4 ms·

Those all look like vanity sites to me. What are you selling? The site or the product?

• mcav 17y ago
  Web designers are selling their ability to create sites... that is their product.
  • timmaah 17y ago
    Most of those sites are not for web designers. The one I clicked on to view was a retail outlet in the northeast. The site was all flash and took over 2 minutes to load with no options to skip. That stands out in a bad way.
    • rubinelli 17y ago
      Most of those sites also include a pet peeve of mine, tiny fonts and low contrast. Does anyone but web designers think they are a good idea? It's funny how designers talk about Web 2.0 design in terms of gloss and shades, and forget the most important element, the 16 to 20-point paragraphs explaining what the site is about.
      • olefoo 17y ago
        Not to mention that any site that hopes to sell things has to account for an audience that includes a sizable proportion of people with weak vision. If you're selling tchotchkes to sharp-eyed design conscious teenagers, then tiny grey font on a pink background can work. But if your audience is full spectrum, legibility wins. Good designers make legibility win even more; by making things legible and beautiful, but they are rare.
• TrevorJ 17y ago
  To respond to the criticisms of these sites - audience has a LOT to do with it. Visual and artistic-types gravitate towards very different design values. Depending on what you want the site to do, and for whom, these sites could very well be just the sort of thing you need. The broader the audience, the less 'design-y' you should make your site. Google is a great example. They cater to everyone by using a design which doesn't say too much and is informed 100% by the core function of the site.