chordfind.com

For any musicians or aspiring musicians out there, a site I use pretty frequently is ChordFind.com. I mainly use it to find chords for the guitar, but they've recently added versions for four-string instruments and the keyboard. It's really easy to use; you just tell it the name of the chord you need and it shows you on a picture of the neck of a guitar which frets you put your fingers on. They've also added an option for lefties and a reverse chord find feature where you tell it where your fingers are and they tell you the name of the chord. It's not necessarily a very pretty site, but it's really functional.

Lyrics on Demand

Lyrics on Demand is an extremely functional site. It's the easiest that I've found to find lyrics on for any band. However, the design element is ZERO. There is simply a list of the letters of the alphabet. Once you choose a letter you can choose from the sections that letter is divided down in to and find the band that the lyrics are sung by. You can then choose the album, and finally the song. It's nice with all the itunes buying these days, to have a fairly accurate place to go read lyrics. The web site is very bland. There is no design whatsoever, but one has to consider if there should be. Though it would be nice to at least throw in a little color.

Check it out:

www.lyricsondemand.com

Sandersonimages.com

Sanderson Images is composed of some good friends of mine who do portrait and wedding photography. The design of the web site is very classy. The colors are simple and the music is fitting. The navigation bar at the bottom of the site, which is always present, makes it easy to find the information you want...whether it's pricing or examples of their portfolios. The only negative is the time it takes for the slideshow albums to load. I think this could be helped by providing another option to the slideshow with music. All in all though, it's an easily navigated and beautifully designed web site.

Check it out:

Sandersonimages.com

pattygriffin.com

The web site for folk artist, Patty Griffin, is very asthetically pleasing. However, it is incredibly hard to navigate. It takes a few minutes to load, and once loaded you have to wait for this picture of Patty holding a balloon to float by with navigation options. IT's really pretty, but not ver practical. As a fan trying to find concert information, it's frustrating because there is a lot of waiting. It's too complicated for the average computer user in my opinion. I have often given up and sought the information I was looking for elsewhere.

Check it out:

www.pattygriffin.com

I found a web site that might be helpful to everyone as they are designing their final projects. It's ideas and helpful articles for web design. Hope some of you can use it!


http://www.wpdfd.com/

Target

I think that targets website could have been done a little better than it has been done. It looks bad that they have sub-navigations on the top and the side of the web page. Also when you click on the other pages to look at the different categories the colors dont change and the sub pages are the same as the main page, which doesnt keep the person interested in the website. In general i think that website is kinda frustrating to look at because it isnt interesting to look at.

Food Network

I like this website because it is very useful and realistic to use since most people start cooking a lot more when they live in apts. I like the use of color and how with each holiday that comes up it has interesting recipes to use. I also like how the sub-navigation things are used like a folder tab and the colors are very cool and inviting.

Designer Today

I found this website today when trying to find an article for an outside reading assignment for Ted Barnes. I just thought it was a good sight. They have tutorials for several different software programs, articles, job listings, and software reviews. It is set up nicely and easy to navigate. Check it out at www.designertoday.com

IMDB

I really like the website imdb.com It's a website where you can look up movies and find out different things about them. Like who is in the movie, triva about the movie, how long the movie is, when it was made, etc. It's really cool. Check it out.

tvguide.com

In case any of you watch TV, you might want to check out tvguide.com. I mainly just use the listings section, but there is tons of other info on the site, too. If you ever find yourself needing to know any info about a show, it's the place to go. It's especially handy since you can type in your time zone and cable provider so you get really accurate listings, etc.

IBM website

I really like this website a lot. It is very easy to navigate, and it has a search engine in case you are looking for something more specific on the site. Each page has a simple design and they do not change dramatically from page to page. The products page is very informative, it has a lot of different stuff on there, that you would next expect IBM to carry. There are tons of places to get support if needed, and they also make it usable to people of all origins by allowing them to change the site to suit which country you are in. Then when you change the country, it updates the site with the new language and other things offered or not offered in that particular country.

photobucket.com

photobucket.com is another to add to the long list of web-based image hosts. I've used it a few times, and it's pretty good. It gives you the URL as well as tag for each picture you upload, so it's really easy to import the pictures into other documents/sites, etc. You can also make slide shows and save them on the site. You can sign up for a free account or pay for a pro account, which gives you more flexibility in using the site. Sometimes it's a little slow loading the pages with lots of pictures, but all around it does the job.

The Societe Anonyme

http://artgallery.yale.edu/socanon/
It's like you're in an art gallery itself

Like.com

www.like.com

This is a new type of search engine, as the search engine goes by appearance. You are given pictures and then the availability to search for those products in the pictures, or what is like them. You can click different parts to narrow your search to find the exact accessory you want.

Barnes and Noble

Well, it's that time of year again. Businesses are anxiously awaiting black Friday--that time when you hope to sell enough to get "out of the red." Well, Barnes and Noble is no different, and they're pulling out all the stops--and the first place they're working is on the web. It's a clean looking site, but honestly, it's not as comprehensive as I wished. It'ss nicely decorated for the holidays. Colors of Christmas abound. The traditional Barnes and Noble color is a green town, and it is also prevalent--from the navigation tabs to the search bar.

Honestly, I found the site to be focused more and more on new products. They're trying to push sales on bestseller products. Access to rare books was limited. Navagability is effective with a fully functioning search bar on the left side of the page. One weakness, however, is the inability to find certain products without going to that navigation tab or that part of the page (or at least without clicking a whole lot).

Boeing

The average college student probably wouldn't visit Boeing's website, but it's pretty cool. The site is geared mostly toward potential customers--defense firms and airlines. It is visually appealing, though, with lots of cool composite pictures. I also like the way things move over the screen, without using flash. Boeing's site is fairly detailed, and after clicking on multiple links you can find out pretty much anything you want to know about a given topic (like employment--I visited there and found several pages about how to apply and what qualifications the company is looking for).

For all you cooks and bakers out there...

I was looking for a recipe for pumpkin cheesecake today (I really love cheesecake!) and I stumbled on the Ladies Home Journal Website. It has some really great recipes! I copied off several pumpkin cheesecake recipes. If you are thinking of making something during Thanksgiving like I would like to, you should check it out! They have a little bit of everything....www.lhj.com/recipe

IMB Arkansas Student Ministry Story

I went to the International Mission Board website that we looked at in class the other day and there was a story about Arkansas Student Ministries on the front page. I just thought that was kind of "neat." The story probably won't be on the homepage for very long, so go check it out today! It gives this state some very positive recognition! www.imb.org

BBC Online Review

When I looged onto BBC, I was immediately confused. I know BBC stands for British Broadcasting Company so it's a mass media website. BUT if you aren't familiar with it to begin with, it is extremely confusing. It immediately goes to the international version but it doesn't help much. Everything is organized well but again you have to know what you're looking for.

First I tried te accessability link at the top. You can choose different options to make your browsing experience easier but it's a semi-long process to do so. As a web user that could be inconvienient because you don't find what you're looking for immediately. However, if you're a frequent user, it's probably helpful.

The second thing I noticed is that there is no information about the BBC in the user's direct line of sight. Instead it's at the bottom. Not helpful for an new user.

The UK version is just more Britain centered, like a national newspaper. This can also be customized to fit the city or metro one lives in.

Overall the site is a huge media center, not just something to find the news.

Starting from scratch

http://www.webdesignfromscratch.com/

Great for web designers

http://www.fpworld.com/web-tools.htm

Piperlime.com

I received an interesting advertisment in the mail today from a new shoe site put out by gap. They had spent alot of money on this tiny little mail piece, so I decided to go to their site, and it was pretty cool, I think that it has been done in flash, but I am not sure.
www.piperlime.com

Craigslist.com

I have just visited craigslist.com looking for a job, and I was not impressed by what I saw. It was very plane and boring. It seemed very basic and not up to date with the other job sites.

polyphonic spree

The Polyphonic Spree's website is very trendy and the colors that they use are very bold and catch your eye. I like this website because it is very life like with the use of butterflies and the lips that are used as the navigation bar in the middle of the page. I like how there is a border along the sides and the bottom of the page, it makes the website very different. If you like the polyphonic spree this is a great website to get to know more information about them.

WeatherBug revamp

Don't know if anyone looks at WeatherBug for anything but I got used to it because I used to have it when I got AIM. Well they've redesigned their website and it's crap now. It used to be informative and easy to navigate and now it's not. It's quite confusing.

American Eagle

ae.com is a really good website. I like to go there to look for new clothes either to buy online or to see them before I buy them in the store. You can look at different views of the clothes, different colors. It's cool. Also, you can buy gift cards online. Check it out.

Branson

Check out explorebranson.com. It tells you everything you need to know about Branson which is where I want to move when I graduate. The colors are boring but it tells you about everything from shows and shopping to buying real estate there. It's a great site that tells you everything about the town.

leoburnett.ca

You probably should check out this site. It is award winning. I am pretty excited about this site because you can draw stuff with the mouse. Ok so just check it out it is her personal or his personal web site showing his portfolio off.

ford motor company

On the home page of the Ford website I like how it has a flashplayer of the new vehicles that are out for the next year, the only thing i dont like about it is that it doesnt show the vehicles long enough. The whole flashplayer is really fast and it is hard to see the vehicles. I do however like how each navigation has a different color everytime you click on it. That adds variety to the website and keeps the persons eye drawn in. I also like that on the home page everything is set up in a vertical manner because it makes it easier to read things that way, the home page is also set up in a very organized way and it offers a lot on the home page.


http://www.ford.com/en/default.htm?source=topnav

urban outfitters

Urban Outfitters is a really trendy website. Since the store is really trendy and "urbanish" you could say, the sight compliments the store well. I like the website because it is has a clean white background which makes the person's eye be drawn to the clothes. The clothes that are on the website that are on sale have a scribbled line or an arrow pointing to it so that the person's eye is drawn to the sale items. I also like this site because it has more than clothes to offer. It offers accessories, things for apartments, and even a place to look for jobs if you want to work there. Their website is very easy to use and very easy to navigate around.

http://www.urbanoutfitters.com/

communication arts

communicationarts.com, is a pretty amazing website, not really because of how it looks or anything. But I liked to look at all the amazing designer awards and stuff. To look at all that talent is pretty awesome. I also found 5 other web sites that I thought were the neatest. So I liked this site because it lead me to other better sites

Sidestep.com

This website is really cool because it conglomerates all the big travel sites:--travelocity.com, cheaptickets.com, orbitz.com, priceline.com

It finds the cheapest rate for that given date and airline based on a number of travel websites. The website is very well-organized. It utilizes a cool flash tool call "smart sort" that visually represents the prices and progress for the search query. The colors ar emainly blue and orange, interestingly like many other travel websites. It has big bullets and outlinks at the top of the page. It's a very interesting and an effective concept. It takes one very smoothly to an outside site once you find the page of a company that offers you the best price.

The Weather Channel

The Weather Channel website (www.weather.com) is quite detailed. It is easily navigable, while being informative at the same time. It's very colorful, and there are links to nearly anything you'd want--10 day forecast, weekend, hour-by-hour, etc.

All that one must do is enter in a zip code or city and state and they'll pull up a detailed forecast. The market is families, but also, interestingly, it's marketed toward commuters, business travelers, and the like. Ski forecasts also exist. Despite something as "unbiased" as the weather, the channel and website are trying to catch a market of people who want to watch "reality" weather shows like storm stories. so, the website has an increasing amount of video content as well.

Old Navy Website Review

Old Navy. com is a pretty cool website. Currently, they have holiday colors on their page. The main navigation is across the top but once you enter one of those areas of the website then the sub navigation is on the left. Something that I really like about the site right now is that they have a gift guide area. This lets you look for certain items in a specific price range so you can find the right gift for your friend or family member. They offer online shopping and sizes up to 3X. They're clothes are cheap too so that's good! You can also redeem gift cards on their sites. It's a cool site. The usability is great. All of their menus make sense, so you know where you going. Also, it's not too cluttered. I like Old Navy.com

New York Times

Today I am reviewing the New York Times website. I think this website has classical elegance. It is not very colourful or exciting but the overall layout is pleasing to the eye. I especially like the header and Times logo at the top of the page making it appear to actually look like a newspaper not just a webpage. The headlining stories are centered and are easily found with their dominant blue headlines. To the right are teasers to some of the other articles that are available to read and a small stockmarket chart. Something I found useful was the navigation on the left side. I thought it clearly marked and with subcategories to specify. At the bottom of the page is a basic list of the contents which could help you to find what you are looking for easily or to simply know that it is not there. Another feature I like is that there are timers to let the reader know how long ago a story was posted.

University of Central Arkansas

uca.edu is a pretty frustrating Web site. It looks kind of like Ouachita's, because of the purple colour scheme, but is much more difficult to navigate. First of all, the site is slow to load (on each of several computers, though each had the same ISP), which can be frustrating for audiences who are looking for a quick browse. Also, it is difficult to navigate in that clicking on a link to access something will bring you to another menu of links, and often another--and sometimes lead you back to where you started. It's not unavigable, but audiences would really have to be motivated to seek out information in order to keep looking.

google.com

I am a graphic Design Major and I use google constantly, to look up images and such. It is a good image refrence when you are trying to draw something on the comp. Also I use google to look up websites, so that I don't have to remember websites addresses. It makes it easy to navigate. Google is the best. google.com it is so popular you can just type google in the nav bar

google.com

I am a graphic Design Major and I use google constantly, to look up images and such. It is a good image refrence when you are trying to draw something on the comp. Also I use google to look up websites, so that I don't have to remember websites addresses. It makes it easy to navigate. Google is the best. google.com it is so popular you can just type google in the nav bar

ebay!

Well I really love this website. I use it a whole lot. I loke to shop for designer clothing. You can get really good things for cheap. The layout is nice, but it is kind of hard to navigate. I like the pictures, and how buisiness but fun it is. It is really official and I trust it. Use money orders not paypal. Have fun bidding but don't bid on too much. I love this site.

Dallas Stars

At Dallasstars.com there just about everything you need to know about the season, hockey apparel, and news about the Stars activities and games. The website is of course the colors of the team - green, gold, white, and black. It has several ads on the home page from television/radio broadcasts to beer to contests. They have a schedule along the left hand side and another one closer to the bottom with clips from previous games and other multimedia. The website has navigation along the top and other links (that are under the main menus) to the side. An example would be the season's schedule. One last unique feature that this website has is its external link to the NHL website.

First Bank Farmersville

My hometown bank has given their website a makeover. First thing I noticed was the color change. It now uses browns, maroons, and black, where as it used to be blue and white. They have also added a personal element, at least for those of us who live in Farmersville. The header background is a picture of the original bank. The navigation has become much more detailed. This has made the website much more user friendly because now it will not take as much searching for the section you need. The only things that makes it somewhat difficult is that people like me who have been using the old website, it is going to take some practice to use this site.

hi5.com

While I am in posting mode I would just like to inform everyone that last night I visited hi5.com, which is like a facebook for the world, and I saw a setting to edit the CSS... and I knew what that meant, so I made it all pretty using what we learnt in class with headers and footers and colours and all those things I used to be confused about. yay

MSN Review

MSN is a website most of us will use on an almost daily basis. It is the home of hotmail and MSN messenger, two sites I use regularly. The page is attrative with the dominant blue background setting off the pictures used with articles. The flash of the latest news is very effective as it has something for everyone; business, entertainment and feature articles for the day. It is very well laid out and though it seems busy at first, the blocked off segments allow the eye to easily find what it is looking for. Everything is easy to find with no drop-down menus or confusing links. I like the ability it gives to personalize what you want to see and the local weather right in the corner already set to where you are. I also like that you can change the colour theme when you become bored with traditional blue. All in all I think that MSN is a brilliantly user friendly website and attractive to the eye.

ABC

I like abc.com because I can catch up on my favorite shows like Grey's Anatomy, Desperate Housewives, and Brothers & Sisters. It's cool because you can get reacaps on what has happend, watch previous episodes and also see what next week's show is going to be about. They also have spotlights on your favorite actors. ABC.com is a cool website. You should check it out.