Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums General Discussion Where are the gifted web designers?

AGREE!

I asked the same question as the OP when I first came here. (But must have deleted it; I didn't get a satisfactory answer, apparently.)

MY op about this site's design: VERY NICE!

Seriously. There are very gifted web designers (probably reading this now) who would make this a site that feeds our full senses.

Ultralight, I totally agree too! I think design is one of those things (like copy editing) that if it's done properly you don't notice it

because if you do notice it, it's not design at all. it is... décor.

Usability of websites is a hard problem, and made harder by the lack of agreement on website standards in the industry. But I'm trying to bring my personal website into the twenty-first century. I need a budget to hire experienced website maintainers, which the free information on the website doesn't necessarily support.

Turning this question around, what is an example of a good website for parents of gifted children, with usable and good-looking design?

I like the Sengifted.org website. Summary topics link from the front page a good hierarchy of short dropdown menu options. Pretty modern design, not too busy, appropriate use of fonts and colors, all make for smart UI decisions.

Yikes, you are making me nervous. I hope that my website doesn't fulfill your criticisms of looking outdated! I created it myself this summer, for my advocacy business.

I think it comes down to form versus function and the relative priorities assigned to each given any situation. Personally, I think that for a forum like this pretty pictures and snazzy razzmatazz are completely frivolous.

The most important things to me are speed to load on a suboptimal connection, ability to search, read and edit text. I am here to read and learn form what others have written here and to offer what little I have learned myself along the way.

As a dyed in the wool geek I find that function itself when presented elegantly is beautiful in its own right. A tool that you can look at, know what it's for and see that it is the perfect tool for the job is a delight to behold. That's how I find this site - it does the job perfectly - why gild the lily?

The beauty of design is that it has a subjective component to it... so, "bad" is not necessarily totally distasteful for everyone.

I took a graphics design course years ago, and I have to say I don't find design frivolous at all... if done correctly it can have a tremendous persuasive effect on the viewer (resulting in a quantifiable impact to a business's bottom line). Colour, lines, layout, white space, etc etc... all influence the way we see what we're looking at, whether we want to continue looking, as well as what we notice and remember...