400 Bad request

Why it needed re-designed and re-developed

The old site

The original site was built using WordPress. WordPress is a fantastic framework but it was far too bloated for a project like this. 99% of the WordPress functionality wasn’t needed.

Maintenance and keeping the site updated was also an issue. For every website that was submitted I would have to do several tasks including taking screenshots, saving screenshots, uploading screenshots etc.

Lots to do there, hence the reason I had no time to update it.

The new site

Using Rails I was able to develop a minimal web app that only included the functionality that it actually needed – submitting and approving websites.

Using the very cool Bluga.net webthumb API, the web app is able to automatically take, resize and save screenshots of the websites.

Approving and publishing a site now literally takes one click.

Experimental for me

As with any side project I was able to experiment and learn a few new things.

For this project I was able to try out:

• Haml
• Sass
• Compass
• Simplificator rwebthumb gem

Am loving the combination of Sass and Compass for writing CSS. Will follow up with a more detailed post on this soon.

How useful are ‘CSS galleries’?

Galleries like this have to be taken with a pinch of salt. Of course they don’t represent all the great sites that are out there and they certainly don’t take into account user experience or what’s below the surface of the iceberg. It’s a visual snapshot of a bunch of websites that form a good first impression.

Love ‘em or hate ‘em I still think it’s interesting and useful to see who’s delivering quality websites locally.

Do you know any cracking Irish websites?

Submit them to WebDesignire. Even better if it’s not one of your own sites ;-)

Looking for clean, well structured websites with a good mix of type, colour, shape, texture and whitespace etc. HTML5 and CSS3 use is a bonus.

The article contains some great interviews with some of Ireland’s top designers, some info about what’s happening across the island and a showcase of some top notch websites.

Read the full article here.

p.s. sorry if none of your sites are featured – don’t take it personally, there are only so many I can fit in.

Submit your site to WebDesignire so I can feature it next time ;-)

Creative packaging shows a good reflection on the brand it represents. My first real appreciation of packaging was opening my first Apple product, which was an iPod Touch. The perfectly crafted box and minimalism is reflected throughout the Apple brand, including their website. Some even go as far as to film themselves unboxing Apple products as it is such an enjoyable experience.

Drawing inspiration from packaging design can inspire new ideas and different approaches for your next project. Check out these great examples.

Route 29

Boxed Water

ITO EN Loose Leaf Tea

Skin

Coca Cola

Clover Farmstead Butter

Good Little Sausages

Tasty Bone

Incase

Monopoly

100% Chocoloate Cafe

Pot Of

Doo

Coop Norden

Other sources of packaging inspiration

• Beautiful and expressive packaging design
• Packaging design inspiration
• Creative coffee packaging
• 100 minimal and typographic package designs
• Lovely package

Further reading

• An introduction into packaging design

Is there any packaging in particular that you find inspiring?

I’ve put together a showcase of my favourite illustrated characters along with some further links for inspiration.

Silverback App

Mail Chimp

Fatburgr

Cyclops

Old Loft

Branded 07

The Alamo Basement

Freelance Switch

Veerle

Ellis Lab

Project Vino

Ryan O’Rourke

Schneeballschl8

Candy Cult

Spinen

What’s your favourite?

Further reading

• 45 Excellent examples of using character illustrations in web design
• 20 Sites with beautiful character illustrations
• 30 Creative examples of illustrations in web design

The post looks at 5 different styles of headers, showcasing 5 examples of each.

Read the full post here.

Let me know what you think and if there’s any other topics you’d like to see discussed in the future.

With the recent publication of the A List Apart Survey 2008, I thought it was a good opportunity to follow this up with another 25 great designers.

This year’s survey found that 16.2% of those surveyed (29,567 of A List Apart readers) were female. That’s a rise of 0.1%. So there’s not much improvement in regards to the amount of females in the industry, but I have came across 25 more great designs.

1. Irene Demetri

2. Joanna Klima

@thedarlingtree

3. Ilona Filipenkova

4. Lisa Moseley

@solairis

5. Suzy Johnston

@suzyjohnston

6. Shannon Farrell

@dolceshan

7. Jenna Smith

@JJenZz

8. Jina Bolton

@sushimonster

9. Selene M. Bowlby

@idesignstudios

10. Denise Wilton

11. Adelle Charles

@adellecharles

12. Kris Colvin

@KrisColvin

13. Kimberly Coles

@imwithsully

14. Stephanie Sullivan

@stefsull

15. Winnie Lim

16. Jen Gordon

17. Joanna

18. Wiehanne

19. Madeline D’Amato

20. Renee Rist

RibbonsofRed

21. Anna Pawełczyk

22. Allison Mills

@allimills

23. Manuela Hoffman

24. Mindy Wagner

@graphicsgirl

25. Drew Europeo

Further Reading

• 25 hot female web designers part 1

Who’s your favourite? Who else would you add to the list?

Check out this inspirational list of typographic based designs that I’ve put together.

1. Pallian Creative

2. Legistyles

3. Ben Lind

4. Made by Cool

5. Lorem Ipsum

6. Typechart

7. Elysium Burns

8. Crowley Webb

9. Alpha Multimedia

10. Astheria

11. The Typographic Desk Reference

12. Giant Creative

13. I Love Typography

14. FL2

15. Futon Media

Further reading

• 15 inspiring typography based blog designs
• 20 websites with beautiful typography

Any good ones I missed?

The post takes a look at what makes up a good charity website (who usually don’t have a large website budget) and showcases 20 good examples.

Read the full post here.

The research for this post was carried out while working on my own charity campaign Sponsor Lee.

Feedback appreciated.

The post takes a look at 10 things that make up a good personal portfolio site and showcases 40+ excellent and top class portfolios.

Read the full post here.

Let me know what you think and if there’s anything else you’d like covered.

Check out this list of 20 websites using these effects plus a few helpful tutorials.

1. 45royale

2. Skylar Anderson

3. Dale Anthony

4. Elite by Design

5. Fernando Sergio

6. Dorian Castro

7. 365 Days of Astronomy

8. Studio 7 Designs

9. Exceptional

10. Abduzeedo

11. Oakes Design

12. Brian Wilkins

13. Kitfolio

14. Rawkes

15. Evan Eckard

16. You Love Us

17. RJ Designz

18. Revyver Labs

19. Mail Chimp

20. Tennessee Winter

Tutorials

• Make an Aurora Borealis Design in Illustrator
• Awesome up your design with A.B.
• Really cool Eclipse Effect in Photoshop
• Making a realistic star field

Further Reading

• 25 websites with lighting effects