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(main page, signup page, and FAQ page) in this contest, whether your designs were eliminated or not, you have not withdrawn them and you aren't starbuckt or mudeth, we'd like to offer you a $50 credit with our service in recognition of your time and talent.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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Question received:

"When you mean no scrolling, do you mean both scrollbars ? horizontal scrollbar & side scrollbar ? Or you're okay with a side scrollbar ?"

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.

We're going to start 4-starring those designs we've reviewed and have *not* eliminated, so we can differentiate them from those that we still need to review, in an effort to stay on top of all these great entries.

As announced, the contest has been extended through the weekend. Entries will be accepted until approximately 11pm Monday UTC, 4pm Arizona time.

starbuckt:

CSS dropdowns would be technologically acceptable if they are easy to use and sufficiently cross-platform without nasty browser hacks. However, a design that used dropdowns but was still "barebones" enough to maintain our image might be difficult to produce. Feel free to give it a try.

Nadia P:

Yes, 99Designs has been very cooperative. We're working out the details with them now.