www.eleven2.com is a website that is efficiently built with the foundations of website design in mind. When looking at the site, users are not overwhelmed with information and thus don't have to think much. Even though there is a flash element, loading time is not long and it cycles through the information quickly, but not so fast as that you can't read it, so the viewer shouldn't be frustrated. The viewer's attention should be focused on the black band that contains the flash which features the assets and brief description of the product. The writing that's used is effective and done in phrases rather than sentences to make it more accessible. The layout itself is demonstrative of clean simplicity and everything is contained in its own space with a good amount of white space around it. The flash implementation and colors of the site add a nice visual language of sleek sophistication and technological ease. This website is built with a somewhat conventional framework consisting of a header and navigation bar at the top with a large multimedia / image space under it and three small informational boxes below it. Below the fold, there is a line for twitter and more links. I know I've seen this same layout on other websites, but because it is clean and accessible, it has been proven to work well. All the links work and it looks the same on Safari as it does on Firefox, so I think whenever this website was created, it must've been tested as well.
http://getfinch.com is another website that is efficiently built with the foundations of website design in mind. The first thing that strikes the viewer is the humongous logo. There is a caption beside the logo saying that their logo is bigger than other logos, which is a nice touch of humor. The links are off to the left, so the viewer only sees them, the logo area, an excerpt of an article and a twitter thread when they get to the site so they don't have to think hard about what they need to do or how they need to interact with the site. Everything is fairly easy to figure out and other than the large logo graphic, there's not much content to load, so the viewer's frustration level should be relatively low. The viewer's attention is first captured by the logo so the brand has ensured its success on that level. From there, there is enough white space for the viewer's eye to wander around the unencumbered layout and explore the site. The site is simple in construction and layout, but sends out a trendy kind of vibe because of it. Like eleven2.com's website, this has the same basic layout of an image area at the top (though links are to the left), and three blocks at the bottom that contain more information. All the links work and it looks the same on Safari as it does on Firefox, so I would think that the website had been tested when it was created.
http://www.malcolmreading.co.uk is another website that is efficiently built with the foundations of website design in mind. The first thing that the viewer should notice is the large picture area that changes. These pictures are from all over the world and change without the use of flash, so the loading time shouldn't really be affected. If the viewer scrolls down, he will see a short description of the company, written effectively so the viewer can get an idea of the company in a short amount of text that tells what the company does and leaves room for white space on the page. There is also a new client advice section right under the pictures. At the bottom, there are again three blocks of information which categorize and divide the information and a gray box at the bottom with more information and links to ground the page. Again, the page is simplistic in layout, like the others, but it is open so that viewers can easily gain access to what they are seeking.
http://tapbots.com is another website that is efficiently built with the foundations of website design in mind. The first thing the viewer will notice is the large picture area and the clean, open space of the site. Similar to the other sites, there is a navigation bar at the top in the header, a large picture area, and three blocks underneath to divide the information successfully. There is very little text on this page and what is there is used efficiently to tell the viewer just enough about the product that they will click to learn more. At the very bottom of the page, there are more links for the site in blocks to keep with the unencumbered and technological natures of the site. Viewers would find this site very easy to use and to browse through. Because this site design is like so many others, it will be more familiar to people when they encounter it, and most will probably appreciate the structure.
http://www.alexbuga.com/v9/#page/about is another website that is efficiently built with the foundations of website design in mind. The loading speed of the page is a bit slow, which could frustrate viewers because the text comes up but it is unreadable until the page is done loading. However, that could just be my slow internet speed from stretching the limits of a wireless that isn't running the smoothest today. There is a lot of text and a lot of things to do and see on this page, but it is organized with headings and because it is a journal format, the viewer expects more information in a smaller space. The viewer's attention is focused on the journal itself, and probably on the pictures or the comic at the top. There are a lot of little details for the eyes to catch, but I believe the about me section is rather prominent. The sections are short and effectively written. The navigation bar is somewhat tricky to find, but the whole site is about exploration. While this might frustrate some people, it is sure to win others over. The home page features clickable items to take the viewer places within the site as well, not that it tells where it might lead. The site features nice clean backgrounds on all the pages that serve to enhance the experience rather than subtract from it. While this site is rather unconventional, for example, with the navigation bar, the viewer still finds the navigation bar at the top of the page, even though it does not appear automatically.
Some websites I found that did not use the foundations of web design were: http://hosanna1.com, http://mito.cool.ne.jp/chinari21/2-16.html, http://www.havenworks.com, http://www.mongabay.com, and http://www.elephantjournal.com.
http://hosanna1.com is a website about Afghan Hounds. It is absolutely horrible and is likely to give someone a seizure. The first principle of website design is don't make someone think. All the text on here is outrageous and competing sizes and scrunched together, which leaves me wondering what I should click on first. With the motion and horrid graphics this site includes, it leaves me confused as to where to start or where to focus my attention. I want to look at the cute, but horrible picture, of the dog in the middle, but the random butterflies and motion graphics make me stray away. The more I look at this page, the more I get frustrated because I don't even know where to start. I can't imagine anyone going to this page and actually using the site. The one thing this site has going for it is that it puts a large picture of the subject matter so you can at lest guess what is the intended feature of this site. The page is way too long and way too busy. There is absolutely no white space and the text and graphics end up on top of each other. The only convention this follows is the convention for horrible website design. I'm guessing that no one ever tested this site to see how it would look. Either that or they didn't care. This site would need a lot of fixing, but I think it could be done The first step would be to focus the viewer's attention on the subject of the page. To do this, most of the content would need to be removed, as with all of the ads and moving graphics. Compelling images of the dogs (instead of clipart) should be used with small, but effective bits of text. Specific links would help direct the viewer to different parts of the site. As long as all of the elements of the site relate, it will be a lot better than it is currently.
http://mito.cool.ne.jp/chinari21/2-16.html is a website that describes the battle in the havens and talks about finding the surest proof of UFO existence. The home page for the English version is actually http://mito.cool.ne.jp/chinari21/forkEN.html. The background is some weird texture that doesn't relate and the text is plain with awful color highlighting. Everything on this site is set up in tables with borders. Again, there is moving text and clip art which is distracting. The pages of this site are very long and there are spelling and grammar errors in the text. At the bottom of the page, there is a link that says "To Next Page" which is used instead of dividing the pages into clear sections or links in a navigation bar. The second page is horrid and has a large area for pixelated images to flash at you and provide ample material for seizures. On this page, there is more distractingly colored text as well. The text is even different sizes and fonts too. All in all, this site really is just horrible. If someone really wanted to have a website about UFOs, they could at least try to design it well so it could be convincing. Good quality pictures would be a good start. A space theme (for example) would work, with a dark blue or black background. A defined text area would help instead of the text being all over the pages on every page. An organized approach (or really even AN approach) to navigation would be an insanely good improvement. This site could actually have a lot of potential if those things were considered. More viewers might even be attracted to the site, just because the redesigned version would be more convincing.
http://www.havenworks.com is another horribly designed site. There's so much going on that one has to wonder where to start. At least I don't see anything that moves (in the way of cheesy graphics or text effects) on this one! However, the page layout is atrocious and the colors are horrendous. The page is way too long and busy for any viewer to want to try to find something. No part of the page is even empty. The layout is columned to make more information fit on the viewable page area, but it's in no way organized. The first steps to fixing this site would be to take out all the bright colors and come up with a color palette suitable to the subject matter. The next step would be making some organized navigation that is more in depth than "News by date" "NewsStand," etc. that already exists on the page. Perhaps multi-teired links would work for this since the site seems to host so much information. It would be a good idea for the site to have a design theme as well, or at least an idea of a message it wants to portray, for example: current. The page lengths would need to be much shorter to keep the viewer's interest and a few pictures wouldn't hurt either. White space is a must and a blog type layout might be a good template to use.
http://www.mongabay.com is a website I've used before, but I do believe it's poorly designed. It is a place to find information about different wildlife topics. It's definitely not as much of an eyesore as some of the others that I've looked at, but it could use improvements. Because the site is about places in the world, I think natural colors and good imagery used effectively (maybe with Flash) would be the key to redesigning this site. The images that are featured now are in a banner across the top and are so small you can't even really tell what they are, which is a shame. There are a number of useful articles on this site, so they just need to be organized a bit better and there should probably be a limit of one article per page on the site. The navigation needs to be improved because it is not always the most clear. As the site is now, the right column is almost as busy as the main column on the left, so the two compete for the viewer's attention as you go down the page. There are a lot of diverse topics on this site, so a good hierarchy needs to be formed from which links should be made. Perhaps there should even be sub-sites based on different geographical locations. With these changes, the website would be a lot less complex and a lot easier to use.
http://www.elephantjournal.com is a website about yoga, sustainability, politics, and spirituality. As you can tell, this website covers a lot and when you get to the home page, you can tell it covers a lot based on the jumble of information you find and the two entire lines of links at the top. There are three different columns on the page, which is a good separation, but the motion and overwhelming amounts of pictures and links takes away from it. I think for starters, each of the issues the site wants to talk about needs to have its own link. From there, there would be subcategories featuring stories and comments related to each one. The site could use a more realistic design theme that better relates to the issues that are being discussed. It should feel more natural and a little bit against the norm, but instead it is a sleek black and gray with lots of red links. Better breaks in the information would help, as would shorter page lengths. More white space is needed on the site so as to refrain from overwhelming the viewer. There also needs to be a better point of focus for the viewer that makes them really want to commit to viewing this site in full detail. It would take a lot of organization and linking, but I think it could be done.
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