Some cool websites we've recently found...
kuler
http://kuler.adobe.com
"Explore, create and share color themes. Use it online or download themes to use
with Adobe CS2 and 3."
Basically, it's an interactive color theme designer. Download any of the 1,000+
themes which are rated by visitors, or creeate your own.
Simply Google
http://lloydi.com/blog/simplygoogleoriginal.htm
The owner of this website basically put most (if not all) Google features and websites
into one easy to use page.
SitePoint Contests
http://www.sitepoint.com/contests/
Over the past 10 years, we have tried all kinds of approaches to web design. Some
worked out, but most do not. Here's the pros and cons of what we have tried and
some comments on each approach:
- Professional designers
Pros: Original work. Direct communication with designer.
Cons: Expensive. Only get ideas from one designer, not a pool or designers. Depending
on the person, their availability might be limited.
Comments: Unless the customer specifically requires it, we will not use a designer
unless we know the person very well and he/she has consistently developed excellent
work and is good to work with. This means he/she needs to stick to the project schedule,
be available during core business hours and keep us up to date with progress.
- Template websites
Pros: Very cheap ($50-$70 for Flash, PSD, HTML & CSS). 1,000 of designs to choose
from. A lot of the designs are very professional.
Cons: Your website design will not be unique.
Comments: For customers who have a decent budget and need a unique design, this
is not an option. Templates work very well for businesses where the budget is tight
and the website design doesn't have to be unique. And realistically, what's the
chances of you seeing your website somewhere else...maybe 1 in a million? Also you
do get the PSD, so you can easily modify parts of it. We still use templates all
the time. When we choose a template, we buy it for the overall look-and-feel. Most,
if not all, of the images are swapped out with our own. And of course the logo is
replaced with ours.
- Crowdsourcing websites
Pros: Affordable (Price amount + $25 flat fee or 10%). Unique designs. Designers
fight over prize money.
Cons: There's a chance only a few designers may participate in your contest and
you won't have anything good to choose from.
Comments: We have been using
Design Outpost for a few months now (posted 6 projects). For the most part,
it has worked out well until my most recent project received only one entry the
day before the project was supposed to end. We had to cancel it. Then we found SitePoint. So
far, it's been great, but we have only posted two projects...a logo project that
has received over 60 entries so far (ends tonight) and a template project that has
received only 2 entries (but doesn't end for 3 for days).
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