Best Website Designs - Top 10
Website design can make or break an internet start-up and be the difference between a good idea and a successful business. This article highlights some of the most popular sites on the World Wide Web and how professional web design helped them achieve success.
Google
When Google was founded, the competition ranged from search engines that wouldn’t find themselves to those whose web designs bombarded users with paid-for listings and advertisements. A big part of Google’s rise to virtual domination of the search engine arena has been their emphasis on using professional web site design to give users the best experience possible. Using almost no graphics save for their logo, standard colours for links, and minimal, text-only adverts, Google have set a precedent across all their online services which is now followed by almost all search engines and replicated by website designers and web design agencies.
eBay
The distinctive red, blue, yellow and green of eBay’s logo and website design are a global brand which is neatly integrated into a professional web site design. eBay’s web design allows sellers to customise the look of their auction pages and some may even use a web designer to help market their products. This means that the main website design of eBay must accommodate the style of these sub-pages, and the fact that it does shows how successful eBay’s website designers have been.
Hotmail
Hotmail was not originally a Microsoft product, and was so called because it was one of the first webmail systems. It provides an email system using HTML web design, hence the name HoTMaiL. The core idea of providing a service like email through a website design was very popular and attracted millions of users within its first year. This is an early example of a web design that quickly became very successful - less than 18 months after it was founded, Hotmail was bought by Microsoft.
Amazon
Another early World Wide Web pioneer was Amazon.com, this time in the arena of online shopping. The key to Amazon’s success has been the sheer size of its product catalogue and volume of its trade. It took seven years for the company to return a profit but by then it was a giant in the market. Amazon’s website design is vital to its success, with innovative web design features like 1 click purchases and recommendation systems which show customers products they may be interested in. Amazon’s website design continues to develop with features such as the ability to search inside books before you buy.
Milliondollarhomepage.com
Another fine example of how an innovative, professional web design can itself be the core of a successful business is the Million Dollar Home Page. The concept was simple – the website design was essentially a single page, with one million pixels available for sale. Organisations or individuals could purchase ten or more pixels at a time for $1 each. Clever CSS web design means that if a visitor to the site hovers their mouse over any pixel they see the title chosen by the pixel’s owner, though large organisations bought larger areas in which to place their advertisements. This clever use of web design generated over $1 million for its inventor.
Wikipedia
From a website design that you could buy a piece, to a website design that anyone can edit. Wikipedia is a free online encyclopaedia which is written, edited and maintained by anyone who wants to contribute. Wikipedia’s web design is simple and clear, and all articles follow a similar format, making it easy to find information. CSS web design, minimal use of graphics, and neat web design touches like tables of contents and a quick reference box for key facts, plus the sheer amount of information available make Wikipedia the first place many people look online for information.
BBC News
The BBC has provided up-to-the-minute news on its website for 10 years, and over that time its website design has changed very little. The layout, with a header image, site navigation menu in a left hand column, main page content in the central column, and related links in the right hand column makes a website design’s content easy to absorb and it pages easy to find, and will be familiar to any web designer or web design company, since it is often replicated and is the basis for many other professional web site designs. Additionally, the BBC was one of the first website designs to offer a low graphics version, for slow connections or screen readers for the vision impaired.
Youtube
Youtube is now a household name the world over. Becoming the leading provider of web-based video was something of a coup given that giants like Google (who bought Youtube) were already offering this service. Youtube’s website design set it apart from competitors in a number of ways. By keeping the video player as only a small part of the web design, the amount of bandwidth required (a key consideration in professional web design) to play a video is reduced. Showing related videos in the website design keeps users on the site. Finally, including special features like comments, ratings, channels and customisable user pages add value but do not impinge on a user’s experience of the site, which still offers an uncluttered web design.
Myspace
Social networking is one of the newest developments on the World Wide Web and one of the first social networking sites was Myspace. Myspace gives each user their own page, which they can customise almost infinitely, with only the main site’s header required. This means that anyone can have a go at website design for their Myspace page. Today, organisations as well as individuals have Myspace pages as a matter of course, and may even pay a web designer or web design agency to style it appropriately. By giving users almost complete control of their web design, alongside social features of linking to friends and sharing content, Myspace became an early leader in the social networking craze.
Facebook
Another, more recent hit in the world of website design is Facebook. While Myspace users are typically young teenagers, Facebook was started by and for university students as an online version of a yearbook. These more mature users are less interested in customising their personal pages than the functionality of the site, and this is where Facebook excels. The website design allows users to quickly browse their friends’ friends in order to find and connect with other people they know. A recent development is the addition of applications which add new features, from games to tools. Facebook’s clever CSS web design means that these applications fit seamlessly into the main site, and users can add as many or as few of their applications’ elements to their website design. Although users can add as many applications as they want, Facebook’s website design remains tidy and its efficacy remains.
