Web Hosting Provider Site in Web Page Design

Held by NearlyFreeSpeech

Summary

Status
won
Status Comment
Congratulations to the winner, starbuckt!
Entries
128
Prize
$600
Details

A closer look at this contest

Created:
Sat, 05 Apr 2008 23:10:27 +0000
Ends:
Mon, 14 Apr 2008 23:10:27 +0000
Modified:
Wed, 09 Apr 2008 22:18:55 +0000
Last Feedback:
Wed, 16 Apr 2008 01:51:07 +0000
Comments:
26
Designers:
30
Feedback:
90%
Brief Summary

Our mid-sized web-hosting company needs a new site design that accurately reflects its "bare metal, no bull****" values and attitude.

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The following designers have withdrawn all of their submitted designs:

Discussion

26 comments shown 26 total, most recent first

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  1. User
    mudeth
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    Wed, 16 Apr 2008 20:58:40 +0000
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    Bare-knuckle boxing?

    Congrats, starbuckt. Thanks, NFSN, for the 'honorable mention' prize. Looking forward to seeing the new website.

    Just want to say, now that the contest is over, you guys do a great job. You're probably the /best/ shared hosts around, in terms of competence and pricing. One day I'll get down to actually making use of it.

  2. User
    NearlyFreeSpeech
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    Wed, 16 Apr 2008 06:05:11 +0000
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    After long deliberation and several rounds of bare-knuckle boxing over favorite contenders, we have select starbuckt's design trio #100/#102/#119 as the contest winner. Congratulations, starbuckt!

    We felt that the design was simple yet cohesive, consistent with our core values, and we particularly liked the attention to detail shown on the FAQ and signup pages that will make the entire site easy to navigate and easy to read, allowing us to keep the focus on our site content rather than flashy design.

    However, we didn't feel justified stopping there.

    I have elected to award mudeth an "honorable mention" prize of $150. I had a "wow" moment when I saw design #75 due to the way it emphasized key text on the signup page. It was the first design that really nailed that element, which had been giving me a lot of trouble.

    But even that can't really be the end. Really, almost all the designs met our goal of significantly improving on our current site. It may be the case that not everyone can win, but everyone can be recognized. If you submitted a full set of designs (main page, signup page, and FAQ page) in this contest, whether your designs were eliminated or not, you have not withdrawn them and you aren't starbuckt or mudeth, we'd like to offer you a $50 credit with our service in recognition of your time and talent. All you need to do is send us a 99designs private message with your member login and account number and the three design numbers. You can use the credit for whatever you want: hosting, domains, give it to friends, donate it to a worthy site.

    (If you fit those criteria, but you're not to be a member of our service and not interested in becoming one, we apologize; I wish we could heap piles of cash on all the great designs. But let us know, and we'll arrange for some worthy site to receive a $50 donation on your behalf.)

    We would also like to announce that btard wins the coveted combination no-prize for "making us laugh (on purpose)" *and* "worst abuse of MS Comic Sans" and is therefore also eligible for a $50 service credit.

  3. User
    NearlyFreeSpeech
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    Mon, 14 Apr 2008 23:17:33 +0000
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    Thanks to everyone for the entries! It has been a really amazing contest, and the volume and quality of responses overwhelmed us!

    It's going to take us a bit to sort through all the entries and determine our favorite, but I hope we will announce the winner within a day or two.

  4. User
    NearlyFreeSpeech
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    Mon, 14 Apr 2008 17:51:48 +0000
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    Just to make one point clear: each of the three pages we requested contains important design elements. You *cannot* win without submitting examples of all three pages! Please don't force us to eliminate a great design.

  5. User
    starbuckt
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    Comment Date
    Fri, 11 Apr 2008 19:54:50 +0000
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    "The main page should have no scroll bars at all when viewed full-screen on a 1024x768 display. All other pages may have vertical scrollbars as needed. Horizontal scrollbars should never be needed at a 1024 display width, and it is preferred that they are not needed for an 800 pixel display either."

    ...Ah, this threw me off earlier. I was trying desperately to squish the signup page into an 800px long window. Now that i know vertical scroll bars are ok, that will give me a little more freedom in my designs.

  6. User
    NearlyFreeSpeech
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    Fri, 11 Apr 2008 17:31:29 +0000
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    Question received:

    "Out of curiosity, can I ask what your preferences are for a:hover? Most of the links on the site have little to no hover style, is that all part of the "matter-of-fact style"?"

    We're not offering any guidance in the area of hover styles. If they add to the design, they are welcome. If they don't, they aren't.

  7. User
    NearlyFreeSpeech
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    Fri, 11 Apr 2008 17:30:49 +0000
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    mudeth, that is correct. Only the main public site (www.nearlyfreespeech.net) will be revamped. The members site, the blog site, the FAQ site, and the offsite status site are all excluded and will not be revamped at this time. Even beyond that, only the three specific public site pages cited in the brief need to be entered to win.

  8. User
    mudeth
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    Fri, 11 Apr 2008 16:49:55 +0000
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    *NFSN site

  9. User
    mudeth
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    Fri, 11 Apr 2008 16:49:13 +0000
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    NFSN, do I understand correctly that *only* the public site will be revamped? So far I was under the impression that the entire network site will be reworked (including members, status, etc.), but after reading the discussion at the forum and re-reading the brief, I see that I may have been wrong.

  10. User
    NearlyFreeSpeech
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    Comment Date
    Fri, 11 Apr 2008 04:11:44 +0000
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    Question received:

    "Is the "Start Search" button essential?"

    If you can specify a technique we can use to make the fact that the Search box is for searching that does NOT depend on Javascript or the person backspacing over the word "Search," the Search button could be omitted.

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