For a website to be effective it has to have an aspect of
functionality. Let's discuss a collection of widely used Web 2.0 and
more traditional layouts in style & personality yet maintaining ease
of use.
The classic Traineo
Traineo is a
classic early-Web 2.0 design: its layout forms a much dark header,
bright & open content area and runs on bright colors to draw
attention.
This style can provide functionality through combining
considerable number information while maintaining straightforwardness
experience (crucial for expansive potential user base).
The familiar iStockPhoto
More stylish end of the scale is iStockPhoto, with a common proposition (selling photos sourced from the user base).
There's
a solid top bar, which is kept as small and with neutral colors (grey)
to enhance bold imagery. With iStockPhoto's home page you can merge soft
& hard information.
Users are inspired by the overlaying
photographic splash, highlighting variety of superior imagery with a
luring search box and a straightforward pricing display seems obvious.
The typical fun Rememble
If
you're looking for a typical fun layout, then Rememble is a classic
example with sociable rounded fonts; the solid top bar provides broad
white spaces and invisible structural pixels, a peculiar logo, bold
titles and vibrant solid panels that keep things interesting.
The busy ComponentArt
Although
reduced to some extent, the ComponentArt still has full of activity
going on in its simple layout. You'll notice 4 columns making the site
look quite active, but with several wares on display, what's different
this time though, is the functioning customary branding & tab/L2nav
bar above a thrifty page design below.
Purina's simple splash layout
Purina,
a pet website employs a more customary solid-panel design while it
keeps the rest of the layout pretty neat and conventional. It has 2 main
columns hence no difficulty in looking for content and simple
navigation through the use of dropdown tabs. This best suits a growing
audience.
My Musik Downloads
It's difficult
to place My Musik Downloads among 2.0 designs, right? The home page
alone does tell effectively the function of the website. But I'm not
sure of the relevance of more essentials page down; if you have a lot
going on then at least try to include everything on top.