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dudeydudedude Says:
August 26th, 2008 at 7:23 am
Blimey. My kind of site - the architecture has a fairly old-fashioned, but well-executed approach: the first few pages are a beautifully explained “guided tour”, and the meat of the site is tucked away for those who wish to join, but for those who merely wish to be “passive”, there is a shop that is open to them.
Nice images, a content-filled layout that isn’t confusing, a design that fits the theme and the target market of the site perfectly, and the name of the site is easy to remember - not some kitsch web 2.0 name with “R” appended at the end after some missing vowels.
In conclusion: THIS is a genuine example of what a PROFESSIONAL site is.
dude Says:
August 26th, 2008 at 8:53 am
Dude, are you being paid or something?!
Please leave the site, you’re ruining it for the rest of us.
dudeydudedude Says:
August 26th, 2008 at 9:40 am
@dude
Love the nick.
I didn’t criticize the site… so I can’t see where you irritation stems from.
Don Says:
August 26th, 2008 at 10:15 am
Holy Christ, dudeydudedude, you’re not helping. You comment on everything, and it’s all so generic and long-winded.
Pat Says:
August 26th, 2008 at 10:18 am
The nice comment left first made me want to check out the site. While it is laid out quite nicely, there are some minor details that, to me, don’t scream “professional.”
1. At the top right, they have used an image to announce their “End of Summer” sale. I’m not sure why they would use an image, as now the user can’t simply copy and paste the coupon code (mind you, “Summer” isn’t a hard word to type out, however if in the future the codes get a bit more complex, this may become an issue). Also, for some reason the text in the image doesn’t line up with the text that says “offer details.” Why are they staggered like that?
2. It looks as though they are attempting a 3 column layout, however if you look at where it says “create a tastebook” (green box), and the box right above it, the lines don’t align. Underneath, the “back to school” graphic with rounded corners lines up with the main graphic column layout, but again not the “create a tastebook” graphic.
These are just a couple of things I noticed very quickly while looking at the site. Not to take too much away, as I agree that the site is very pleasant to look at, but let’s not give sites the final stamp of design approval simply because it better suits our personal tastes.
dudeydudedude Says:
August 26th, 2008 at 11:24 am
@Pat
Impressive. You’ve got very sharp eyes. I had to pull out the Firefox MeasureIt plug-in. (No, I’m not being sarcastic, I really did have to pull out the plug-in).
Although, as you say, those issues aren’t really issues. However, deducting points off a site’s professional grade because of 1 or 2 misaligned pixels do lay within the boundaries of nitpicking IMO.
After all, if you’ve worked with trying to perfectly recreate Standards-compliant complex z-index-heavy layouts on IE6, and try to make the tag behave like it should, you will know immediately that it is unrealistic to try to get everything pixel perfect.
@Don
It’s teh interwebs. It’s free fer every one. My nick comes up before my comments, so it isn’t like you guys can’t ignore what I’m about to say, right?
Jacky Says:
August 26th, 2008 at 7:16 pm
@dudeydudedude
Yeah, you are annoying but I think people would respect your comments here if they could see some of your work.
Jen F. Says:
August 26th, 2008 at 7:55 pm
I’m a designer for TasteBook and I have to say this is all great feedback. I agree on the alignment issue. That drives me nuts too but not everything that goes through development will look perfect on every browser. Totally agree that coupon codes should always be HTML text. We will fix that in the future. Thanks for looking at our site!
dudeydudedude Says:
August 26th, 2008 at 10:23 pm
@Jacky
Let’s say I was good, but not the best. Would that make any difference? Do I have to be famous to make a valid point?
I criticized another site on this gallery for looking too much like a detergent brand (he was providing a web design service). Do I have to be a “big name” in the industry to make what I said valid?
Let’s say for the sake of this argument that I was in fact Cameron Moll, and I said that the above site was beautiful. Does that mean that the rest of you have to be a bunch of lemmings and nod in agreement because of who I was?
Or do you people prefer it this way, that I am “nobody”, and we can all have a discussion about site design, without egos and reputations getting in the way?
It’s amusing that everyone says “let us see your work”, but what happens if it turns out that I work at Apple? Are you guys going to nitpick my work, or possibly my personality? Or how I should be less of this, or more of that? Or will you all just scurry away and quietly disappear because I had “proved” myself?
See how rubbish that would be?
It’s a lot more fun, and productive, when we are all equals here, and we get to point out what each of us feel, without worrying about being “owned” by somebody who is “higher”.
It’s called constructive criticism, and it’s healthy.
Pat Says:
August 26th, 2008 at 11:28 pm
@Jen - There’s a new article up at nettuts.com that talks about 10 tips for CSS or something like that. In there are some good pointers for getting your layout to work the way you planned (negative margins, etc). Hope that maybe helps!
Bassem Says:
August 27th, 2008 at 1:39 am
Seeing dudey commenting a lot does make me wonder if he’s got nothing better to do. And his comments are sometimes long. But constructive.
And in his last comment, he’s got a point. The internet is for everybody. Let the man comment…
About Tastebook, I like it. Simple.
Jacky Says:
August 27th, 2008 at 4:37 am
@dudeydudedude
No, it doesn’t matter who you are or for who you are working for. Your work matters.
quality website designing Says:
August 27th, 2008 at 4:41 am
i agree with pat. some really cool tips and worth reading it.. to get your designs laid as you planned
complete flower guide Says:
August 27th, 2008 at 4:44 am
i like the tastebook design.. really nice..
Big C Says:
August 27th, 2008 at 10:49 am
every one should have the freedom of speach, you carnt just stop some one saying what they think because it dosent agree with you. Dudey`s comments are interesting.
Jimbo Says:
August 27th, 2008 at 11:05 am
Hell you can’t just start slating somebody because they are commenting, you guys need to get a life and get your head out your asses!
Don Says:
August 27th, 2008 at 11:39 am
Big C, freedom of speech also applies to those that may disagree and offer their own opinion. The First Amendment isn’t for stifling debate and discourse.
dudeydudedude’s comments may hold greater weight with the community if he were to make them more concise and purposeful. As always, “TLDR” applies, and after going through the TLDR process in the comments of every new site that gets posted, some get irritated.
dudeydudedude Says:
August 27th, 2008 at 7:04 pm
@Jacky and Don
You guys seem to like attacking me, but where are YOUR comments?
Look at Pat, or one other chap on this site (P.I.C.) - when they disagree, they say why. And that’s great. It’s not like I expect everyone to agree with me - that’s why it’s called a discussion. I myself want to see what other people think. That’s why people leave comments. That’s why we read comments - to gather opinions.
This site is about website design. It has a comments section so you may leave comments. On other galleries with comment sections, people leave comments too. Good, bad, whatever.
Again, you guys say “where’s your work”? My only response is: Well, where are your own thoughts, opinions, or ideas? On holiday perhaps? Or are you the sort of people that drop by and say “oi, that looks pretty”, save a screenshot, then move on to the next one on the list?
Based on my experience, the only people who are irritated by other people’s opinions are those who can’t form their own. That’s why “they don’t want to hear it/” because their limited IQ becomes muddled and confused.
Come on chaps, prove me wrong.
O.T.
I drop by a ton of galleries every lunch break, because I eat at my desk. Which is why I get to visit often.
Doug Says:
August 27th, 2008 at 7:40 pm
Maybe comments should be disabled? There’s really no point to it if your all going to fight about one guy that has nothing better to do than criticize others.
dudeydudedude Says:
August 27th, 2008 at 11:02 pm
@Doug
I didn’t criticize this site did I? In fact, people were annoyed at me for praising it. Yet, they themselves (those who attacked me) had nothing to say about the site. Did they like it? Did they hate it?
As far as I’m concerned, I’m operating within the constraints of this gallery. Comments and all.
It’s the people without an opinion who have nothing better to do except whine about somebody who is just saying -why- he likes or dislikes a site.
If you people have no opinions about the topic at hand (the site displayed), then just stfu and go w*nk in a corner. Come back when you lot have actually grown a brain.
Don Says:
August 28th, 2008 at 11:18 am
Every post is like a new chapter in a book.
The Scarecrow Says:
August 28th, 2008 at 1:25 pm
I was with you dudeydudedude until you brought the lack of brains into the conversation. That’s just uncalled for… If I only had a brain. As for the aforementioned website - I like it. It’s clean and has some nice functionality built-in.
evan Says:
August 28th, 2008 at 2:57 pm
Love the rollovers in the “See what’s cooking in the Taste Book store.”
A very nice site - very traditional and clean; great job to whomever designed it.
The only criticism I have, is the big, blue “How It Works” link looks like it has the same navigational weight as “Shop” and “Create,” yet when you click into that section, the internal menu is missing. And one can’t easily get back out to the Shop or Create sections.
Though I understand the “How It Works” section is more of a landing page, and the intended path seems to be to get users to create a book and register for the site. There’s some very minor confusion there.