song called "we didn't start the flame war." 

The layout is as simple as the comic itself all of the boxes are stacked and placed to meet the same width, and the navigation placement compared to the title of the newest strip is exactly what I was thinking with Awkward Zombie. There is a convenient link to the comic at the bottom of each new strip so it can be shared throughout the web.

I'd really like to see a version of this site with the navigation included in the header instead of an awkward box on the side of it. There's also a lot of junk at the bottom of the screen which is a design principle that is well known in print, but pulls too much attention away on a website. In fact some of the stuff like "comics I enjoy" and RSS feed could be navigation links themselves instead of being in their own little spot on each page.

web -7- awkward zombie

Awkward zombie is still easily my favorite video game comic website. The analogous colors of the website pop out immediately and adds energy to the page. There is a very strong center alignment on the page which is perfect for a web comic where you'll be browsing through pages and archives 90% of the time.

Even the ads are nicely placed to the left and right of the newest page itself which keeps the look clean and the ads don't become as intrusive because they follow the same vertical orientation. The only suggestion I can even think of is a stronger font for the name of the page displayed or having it on top of the navigation rather than below.

web - 6 - Apple

Apple is well known for their sleek and streamline designs when it comes to their computers and operating systems. They follow suit in their website which gives off the same feeling. The dark navigation bar across the top is very clean and the apple button leading to the home page throws something extra to those who use MACOSX on their home computers.

The product shown in the center of the body changes every time the home page is loaded, and usually consists of the products shown in the links at the bottom of the body. This cleanly gives someone new to the site a jump into the different products offered by apple. The style fits the company's brand itself, and effectively accomplishes everything a website should.

Web- 5 - YouTube user pages

With each new redesign YouTube seems to limit the customization for the average user more and more, but for the advanced user the cleaner look can provide a plethora of different design options. 

 

On the left is Chuggaaconroy's channel who is video game Let's Player known in real life as Emile and on the right is StephenVlog which is a vlog channel for Stephen Georg. Both Emile and Stephen are YouTube partners.

Emile has his friend Chris make channel layouts to correspond with the current LP content, while Stephen uses a very simplistic and static design across all of his channels. Each one makes good use of customization options and adds in links that are integrated into the backgrounds themselves. They also find a way to work around the content area in the center that YouTube does not allow much customization for.

Now while Emile's channel is cut off a bit because it is created for a higher resolution both still show what possibilities there are to customize the design of individual YouTube channel pages, and show why losing this customization would be detrimental to the users and content creators.

Web - 4 - YouTube Home

Yes YouTube a website that almost everyone that has ever been in the presence of a computer know. Also a site that is infamous for changing it's design just as soon as people stop complaining about the last change. I'd like to focus one YouTube's home page for this blog.

The first thing that is a little off putting is the fact that everything is left aligned. Now as someone who is working at a resolution of 1366x768 this isn't a huge deal for me, but with YouTube branching towards professional content creators also known as partners who will have better hardware this look ugly once you open the page full screen.

The left sidebar is something that's a bit dated, but with the sheer amount of content that this website has it's understandable.

There is however a complete lack of organization in the video tiles below the search bar and header area. Video tiles are crammed together without any rhyme or reason and while some are categorized others are related to channels based on the search history of the individual user. There needs to be more organization here. One or two featured videos up top, four tiles of one category under it following suit through each category and possibly even recommendations directly under the two featured videos following the four tile wide pattern.

Now many people don't look at this particular home page for more than a moment, but it's probably because it looks like a jumble of nonsense and popular garbage.

Web - 3 - Tiedrich Design Group

I've anaylzed Jeff Tiedrich's work before on this blog, and now that I've moved into web design I want to take a look at some of his work. The problem is most of the websites he's created have since changed and the design group website seems a bit dated, but I will do my best to fairly look at this.

The website itself gives a very professional feeling from the color scheme to the navigation with each page cross fading into the next. The style itself is very contemporary with the left side navigation which is a bit dated at this point, but may be appealing to the more established clients that Tiedrich holds. Only two pieces are cut off from the navigation on the left which leaves me wondering if it could be condensed to fit on one vertical page length.

I think with an update or two Tiedrich.com could fix minor issues that make the website feel outdated.

Web - 2 - By Hand Services

I decided to look into some of the work of one of Carroll's Adjunct graphics instructors, Sonya Hand who was the original staff member to teach this course before the instructor was changed. I was impressed with the website work.

This is her business website displaying a portfolio of all of her work. The entire website is very interactive and flows very well from one page to the next.

There is a small amount of lag on certain pages when you click an arrow to go to the next piece and some have text that does not come in from the left as it does on the other pages.Also everything is flash orientated so the back and forward arrows on your browser will take you to the previous website before entering By Hand Services in the upper right.

Otherwise this is a beautiful website and caught my interest in Sonya's work and will probably have an affect on my own portfolio site.

Web -1- Kasuto.net

One of the oldest websites that I still go to is Kasuto.net which is a Legend of Zelda fan site  One of the things that stands out the most is the black background and the yellow text. The type being brighter makes the words stand out perfectly and it's easy on the eyes. While the logo and header title aren't that appealing the navigation layout is very well organized with main site navigation down the left and affiliates (remember it's an old site) on the right. If drop menus were implemented it would cause a lot less vertical page stretch, but other than that it has a design that has survived for over 10 years.