WSA Winner
Friday April 9th, 2004
"What Do I know" is the beautiful personal site of designer Todd Dominey. Todd's site was one of the first CSS sites I came across that really inspired me. The design is clean, simple and understated. The typographic elements combine with the layout and colour scheme to invoke — in my mind — the image of an elegant, Victorian era periodical. This site is about great content, and the design and typography do everything in their power to make reading this site a joy.
Reviewed by Andy Budd
#1
It remains a lovely site.
But it's already widely known to be so.
I refer anyone interested to the comment I made today regarding the award you recently gave to Stopdesign:
http://www.webstandardsawards.com/previous/stop_design.html#comments
I do regret that I feel the need to say this - because I don't want to come across as a detractor in the face of admittedly cool design; but this is all a bit self-congratulatory. :/
Posted by Martin :: April 10th, 2004 at 12:04 AM
#2
it *is* kinda turning into a flash award site who features every 2a release... there must be more submissions than what's already in my bookmarks?
that said, these sites do deserve awards, so maybe it would be worse *not* to include them - would be strange to visit a web standards awards site in the future and not see stop design et al there..
Posted by gray :: April 10th, 2004 at 08:30 PM
#3
it was todd's site that inspired me to learn xhtml and css. I was the first time I saw the incredible flexibility that .css offers. Not to mention the quality and sensitivity of the design and content. I suspect this site is already a classic for those using or just learning .css. Todd sets a standard to which many out here can aspire.
Posted by ron zisman :: April 11th, 2004 at 02:44 PM
#4
Now its just a matter of time before another classic blog shows up on web standards awards: Simplebits
Posted by David Hellsing :: April 11th, 2004 at 04:53 PM
#5
Yep, almost forgot about that one ;) And, there's also CSS Zen Garden.
Posted by christoph :: April 13th, 2004 at 01:26 AM
#6
Next months winners: -
simplebits.com
mezzoblue.com
alistapart.com
maniacalrage.com
Posted by shaky :: April 13th, 2004 at 05:12 PM
#7
Hey guys, consider a few things. All this talk of the choices for the awards being biased or obvious is really unfair. For one thing, it's not really going to be much of an negative issue after a few more months when all of the sites you'd expect (and deserve) to win have done so. I think what they are trying to do on this site is collect the best of the best, however high profile they may be, and to form a sort of time capsule. Just because a site is in the limelight does not mean can't and shouldn't be recognized here. Many times these are the sites that helped pave the way for CSS in the first place. I imagine this site relies heavily on user submissions (outside of the judges bookmarks), so if it bothers you so much, submit sites you think should win. First and foremost this site seeks to further the cause of CSS and web standards by recognizing noteworthy sites, which is something we should all be able to get behind.
Posted by Jason Santa Maria :: April 13th, 2004 at 08:03 PM
#8
What Jason said.
I'd like to add that we welcome all submissions and we allow anybody to submit a site, regardless of whether you're the designer of that site or not.
Case in point: Radio Reykjavik was not submitted by the designer himself.
Posted by Johan Edlund :: April 13th, 2004 at 08:44 PM
#9
First of all, Johan, I applaud your choice of Radio Reykjavik. Not only is it very nicely judged visually, it's also well put together. Perhaps the most revolutionary thing about its appearance here is that it's primarily not an English-language site. Let's not have CSS and web standards be Anglo-centric. All good.
But, Jason, from the way that you describe this site, anticipating that all the old favourites will be chosen as weekly or monthly winners, perhaps requires a rethink about the way winners are presented. If the idea is to establish some sort of historical archive, why not choose all those sites, whose choice is inevitable anyway, in one go, and have them rest in a 'hall of fame'; serving as a 'gold standard' by which we can judge subsequent sites?
Choosing them one by one, week or month by month, each week passing with little anticipation of a 'new discovery', and with the appearance of a general unwillingness on the part of the judges to look beyond the obvious, really seems to me to be at odds with the idea of a frequently-updated awards site. It makes dull any anticipation generated by the awards, if we all know that there is a prescribed list of deserving but obvious sites that has to be worked through before, generally speaking, we get to see how the wider web community has responded to web standards and the trail blazed by the already well-venerated 'list'.
This is a serious suggestion.
Posted by Martin :: April 15th, 2004 at 01:17 PM
#10
In my last post I'd tried to emphasise some stuff, but apparently this isn't possible. Anyway, just to clear something up: in paragraph three, the words 'appearance', 'obvious' and 'wider' should be italicised. ;)
Posted by Martin :: April 15th, 2004 at 01:50 PM
#11
I don't see what the big gripe is, this site celebrates web standards, right? As someone who is pretty new to the whole idea of web standards I am not aware of any of these so-called "well known" sites. I come to this site to see the good stuff and learn more about web standards, so posting the oldies but goodies is very beneficial for myself and other web designers who are just now coming around to the idea of web standards, there are a ton of us out there and this site and sites like it will help to change that.
Posted by Aaron Cain :: April 15th, 2004 at 03:09 PM
#12
Ok Martin, let's assume for a minute that we dumped all of the accepted good sites in one go to open the door for all of the under-appreciated, unknown sites. How is that truly different from the way it is now? People would still need to submit sites they think are good, or the judges would need to discover them, right? I highly doubt that the judges are biased to only putting their friends' sites in. I will do you one better and say that I bet the judges would choose an unknown site over a well known site (considering they are fairly level design and standards-usage). I don't know any of the people who run this site, and I won site of the month. What's that tell you? It seems to me like the general consensus with people's problems here revolve around the idea that the judges are sitting on a pile of unknown, well-designed websites and choosing not to post them in favor of posting sites people already know and love. Honestly, they seem to be posting the best sites out there. If you know of these sites that aren't getting recognized, please submit them so that we can all benefit.
Posted by Jason Santa Maria :: April 15th, 2004 at 03:34 PM
#13
Aaron,
Sure, I know what you're saying. I'm relatively new, too (I'd say my full awareness of the existence of standards really only came into being during the middle of last year). I understand how talk of well-known sites and 'halls of fame' can be intimidating for beginners, insofar as there are all these sites that you're 'supposed' to know about already, and that if you don't, you're somehow 'behind'. Perhaps this feeling of needing to catch-up helps stimulate the take-up amongst designers and agencies of standards; but it can also alienate people or cause resentment, insofar as there is the appearance of a select club of designers who set up their own awards bodies and promptly hand out the accolades to each other. But listen, I'm all for awarding the hard work, good intentions and great design behind many sites built with standards. Absolutely, do look at all these sites and learn from them - I'm still doing that, I guess most of us are (and from that point of view, I am honestly very grateful, and indebted, to the creators of these sites).
To elaborate my point of view though, I'm concerned that the awards given here are devalued somewhat by the fact that they are often made to sites which, relatively speaking (as it has to be), don't need the recognition.
Jason, first of all, I wouldn't "dump" the likes of whatdoiknow.org anywhere - it in no way deserves that kind of shabby treatment. Give me a little credit for a moment regarding my intentions - I want to be on your side (hopefully I am already).
Do you know how many sites are submitted to webstandardsawards.com? I don't, so there is no way that I can know for sure whether or not the judges are being conservative and going for safe options all the time (which, co-incidentally, seem quite often to be sites of friends or at least acquaintences). But, as I tried to say before, I am concerned about the appearance of all this - how it looks to the wider audience. I wouldn't like to see the charge of insularity being levelled at, for want of a better description, the standards/css movement (ugh). It has to break out, and of course it is breaking out. It has to influence the course of future browser development - something we're all crying out for. But I fear that it might end up being tarnished by its association with the APPEARANCE that its main proponents and innovators are operating in a small, select community.
Jason, I think it's grand that you received the award. I like your site, especially your choice of colours (I take exception to your use of target="_blank" on external links, but that's all, and I've certainly been there, too).
I do intend to put my money where my mouth is and start submitting sites for the consideration of the judges here. I hope more people will do the same, too.
Posted by Martin :: April 15th, 2004 at 04:21 PM
#14
Right on, Martin, I agree with you. We are all on the same side here, that being, standards ra ra ra. I don't really think this grey area of popular css sites gaining recognition appears as much for people outside our web community. If they are becoming exposed to web standards they probably think, hey look at that... it can be done without tables. I don't know that they would draw the distictions that are being drawn here simply because they don't frequent these sites on a daily basis like most of us do. I think the world is going to catch on, they just simply need to be shown it can be done. Sites like the ones highlighted here, and others like ESPN and Wired (etc.) help to do that.
So, where does the distinction lie? Do we collectively put our (web standards') best foot forward? Or do we turn to infighting over what wins inside our community. Where would that lead us? It really should be us against them, not us against us.
I have been looking for sites I think are strong design/standards examples, and submit when I find them. I would love to hear from some judges the way this all goes down. Are they sitting on unknown entries instead of posting them? I doubt this only because it seems they are in this for the good of everyone, and for the good of standards usage.
btw, I still use _blank because I hate leaving a site in the middle of an article. I would rather have a new window. That is just my preference. Know a better way? Please please share! : )
Posted by Jason Santa Maria :: April 15th, 2004 at 04:44 PM
#15
Jason,
I love _blank for external links myself, I really dig the whole movement of web standards but it's a hard task convincing me the benefits of a one window world.
Posted by Aaron Cain :: April 15th, 2004 at 05:10 PM
#16
@Jason & Aaron:
If you dislike leaving a web page while following an outbound link, I bet you discovered this neat feature of nearly every browser in town: 'open in new window'. Or, if you're using Mozilla, Opera or Firefox: 'open in new tab'.
The problem with _blank is that it deprives your audience from choice. People aren't dumb, they'll find this 'new window' contextual menu as you and I have done.
Another reason not to fill the taskbar of your visitors with windows is that monitor real estate still is limited for many websurfers. The typical designer with a 1280 x 960 screen might see no problem in having 6 or more browser windows open at any time; on 800 x 600 your task bar would be jampacked by that time. Just a consideration.
The bottom line is: do not force your all of own prefs onto your audience. As a designer, one big lesson is to learn when to stop designing.
Posted by Jeroen Visser :: April 22nd, 2004 at 10:06 PM
#17
[addendum]
Hmm, I left out one observation: for certain occasions, opening a new window can be appropriate. Portfolio entries like photo's, illustrations and the like. Especially with photo's people tend to expect a new window to open.
As always: the truth lies midpoint along the line black-white. Some blueish grey today maybe. :-)
(and yes, that should've been 'all of your own prefs' in my previous comment ;-)
Posted by Jeroen Visser :: April 22nd, 2004 at 10:23 PM
#18
Well put, you makes some very good points. Perhaps I will reconsider this a bit more. I usually end up opening new pages in a new tab as a habit now anyway.
Posted by Jason Santa Maria :: April 25th, 2004 at 11:46 AM
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