Intriguing Website #10

http://www.interflora.co.uk/

This website uses a drop down menu to group together sub-categories and subjects. This is a good way of slimming down the face of the menu making it look tidier.

Intriguing Website #9

http://www.fischers-baslowhall.co.uk/

This website has a good use of colour, but leaves the background for the content white. This draws the attention of the eye and makes it easier to concentrate on the content of the page.

The website also uses the logo as a link back to the index page, which has also been seen in many of the other websites featured in this blog. I believe this is good practice as it is intuitive for the User to click on the logo to navigate back to the home page.

Intriguing Website #8

http://www.worldofpools.com/

This website uses a Jello design to centre the page regardless of the screen it is being viewed on. Using this design makes the website pleasing to the eye, while being able to keep it at a fixed width keeping it easy to manage for the developer.

Intriguing Website #7

http://www.ragsforrascals.co.uk/

This website has an adaptable height which fits the page content which I believe gives the designer a lot of leeway when it comes to the amount of content the page will be able hold.

Intriguing Website #6

http://waggleandwalk.co.uk/

This website uses image rollovers to make the link selection more interesting and intuitive for the User.

Intriguing Website #5

Link - http://www.edam.co.uk/edamadults/

This website has used a very different way of displaying the menu, it is very unstructured and personally I find it to be less intuitive than the regular menu styles.

While I like unusual menu structures I do think that they need to be User friendly at the same time, so I do not think I will use this particular example in my own website.

Intriguing Website #4

http://www.logs2u.co.uk/wood-fuel-buying-guide

This is a good example of having a non-typical banner; The logo and menu are a part of the banner but are also separate making it look more dynamic. I will try to incorporate this technique into my own website to make it look less grid-like and boring.

Intriguing Website #3

http://www.logalog.net/index.html

This is a good example of a clean and simple layout and colour scheme. The colour scheme matches the theme of the website well (logs) and it is easy to navigate and find the information required.

CSS Expressions Library

CSS Expressions Library

(Please click the image to view)

NB Table is shown as an image due to formatting issues with Blogger.com

HTML/XML/XHTML Expressions Library

HTML/XML/XHTML Expressions Library

(Please click the image to view)

NB Written in Word and pasted in as an image due to Blogger not accepting HTML tags written as normal text.

Intriguing Website #2

The second website design/layout which caught me eye is the Adobe website (mainly for the Photoshop/Creative suite pages). They have unique layouts and use Flash to create a level of interaction on the web pages from the User which makes them more enjoyable to use than the average web page.

Although they do use conventional layouts to an extent (logo at the top of the page, menu bar underneath), they have used spread out and artistic methods for displaying information about their Creative Suite products. They use Flash to create movement of objects on the screen when the User interacts with them (usually by hovering with the mouse).

I think these designs are very artistic but not necessarily the most intuitive for the User, as they do not completely follow the most generic of design/layout standards of the web. I don't think I would use Flash to this extent myself as I realise it is not supported by all browsers, and may not be supported at all by mobile browsers (I would expect that Adobe have accommodated mobile device User's with an alternative). I do think it can make a web page more vibrant and exciting, especially in giving it more interaction and movement, but it does not necessarily make it more User-friendly. In the case of Adobe it seems appropriate for them to use Flash on their website however, as it is one of their products and they are therefore demonstrating what it is capable of - a good selling technique!

So I think the website overall has a very unique design, with lots of movement and interaction. I wouldn't necessarily design my websites like this using Flash, but some of the effects (fade in menus) provide the website with a professional look and feel, and can be done using JavaScript/JQuery just as easily.

Intriguing Website #1

For the first "hands on exercise" in the web design and development foundations with XHTML book I am to write a few sentences about a website that I find intriguing.

The website I have chosen for this exercise is the BBC IPlayer website. I find this website intriguing because;

This website allows Users to download media from the BBC that has recently been aired on the television or radio. It provides the user with three download methods (for windows media player, portable devices or for their own BBC IPlayer desktop software) giving the User a great amount of control over how and where they watch the downloadable content. The media is however only available on a time limit, giving the User approximately one week to watch whatever has been downloaded. This has been done to prevent theft and piracy of the BBC media content.

The BBC IPlayer website homepage suggests that you take a look at featured media, favourite media that is personal to you, the most popular media (i.e. Eastenders or Holby City which is most viewed/downloaded), and the friends section which is suggestions and recommendations made by others.

This website also features a quick panel to enable the User an easy way to find their favourite recently aired shows, and also lists media by category (i.e. comedy, lifestyle etc.).

Overall I think this is a brilliantly done website which is very User-friendly yet so full of technicalities at the same time. It manages to make downloading content a very easy and manageable task, while behind the scenes there must be a great deal of code running the ins and outs. Very intriguing indeed!