cool websites: facebook

I chose facebook as my cool website. It uses HTML 5 and I saw a lot of  akamaihd.net in the code early on. Although facebook is not literally the coolest website that I could find, it is hands down the most complex form of site that I know of. Facebook is the most popular social “utility” that the internet has to offer. Thousands or millions of people are members whom each own and personalize their page. I don’t understand how it works!
Facebook is always changing its layout and slowly becoming more and more aesthetically pleasing. For example, we recently were given the option of having a cover photo over your profile picture and then again two or so days ago, everyone’s profile layout changed: the pictures and friends are on the left and your name is in bold, white font with a black outline. Personally, I find some of the only difficulties of facebook to be when the layout changes so much that you have to relearn how to navigate around your page.

JUX.COM : a cool website helping you make cool websites

http://reedgmc.jux.com

The cool website I picked was jux.com (specifically https://reedgmc.jux.com/).

Jux serves as a website that you can use to showcase your stuff, whatever it may be (photos, art, quotes, stories, videos, etc.). I think the intended user is anyone who wants to share their stuff with the world. I think it can serve as a portfolio or even a more modern facebook photo album. It is also great for ipads or any touch screen because you can scroll through posts very smoothly. One of the best things about this site- it DOES NOT cost any money!

What also is great about this site is that it is VERY user friendly and SO easy to use. Prior to the web design course I knew very little about creating my own web page but last semester it became a project I worked on for the Olwen Solar Garage/REED Block Course. I was hesitant to use it but I figured it out within an hour of sitting down and working in it.  Other great features of Jux are that it gives you quite a bit of room for the user to change it to however they want it to look (colors, fonts, arrangement, text, size, etc.) allowing the user to generate the visual hierarchy of the page through manipulation of these items. The visual contrast then is up to the user as well. On the main page of the site you create, the Jux site organizes your posts into a collage of squares keeping the proximity of the items close and continuous. I have found this to be quite the common trend of many websites these days, very much so blog-like and allows the user to scroll through smaller images to find the one they want to pick and look at more in depth. Once a specific post is chosen, I like that it really focuses on the post you made whether it is a photo or video, the whole screen becomes what you make it, no ads or other huge task bars or menus. There is a menu bar, but it is small and only appears when scrolling over the top portion of the site, allowing the focus to remain on the content.

Other specifics: the doctype is HTML, it uses javascript technology, it uses CSS technology. I think this is the main style sheet is (but I am not 100% positive?)- <link href=”https://d3kstbadygo5b1.cloudfront.net/assets/desktop-b961d8d4b28e2babdbee70c0a3bc0ef0.css” media=”screen” rel=”stylesheet” type=”text/css” /> ?

Enjoy checking out the REED JUX!

 

 

“we seek nothing but to be a sources of inspiration, revealing your true ambitions” – blacknegative

blacknegative

The website is created to represent inspirational web design. Its base is in Paris, France. All slides contain messages from the designers. Interaction and visual are designed based exclusively on HTML5 and CSS as a replacement for the old, out of date flash. Each slide is actually a new page however, all the html share the same CSS style sheet. Interestingly, to change between pages, users slide the page left-right instead of clicking. When users first access to the main page, the whole website loaded- even if you are offline, the slide still show up- except video which are flash and link. Menu is hidden down at the end of the web page. Even though I think web design is moving forward to more interactive ways to go around the website, navigation is still important to web design. The CSS style sheet is complex looking, pretty dense.

I think the design is intended to be compatible to touch device. It is really interesting to have visual interaction under your fingertips.

Overall, I think it’s safe to say Blacknegative targets people that are interesting in web designing.

my cool website

my “cool website” ishttp://www.kendricklamar.com/default.aspx#!/featured. this webite interest me because it is pretty easy to navigate color coordinated and for who he is,(rapper) it gives all of his information. it shows w=his upcoming tour dates, music, videos, his tweets and his clothing line store. its a post modernest website pretty up to date with its Doctype HTML 1.0. a lot of div boxes.javascript css is in use as well. And just a nice interesting site to me.

“Miniature trip-hop orchestra of French hipster clones” – Incredibox

http://www.incredibox.com/en/#/application

Incredibox is an website that allows you to create your own hip-hop a capella group of French hipsters. This is a site primarily for entertaining and for procrastinating doing work (at least that’s what I use it for). Some functions this site has include being able to make your own beat, record, download, and share your audio, and listen to some of the other beats people have made. There are also three “levels” or goals to achieve with your group of French hipsters, I have only achieved the first two and am still trying to figure out the third.

This website uses HTML 5 because in the page source it is simply tagged as <!DOCTYPE html>. It also uses Javascript and Flash player. I believe it was created or is hosted by So Far So Good, however, their website is in a different language but they are attributed to in the content as well as in the footer of the webpage. The stylesheet for this website is “../css/site.css” and “../css/bouton.css” which includes the code for the CSS.

This website targets the music composer, the music listener, and the board college student taking a break from studying for statistics. There isn’t much about the website that is complex as far as using it and it is solely an site for entertainment. I enjoy the simplicity in characters and how they are designed. I also enjoy the “levels” you can reach and the little bonus videos achieving each level has to offer. And I think a small detail that could be overlooked is that when you go to place a beat on a character his eyes follow your cursor; just a small detail that makes this website a fun and entertaining website to use.

 

 

 

Abduzeedo

Abduzeedo is a website all about design. It has tutorials, case studies, and inspiration for graphic designers, web designers and illustrators. Users can also submit their works to the website to be selected and posted on the website as Daily Inspiration. The site uses minimalist style in its design with white background and little text. The logo of the site is also very simple, not some fancy typography. It is placed at the top of the site but it doesn’t look dominant. While all other details look minimal, the graphic is the main focus of the site and is displayed very beautifully. The navigation of Abduzeedo is very interesting. The tabs are all put on top of the site. When users scroll, they anchor on top, which makes it easier for user to find what they want even when they are scrolling down to the bottom of the site.

The site uses HTML 5.

REI 1440 project

http://www.rei1440project.com/#

REI is a company that sells outdoor recreation gear. They recently created a project known as the REI 1440 project which showcases users photos based on the time and location taken.

This is a stream of user based images that are displayed based on the time that they are uploaded. Using the navigation keys, viewers can scroll between each minute viewing photographs taken around the world of explorations and adventures.

Uploading photos to the website is quick and easy with a camera link at the bottom right hand corner of the page. Users can also select a specific date and time in order to view more images pertaining to their interests.

In order to narrow points of interest for users, the website also includes the ability to sort images by location and activity they wish to view.

A unique function also allows users to search photos based on hash tags they choose to assign to the image.

Moodstream™ by Getty Images

Moodstream™ by Getty Images Website

url.jpg

This is a flash-driven stream of music and images based on user input. The website was put up on the web in June of 2008 and uses xhtml 1.0. The css style sheet is incorporated into the HTML code source. It also utilizes javascript in its coding.

The image stream can be catered to the user’s preferences of speed, duration, transition, and content. Using unobtrusive, collapsable sidebars, the user can a mood that is more humorous or serious, calm or lively, nostalgic or contemporary, warm or cool. This forms a very visually pleasing and useful navigation structure. This is a fantastic website for getting creative juices flowing and could be recommended to the visually-inclined and the curious.

The horizontal lines through video and images represent a compression of file size but also add a consistent theme throughout the user’s experience.

Getty Images is the world’s largest stock imagery company. The website draws from its audio, video, and photo archives to create a creative and adaptive service to its users.

If the user likes a particular piece of music or image, they can add it to their “moodboard” and even purchase it from Getty Images’ library.

Unurth – Street Art

http://www.unurth.com/

Unurth | Street Art is a website that acts as a graffiti and street art database. It’s a very minimalistic design, focusing mainly on the photographs of the art. The white background aids in creating a focal point of each picture. They all stand out because of it. It reflects a gallery-like set up which are almost always simplistic and minimal.

The HTML type is XHTML 1.0. They also use a template program, Cargo, which offers a design service to certain website. Javascript is used by Cargo for text script.

Their main stylesheet is simply named “user_stylesheet”. They use this for the little text they have such as “Comments” and “Index” tabs.

The purpose of this site is meant to bring life to graffiti that can otherwise only be seen live. With it’s simplistic design it is simply showing the graffiti. Art enthusiasts and graffiti artists would look at this site to get ideas and simply look at what type of graffiti art is popular. I believe the creator of this website executed exactly what they wanted to do, which was to show off graffiti art.

My Cool WebSite (CJS)

www.ds5.citroen.co.uk./uk/

This site does a great job of creating their site to go along with the design of the car. It doesn’t really deliver a message or anything but rather is in comparison with the car. For instance, their philosophy is, is that if you love navigating and controlling the website then you will do the same inside the car. The target audience are mainly car buyers in the UK for this is a UK car and website, The navigation is used by a scroll bar on the side of the page as well as the pop out list on the other side of the page. Within the page a number of adobe and javascript programs helped out, especially with the virtual reality dashboard. This site also used the html version as its source code.