Just trying to get some inspiration for a new directory design and wanted to see what others are doing. Do you guys have any that you particularily like? Sadly there aren't that many that I feel are really great with the exception of aviva. Are there others?
Thanks for the link, some nice ones there, but I have to disagree with somuch and delightful blogs, nothing special, pretty run of the mill. WOW directories is very nice though. Thanks.
"Well-designed" directories does not necessarily equal "good" directories. While having a well-designed site is nice, you will notice that there are many really pretty directories out there that are absolute crap, have little to no content, and probably very little traffic. I have always been of the opinion that giving users a nice aesthetic view is secondary to building a repository of quality information which is beneficial for your users. Check out the following list of some of the oldest and most-respected directories: http://botw.org/ http://dmoz.org/ http://dir.yahoo.com/ http://www.hotvsnot.com/ http://lii.org/ http://www.joeant.com/ Now, I will answer your original question the way you probably wanted it answered and list you some well-designed directories that I can think of off the top of my head... http://www.alivedirectory.com/ http://www.authoritydirectory.com/ http://www.avivadirectory.com/ http://www.directorydump.com/ http://www.ewebpages.org/ http://info.vilesilencer.com/ (list of directories, but I like their new design) http://www.freewebindex.com/ http://www.romow.com/ http://www.twd.in/ http://www.wowdirectory.com/ http://www.zorg-directory.com/
Design is the last thing to worry about, I saw a couple of threads on the DMOZ forum saying they should update their design. When I get my yellow pages phone directory every year I'm not bothered what it looks like only that I'll find a plumber in it. If you have a good and unique category structure, with all of the categories populated with some useful sites, then great make it look nice, simple to navigate and use. My preference is the simple DMOZ, BOTW style, it's what I wanted for mine but my designer got a bit carried away
I think design does matter for a directory but it should be elegant and simple, you don't want to confuse the visitors.
Ya, I think design matters as well, cause I am turned off by alot of directories that look like out of the box style. While not the priority, I think an aestetic design WITH good content will be great. Thanks for the links EverQuery!
design does matter, it shows how much effort the owner put into. Of course, it is just one of the main factors.
Just to bring to your attention - It has some issues in two of the browsers I checked. http://www.jungletravelguide.com/info/5/Araucaria_Hotel_ski_stay_at_Savoie.html
how much budget to hire someone for doing coding and design? for me design is important for directory, i always asking my friend (who do know about directory) to take a look and give opinion about design.. some of them asking me to change the design