Do any of you have any websites that you've been to (or run) that you really like?  By "like" I mean:

• They look good in general
• They're easy to navigate
• They're informative but not too cluttered
• They have a nice, consistent look & feel as well as decent branding
• They look good on all devices from phones to tablets to desktops
• Any other reason

 
It's about time for me to recreate mine using the new bootstrap methods and HTML5 (which means the screen size and content is flexible and looks good at all resolutions).  To see one I've already done (for a customer), check out http://nwclips.com/clips/pc/home.asp and to see one that I like check out https://www.whatsapp.com/
 
The big difference is that mine is not going to be a boring "store" model.  More of a small IT business website, but clean and a bit humorous (duh - just check out the larger animation below and take note of what the initials of the business offerings spell!  ).
 

 
I've been accumulating a bunch of business and product ideas lately so I need to prepare myself for when I can afford to begin work on them (I still need to find some type of income just to live while I'm getting this going).  Since some areas are new to me (or I have very little experience in them), I've been watching lots of tutorials and preparing to create a new environment to handle development (hence the Windows 10 questions).  I can't wait to upgrade most of my apps from their current versions to the latest and greatest (which, thanks to a Microsoft Gold MVP friend I was able to get).  My Office 2007 is buggy (especially Outlook) and Visual Studio 2005 is ancient!  
 
P.S., Yes, I know I misspelled becan. 

Not really...I tend to notice website design more when it's bad. Big Big Train's site for example, terrible layout.
 
Btw..what's 'affiliates'?

Hi,
 
In general, no. But they are all different and other than the overload of commercial stuff, which you and I know is necessary to help support things, I simply find that most websites are just too slow and overly full of advertising to be able to be effective and helpful. 
 
It's hard to appreciate a CNN, ESPN or MSN, when it is so dang slow because of the hundreds of crap loading in the background that slow things down to a crawl. IF, your own "store" was this slow, you would not have any return customers!

jamesg1213
Btw..what's 'affiliates'?

When you sell someone else's product.  You sign up as an affiliate and they provide most of the marketing tools for you.

craigb

jamesg1213
Btw..what's 'affiliates'?

When you sell someone else's product.  You sign up as an affiliate and they provide most of the marketing tools for you.

Gotcha.

The other day I ran across a university/govt research site that looked pretty good. The only reason I even noticed is that the functionality had to be the worst, POS, nightmare I have ever had the displeasure of trying to use.
 
I guess I'm a bit jaded as I don't really notice unless the site is like something from the 90's with burning text all over the page or sites that remind me of a used car lot that are primarily just a collection of garish ads.

Yeah, that's exactly the type of thing I want to avoid!  LOL.

I should say that I'm biased because I love this particular company's products and aesthetics, but:
 
http://mutable-instruments.net/home/
 
1. I just love the way the text colors and wallpaper are tied in with the products themselves.
2. Everything is laid out simply without being too busy. 
3. Everything you need is there, but there is never really "too much" information on any given page.
4. There isn't the usual tons of garbage scripting and bells and whistles that makes it only usable with some browsers just to make it look fancy. Instead, it uses the basic design and layout (and the products!) to make it's point.

drewfx1
I should say that I'm biased because I love this particular company's products and aesthetics, but:
 
http://mutable-instruments.net/home/
 
1. I just love the way the text colors and wallpaper are tied in with the products themselves.
2. Everything is laid out simply without being too busy. 
3. Everything you need is there, but there is never really "too much" information on any given page.
4. There isn't the usual tons of garbage scripting and bells and whistles that makes it only usable with some browsers just to make it look fancy. Instead, it uses the basic design and layout (and the products!) to make it's point.

Overall, pretty nice, but you can see they made a compromise.  Now take that and have it adjust for different sizes of monitors and there you go.  It currently doesn't fill my desktop monitor and is painfully hard to see/read on my phone, but the potential is there.

craigb
Overall, pretty nice, but you can see they made a compromise.  Now take that and have it adjust for different sizes of monitors and there you go.  It currently doesn't fill my desktop monitor and is painfully hard to see/read on my phone, but the potential is there.

It's OK on my phone in landscape, but otherwise I would agree.
 
It's more the clean design that I appreciate in a world of pointless, broken jscript and annoying distractions.