most inspired

1. 
   http://www.letitbleedbook.comJust when I had decided that many recording company websites are very uninspiring, this little gem comes along, beautifully themed at that. The site is supporting a Rhino Records company commemorative limited-edition book of the 1969 Rolling Stones U.S. World Tour. The plain version goes for $650, unless your champagne tastes lead you to order the deluxe edition at $950, maybe there’s a discount code floating around someplace?

   The Let It Bleed site is credited to Casey Sheehan of Expo Cooperative. The EC site was featured Week #10 on MostInspired.com.

2. 
   http://blogactionday.org/

   This apropos entry and design is known for challenging social awareness issues, and this years no different. The topic of discussion for this years blog participants is Poverty.

3. 
   http://www.train-ee.com

   A big fan of Michael Boyink’s ExpressionEngine resources, this site’s relaunch is look-ee-n… good! Here’s a holla back from one a your peeps then Mike

4. 
   http://crystalheadvodka.com

   What do ectoplasm, vodka, and Indiana Jones have in common? This is no riddle just an observation to go along with this mysterious site subject. The vodka is not so mysterious, drink too much and you’ll be in big trouble, but the crystal skulls are a recent phenomena, due to the latest Indiana Jones adventure on film.

5. 
   http://www.nebulaawards.com

   Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America, Inc. awards site.
   Interview with the designer: http://expressionengine.com/showcase/read/tony_geer_nebula_awards/

6. 
   http://www.artofdyingmusic.com

   It seems Canada’s got all the kick-ass rockbands now days (Note to self look for more kick-ass rockband websites).

7. 
   http://www.2pitch.com

   From the possibly sligthly jaded Jeff Lupien, looks like an entertaining gallery pitch.

8. 
   http://www.datedesigner.com

   Build a better date, no you don’t have to be Dr. Frankenstein or a modern day Prometheus. It just takes a little planning, and with the help of this application/website you’ll be a natural to be yourself, and ask out that hottie you’ve been avoiding. You gotta love the Swiss Army cross logo.

   This site falls under the “why didn’t I think of that…” category. I’m not sure who they got to input all the locations, they’ve done a great job though.

9. 
   http://www.felixlaflamme.com

   Just in time for Halloween, this “Illustrator to the Rockstars” website is particularly ghoulish. Felix is responsible for the art on the Psyhco Clowns guitar picks, and other notable ventures.
   —————-

   That’s all for this week, until next time don’t forget to tune in to your favorite podcasts (truth or fiction) or burn your own. Back for the attack next week with more twisted adventures of a wanna-be web developer…

Technorati : Morbid Curiosity Design, Web Standards Design, Weekly Top Standards
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1. 
   http://www.thefarmerandthechef.com

   A culinary event with a rustic wooden plank background design.

2. 
   http://www.intridea.com

   KISS principles are hard at work here… simple gets it done! Looking a little harder though and this site has quite a few added innovative goodies, like tooltip bubbles and a ratings/improvement box. The site has enlisted in the Save The Developers campaign for certain low-level browsers, which don’t support the above mentioned goodies.

3. 
   http://www.dogfish.co.uk

   KISS again… this one-page flyer layout design is poppin’ clean and uses a fresh & vibrant color palette.

4. 
   http://fall.tnvacation.com

   The TNvacation seasonal family of sites is now standard fare on most CSS gallery menus. This nostalgic Fall season portal is no different! They do just an excellent job of revitalizing these sites, year-in and year-out, while also linking to many regional city and county visitors bureau and tourist attraction sites. TNvacation rocks once again…

5. 
   http://www.seoweb.co.uk

   Pretty cool portfolio site, the interface on the work page is buttah… The main site navigation could use some hover effects though, plenty of attention to detail otherwise.

6. 
   http://www.floggedmagazine.com

   Poor flogged little puppy has lost his way.
   A continued influx of flogged designer work and creative points of view, should make this site-magazine an interesting place to visit occasionally and possibily gain some recognition for your own designs.

   Don’t feel sorry for me, any of my designs that got flogged were a valuable experience, for better-or-worse, the client had to live with the design choices as well. It’s good to be open minded about these things, eventually you develop a knack for selling a design concept, while taking criticism more professionally. After the cursing is over, it doesn’t hurt so bad anyways. Learn to be a flexible design ninja …just like Mr. Bill.

   Maybe you’ld prefer to try selling your design spec work, so rudely written-off by a client that didn’t quite get it. Check out Mubs’ post this week for tips on Where To Sell Designs, if you’ld rather go that route.

7. 
   http://www.tvrdek.cz/en

   I’ve never really cared for narrow-width site layouts, this one is something completely different, even though it’s largely very narrow, oxymoronically speaking. Interesting concept, I can see this creating some visual trends as well.

8. 
   http://tastyplanner.com

   Besides tasty recipes this site has some divine web 2.0 interactive goodies, like Recipe Box, Meal Planner, Grocery List and desktop widgets. Yum-ee-ee!

9. 
   http://wpcoder.com

   An imaginative layout, with subsequent pages all done as pop-overs using the jQuery Thickbox.

10. 
    http://honker.evaneckard.com

    Another free WordPress theme brought to you by SmashingMagazine, this one called Simply Ornate was designed by Evan Eckard. Featuring a transparent foreground, so all things are possible for the background image -think upgrade, Prototype.js /Script.aculo.us enhancements, and some pretty cool StereoTabs (wow… that’s a great blog and a new one on me, I need to venture away from the jQuery camp a little more often) in the sidebar.

    They are offering the theme with 5 different color scheme backgrounds, with the transparent foreground, many things are possible, maybe even a flash animated background, looking for a good tutorial link for that suggestion?

Technorati : Web Design Journal, Websites Gallery, Weekly Top Standards
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1. 
   http://islandphotobooth.com

   This retro layout is quite well done, with all of the fun stuff a vintage-retro layout should have. It’s a pretty good fit for the subject matter of the website.

2. 
   http://www.onefastbuffalo.com

   Another vintage website, this one with an overall antique vibe to it, you’ll want to ignore the validator on this one, that and the all caps in the description meta tags and blinking navigation elements that results from not using a sliding-doors CSS technique. I do like this website though, with it’s slide-in vertical navigation and various antique ornamentation, including a menu for changing the wallpaper background of the page. Catch OneFastBuffalo before this traveling wild west medicine show moves on to the next stop on the stage coach line.

3. 
   http://thefirsttwenty.com

   A really tidy and complete 1-page grid layout, using a lightbox to load content above the current page, resulting in showing the user many pages within a one-page layout. This non-profit site is somewhat a tribute to the fireman, while rasing money and awareness for a great cause highlighting the everyday heroic efforts of firemen, and creating needed resources.

4. 
   http://www.usataxdollars.com

   A nice little interface to give you an idea where your federal tax dollars are going in the USA, via a pie chart and detailed breakdown. Kind of cool actually.

5. 
   http://billyhughes.oph.gov.au

   Considering some of the government websites out there, this site should rate very highly! The site put up as a support site for an exhibition of past Australian prime minister Billy Hughes, who held the office from 1915 to 1923, when the country was enduring the horrors of the first world war. Marvelous little site, especially if you don’t know much about Australian history.

6. 
   http://www.headconference.com

   Another web developer event to add to your calendar, October 24-26, 2008. This one is global and all you need is web access and $99 bucks. With some big names and major players, it looks like a pretty big deal. Check it out, the site credits are in the footer on the homepage.

Technorati : Website Gallery, Weekly Top Standards
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1. 
   http://www.carhartt-streetwear.com
   –
2. 
   http://www.abc-baseball.com
   From the good and oftentimes imitated folks at TaprootCreative.com. The distressed looking photograph in the header loads randomly on every page, as usual I can’t quite dissect exactly how they did the scripting …anyone? They have optimized and compressed all the css and javascripting, making it harder for a web layman to study, kudos to the Taproot web ninjas.
   –
3. 
   http://www.miamiangelproperties.com
   This Miami real-estate website, is a double-edged Samurai sword (sticking with a theme) for me. On one hand what I love about the site, is the beautifully illustrated header. On the other hand, the header is a bit large-ish for the inside pages and is constant and unchanging on all the pages of the site. Variety is the spice of life and some header variations could make this site even more unique. They’ve done a great job overall on the design, and integrating the WordPress blogging/CMS platform.
   –
4. 
   http://simonemaranzana.com
   Excellent Typography, Lighting Effects and 3D-style graphics are the specialty du jour, bon appetit!
   –
5. 
   http://www.darrenhoyt.com/demo/agregado
   Freebie of the week this WordPress theme featured on Smashing Magazine and created by a couple of the guys from Category4.com, namely Darren Hoyt and Matt Dawson.

Technorati : CSS, Web Standards Gallery, Weekly Top Standards
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1. 
   http://www.cesserdigital.net
   I recognized the work of Miguel Ripoll (link to an English translation via google), almost instantly! I don’t think there are any other designers or firms that I can so positively identify. This design enterprise agency is one to watch for sure.

2. 
   http://jobs.webdesignerwall.com/
   Looking for a new design gig, or just more opportunity to spread your designer wings? Check out Nick La’s new design jobs board, you gotta love Nick’s work!

3. 
   http://www.kindledinme.com/
   Love the hierarchical use of colors in this design and the slow scrolling javascript slider on the homepage. The rainbow colors look splendid on the dark earth tone background.

4. 
   http://www.august.com.au
   Another spectacular use of fade-in flash backgrounds. S;otting flash backgrounds a while back, I’ve forgotten to try and incorporate the technique into my own website designs and redesigns. The idea of flash backgrounds really resonates with me, I’m not big on flash as an interface and full-site means of navigation usually.

5. 
   http://www.almalatina.info
   I don’t speak the language, but this looks to be a great ballroom dancing site maybe, and you know what they say about ballrooms, especially in Italy?

6. 
   http://www.thelippincott.net
   The mixed nostalgic, newsprint, and grungy graphic elements of this design, along with outstanding typography and a loose grid layout combine to create an old world flavor that makes me hungry for more, marvelous site.

7. 
   http://www.classicwfl.com

8. 
   http://www.mukustudios.com
   Amusing Flash interactive portfolio, some talented illustration works.

Technorati : CSS Gallery Blog, Web Standards Websites, Weekly Web Standards
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1. 
   http://futureofwebdesign.com
   Part of a family of design event conference websites, they are all looking particularly great. Other sites in the event series’ include; http://futureofwebapps.com, http://future-of-mobile.com, http://futureofonlineadvertising.com… behind this successful series of internet design and marketing technology events you will find Ryan Carson of Carsonified playing a lead role.

2. 
   http://www.spoongraphics.co.uk
   This article on Designing for Print – Setting Up Crops and Bleed, had me adding this resource to my feed reader lickety-split!

3. 
   http://www.ubhip.com

4. 
   http://smallmanrecords.com

5. 
   http://amphibian.info

6. 
   http://www.impdesigns.com

7. 
   http://www.contrast.ie

8. 
   http://www.homeskilletrecords.com
   A George Huff creation.

9. 
   http://www.flyheli.co.uk
   Astute in the usability category, helicopter fans will love this keen and clean website.

10. 
    http://www.robertrandolph.net
    Poppin’ the faves this week! IndigenousRocks.com another great band, the website is currently a little rough, they’ve got a hot new recording out though, entitled “Broken Lands”.

Script Resources

1. 
   http://scriptandstyle.com

2. 
   http://webdev.stephband.info/parallax.html
   Another most effective jQuery parallax scrolling plugin, check out the demos for this one!

Getting back in the groove this week after a two week hiatus/vacation, I’ve got some ideas for a few other posts up my sleeve, namely record company and college radio websites. Keep the peace and the faith, best wishes to all the good folks in Delta region where hurricane Gustav wreaked a little havoc this week.

Technorati : Web Standards Websites, Weekly Top Standards
Del.icio.us : Web Standards Websites, Weekly Top Standards

1. 
   http://milesdowsett.com

   Overlooked this site in last weeks picks. Quality stuff running on ExpressionEngine. A screenshot thumbnail for portfolio navigation is kind of the norm, but this portfolio page utilizes mini 25×25px icons for each site featured, and the user-interface there along with the pages info-architecture and hierarchy make for easy viewing. Great stuff…..

2. 
   http://jasonsantamaria.com

   The new redesign of rockstar designer Jason Santa Maria seems to be built on EE this go round. Jason has authored a few resources on Web Standards and the like that I find myself referring to repeatedly. His portfolio contains some notable sites, such as HappyCog, AlistApart, and Dictionary.com to name a few. The layout, to coin a phrase -is a multi-columned news-style layout. Here’s a link to Jason’s blog post on the redesign.
   Pretty cool for EE fans, that is all from this “Paparaz-ee”.

3. 
   http://www.arcinspirations.com/kobe

   An increcibly adepth sliding navigation and website. Many of the sites resources are downloadble PDF menus, so they don’t have too many problems with the box layout not resizing to accommodate for text. The creative uses of jQuery on this one have been hit squarely out of the park! Also another use of a flash animated background technique to produce “ sparks” behind the active page link in the main navigation. For an even more indepth look at how this site is put together, check the SmashingMazagine post on useful coding solutions 1st one on the list.

4. 
   http://www.sroown.com

   An innovative portfolio solution, a lot of content presented tastefully in a one-page layout, using the prototype-scriptaculous duo of javascript libraries, amongst other resource.

5. 
   http://www.gianmarcolauriola.com

   An urban grafitti layout, can you dig it?!#! There’s a bit of an Easter Egg if you load the site in IE6 you’ll see this lovely message alert box. I couldn’t manage to track down where it was being served up in the stylesheets? The IE6 warning replaces the RSS feed and welcome message in the upper right… nice… that should turn some heads.
   

I’m planning to be out on vacation next week, we will continue with week #21 of the Weekly Top Standards website picks, after a short delay. Until next time, good luck finding inspiration for your next project or website design! ~ty

Technorati : Web Design Gallery, Web Standards, Website Picks, Weekly Top Standards
Del.icio.us : Web Design Gallery, Web Standards, Website Picks, Weekly Top Standards

1. 
   Nataliadevalle.com.ar

   A casual designer portfolio from Argentina, fun design.

2. 
   Tcommeterre.com

   Don’t miss the horizontal parallax portfolio scroller, done with jQuery and a plugin called wSlide, pretty kewl!! The wslide demo pages are in French, be sure to open an English translated page (hopefully this link will work) to see the three sample demo pages, links found at the bottom of the first demo page.

3. 
   Phizz.biz

   With a name like Phizz, they had to go with the biz domain extension. The site is using some asp.net technologies, which you just don’t see too much in web standards circles, great design. There are a few tables in the layout, but sometimes a table is just a no-fuss and logical solution, or creates a pagination set.

4. 
   Ignitenewmedia.net

   Nice to look at, peculiar there don’t seem to be any alt tags for images though. There are many benefits to using alt tags, including search engine optimization. The tables-based nav strikes me as odd also, the css-based sliding doors techique is hard to beat for image-based navigation. They’ve done a great job of making the background transparency work even in IE6, kudos for that. Sorry for being a stickler about the tables this week. Whilst I’m on a roll here, the portofolio pop-ups opening in a new window are ok for new sites, but for images a lightbox treatment would be better.
   Onward & upward…

5. 
   Bgpatterns.com

   A web two-point-oh way of exploring background images and sharing them, certainly worth exploring.

6. 
   Etmaguire.com/

   Eric Maguire’s portfolio in the making, lots of impressive sites thus far, and more on the way it looks like. Couldn’t help notice Eric’s showing Most Inspired some love there in the sidebar, thanks Eric.

7. 
   Spacecollective.org/

   If you are a science geek, you need to check this one out! If not check it out anyways, a plethora of visual science projects on-board, with a flexible width layout of 100% and links to hundreds of sci-fi websites out there.

8. 
   Friskdesign.com/

   Not surprised to see this one was built with Wordpress, yes designing a wordpress theme is a genuine design service, not just something you “slice and dice”. Frisk Design specializes in Wordpress it would seem, this bubbly site design is quite a looker.

9. 
   Shiftspace.org/

   Something new [shift] + [space] offers a whole new social browsing experience, with it’s firefox plugin approach to add an open source layer above any webpage. Thoughts on this startup anyone?

10. 
    Fontpark.morisawa.co.jp/

    Font art, shuffling letters to create artworks, view and create your own. Flash fantástico, this one, have some fun with this amusing art experience!

Technorati : Web Design Gallery, Web Standards, Website Picks, Weekly Top Standards
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1. 
   Upstruct.com
   Interesting and trendy concept portfolio site, with Prototype and Scriptaculous as the javascript libraries of choice.

2. 
   AlexBuga.com
   One from my favorites, this one has some very interesting script features using mootools and some other “stuff”. The green hanging lamp slides back and forth on a slider and produces a realistic light effect. The PNG image of the lamp includes the shining light that is a transparency effect using white for the light. (Note to self: start doing cool stuff with png or else!).

3. 
   Dgscreative.cz/en Something resembling creativity, and it doesn’t hurt to have creative in your sites domain name either. The 3D Create logo is spectacular. Another fine detail is the sequential “Loading” animation when viewing portfolio pieces in the lihgtbox overlay.

4. 
   Albertlo.com
   Movable Type CMS, Jquery and some nice plugin work sliding the portfolio thumbnails on the homepage amongst other great features.

5. 
   Maddetective.com
   This website anticipates the UK release of the film “Mad Detective,” in which the protagonist can see people’s multiple personalities manifested in multiple people. The site is designed to look bruised and beaten, as the main character is in the early scenes.

6. 
   Digitaldesign.cherrypickpeople.com
   A vibrant but simple color palette at work here. The large photographic headers add some visual interest on the different site pages also.

7. 
   Gomediazine.com
   This looks to be a fresh redesign of this site and I’m liking it. Straight from Cleveland, Ohio home of the “Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum“. They are stacking up a pretty good content lineup as well as continuing to offer graphic resources, freebies, tutorials and their usual tasty arsenal of vector packs. Keep GoMedia on your radar.

8. 
   Adhamipenderarchitecture.com
   A new design trend on the horizon, very tastefully done here, is animated flash backgrounds. This subtle fractal animation strikes me as a poignant addition to this architect portfolio site, that is a minimal layout in rich color tones… Magnifique!

9. 
   JonRawlinson.com
   My leisure pick of the week, this video producer’s website has some great travel footage from all around the world. Take a break, and have a look. This one’s utilizing Wordpress folks.

10. 
    Current.com
    Leisure pick number two. Having not delved too much into video and tv content type sites. The user-interface (UI) for this beta site is pretty well developed. The player was in use on the previous Jon Rawlinson site. Check out the schedule page for a flash nav gizmo, really nice stuff.

    Let me know what some of your favorite sites are for something more than youTube video shorts.

Technorati : Web Design Gallery, Web Standards, Weekly Top Standards
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1. 
   Bustindownthedoor.com
   Bustin’ into theaters this weekend this retro surf footage film looks pretty cool! So does the supporting flash animated website. Check out the intro trailer with parallax background effects creating the surrealistic, or maybe surf-realistic 3D illusion of depth. I even enjoyed the dreamy soundtrack loop, taking me back to my days as a concrete-surfer, on my original old school Tony Alva skateboard with Kryptonics Blue wheels that were like riding on air, hitting the big 4×8 plywood-sheet driveway ramp, doublestacked to a full 4 x 16 ft. ramp. What would it of been like not being land-locked, and riding that monster pipeline…?
   -back to the reviews & fresh-takes…
2. 
   WellingtonLions.co.nz
   A tough-turf background fits this sites earthy-grunge design.
3. 
   Africaoasisproject.org
   A call to action site for getting involved in some volunteerism, nice use of textile textures.
4. 
   Anthony.morphlondon.com
   Wordpress and the recurring theme as of late with a dark gray wood laminate background, still very nice layout.
5. 
   Getinthecockpit.com
   This looks like some wild stuff, virtual aerial videography specialty equipment packages, not to mention the cost of the airplanes, which I know can get expensive. Doing aerial acrobatics is easy to wreck your pride-and-joy airship. Great hobby or business though.
   Who doesn’t want one of these, let me know, buy one and I’ll have yours!
6. 
   Detroiturbancraftfair.com
   A good fit for a craft fair with a scrapbooking type of vibe. Check out the alien pull-down in the header by pulling the gray arrows from the top, also the pull-out on the skyscraper, furls out an airplane banner on the other side. Some interesting animation effects that you would think might be flash, you’ld be wrong. Seemed to be all jQuery, and running in Wordpress.
7. 
   Mutinydesign.co.uk
   Some Mootools and other scripts at work on this design house site with a clean one-page layout.
8. 
   Simpleart.com.ua/en/
   something about this site, makes me want to go out and buy new office furniture and some plants… This sites been around a short while so possibly you’ve seen it. After noticing another site recently added to my gallery picks, and being informed it was produced by simpleart, I’m putting out the word to keep an eye on the portfolio here, as they are producing some brilliant and innovative works many with 3-dimensional realistic graphic elements.

Technorati : Inspiration Gallery, Weekly Websites
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