Website Layout Cookbook

I created this book a few years ago with the intention of getting it published, then like many other things I've done, I flaked out when it came to finding a publisher (and who am I kidding, it probably isn't good enough to have gotten published anyway. haha).

Anyway, I decided to make it into a free website instead.

Basically, it's a book of website layouts based on actual HTML and Flash websites that I've found over the Internet. I outlined those layouts into basic shapes and forms (using pencil on paper), so that they could be used as a reference or morgue of layout styles.

Later, I scanned them in and retraced them with Illustrator to give them a clean line.

The intention of this book (or website) is to provide web designers with a resource for coming up with layout ideas by mixing and matching. It also serves as a catalog for clients that are dealing with a web designer where they need a way to visually express how they want it to look.

The website can be found at: http://www.layoutcookbook.com

 

Hey, nice resource! And a lot of work, too. I hereby grant you some green...

 

Agreed, very cool resource. Don't let resistance beat you. Get it published. Don't fear rejection. A great book you should read is "The War of Art" - go get it today.

 

Needs some color- IMO.

 

Yes, I agree. I thought I'd gone colorblind there for a moment until I saw the Google AS

If you're going to maintain the black, white, gray look, I think you should do the same to the AdSense to maintain continuity.

Other than that, it's an awesome site - well done.

Your other images could use some alt-text tags - the ones on the right under "How to Use this Website".

Congrats on your site = Don't Get Discouraged - Get Determined.

 

Thanks for the feedback and comments. I agree that some color will do some good for the page. I wanted to keep it simple and to the point, but maybe it's too simple when it's only black and white.

 

God job, Great resource!

 

You must be getting a lot of hits, because I got this:
"Bandwidth Limit Exceeded
The server is temporarily unable to service your request due to the site owner reaching his/her bandwidth limit. Please try again later."

 

Same here:

 

It doesnt show up for me! For that you get some reds just kidding

 

i don't get it?apart from the adsense aspect of course.
Lots of tiny pictures of designs that no-one can make. Did i miss something?

Agreed it's a nice site, but i don't get it. are you going to actually make some of those available as downloadable templates
(for a few $$ of course).
If you showed that to a client and they said..
"I want that one", most of us here would curl up and die.

 

I guess it depends on how you look at it. If you are looking at it from the perspective of programmer and say "Ok, how can I code the HTML/CSS to make this work", then the designs serve very little purpose.

However, if you look at them from the perspective of an artist, then it's possible that they could aid the designer with visual cues that might inspire some creativity in their next web design project.

It's not meant as anything other than a visual reference to come up with your "own" ideas. Many of them are not even meant to be made into a website or coded as is. They are little thumbnails that are meant to inspire the right side of your brain into thinking up something unique and artistic in your layouts.

For example, you might look at one design and say "Hey, I like the way that the upper left corner has this shape, in my next design, I'll do something similar to that."

To put it simply, it's not a template website.

Actually, if you want to look at it from a programmers perspecitve, any of those designs could be implemented using Flash, rather than HTML/CSS code. But I don't expect anyone to use the designs exactly as is.

Again, just a visual reference for ideas to inspire creativity. That's all.

 

Tell you what, give me a test.

Goto the site: http://www.layoutcookbook.com (I increased the bandwidth, so it should be working again).

Find any layout on the site, find one that you think is so ridiculous that you see no benefit of it being useful in creating a layout what so ever.

Then I'll give you a demonstration of how it can be used.

 

Chopster, thanks for the excellent website.

I hope you don't mind. I quoted you on my blog and posted a link to your site.

http://www.webmasterinvestments.com/2005/11/22/unique-idea-generating-website/

Keep up the excellent work and keep us posted of any other creations you have.

Regards,

-Jon

 

Thanks Jon, that's cool! I'll let you know if I come up with anything else.

 

oh man... thats a great site. thanks for sharing rep added