Inspiration..

[derekteixeira]

Hey guys (and gals :) ),
I'm new here, so I just wanted to start and introduce myself! My name is Derek, and I'm from New Jersey. I work currently for a rug company and I am doing their website, ads, and ebay store management. I went to the Chubb Institute and graduated 2 months ago.

My second question is this -- do you know where I can get some inspiration for a website design? Like some standard looks and feels for a business/retail website? I have a bunch of great creative ideas, but they more or less want to keep it pretty simple, but modern. I know of cssgarden and stuff like that, but do you know anywhere else I can look? Thanks in advance.

[BrainDonor]

Hi Derek,

Welcome. I struggle with inspiration at times as well. Right now, as a matter of fact. I am in the process of designing a PHP driven "dashboard" for on-demand financial information for my company. I have all kinds of ideas, but not sure where to start. When I get into this "writer's block" mode, I usually use google to bring up pages/sites similar themes, etc and see how others are designing their pages. I don't do this to take their ideas...I do this to get a push in the right direction. Hope this helps.

[derekteixeira]

Yeah, that's a good idea. I've been trying to do that all morning. i wish the company told the direction they wanted to go, or the theme or something. It's like, "Hey, make us a site." That's it. No ideas what they want on the site, or anything. It's a headache :(

[dtm32236]

hey Derek....

like BrainDonor said, look at the competition. do a google search for rugs and carpeting and see what kinds of websites come up. look at a few of them and note their best features and layout ideas - then you can (without stealing their ideas) create a combine a few ideas and start working on your own, improved design.

Definitely check out the competition and see what they're doing.... that's probably the best way to go.

Good luck with everything!

[ray326]

http://csszengarden.com

[tyman00]

I've visited here a few times:

http://coolhomepages.com/sort/?catName=Best+of+the+Best&sortType=DATE&pageNo=1

I also own this book:

http://www.amazon.com/Web-Design-Index/dp/9057680637/ref=pd_bbs_sr_8/104-7997678-8646314?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1194302079&sr=8-8


I just page through it getting ideas. Since I usually have general ideas of what I want to do with new projects I will fine tune those ideas with this book. It's part of a series:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/series/90263/ref=pd_serl_books/104-7997678-8646314?ie=UTF8&edition=paperback