dope, simple web sites?

i need some ideas for a website layout for a photo based website. ive been working on it on and off (mostly off) for a year or so, but i cant come up with a lay out i like.

hook me up. i dont want to have to think anymore.

no flash.

i'm a fan of the journal style of website where there's just random posts every day or so. much like http://crailtap.com used to be (they still are, there's just alot more columns now) or http://www.hifiart.com before the new layout, but after the old one.

that hifi layout is kinda dope. i could do wiithout the stuff that moves, but whatever.

my problem mostly, is how i want to handle the photo section, which will be the bulk of the site.

i fucking hate sites that have a bunch of thumb nails, so you click on one, and it gives you the full size pic in the window, so then you gotta hit 'back' to get back to the rest of the pics. that shit is wack.

and to make things more difficult, ii have alot of photos that are crazy dimmensions, so whatever i make, has to accomodate all sizes equally well. which is easy, until you start caring about balance and astetics, and then its a pain in the ass.

its taking me way, way too long to get this done.

Originally posted by Coffie Crave

feed back?

maybe its just safari, but it doesnt load real well.

a picture is worth a thousand words. but 3 or 4 words dont make me want to click on the picture.

naw'mean.

yup, im not that great with programing so i keep it simple for myself,

you know what seeking...thumbnails are good...but not a tn of the whole picture like crop it...so it makes the person think ummm what is that just makes them want to click it, to see what it is

they do this on tanktheory.com under art check it out

coffie/ sipn coffe 24-7 yah herd

you could bit the nothing but freights layout.

ehhhhhhhhhhhhhh.....old trueistrue isnt that bad. the new one, which is more along the lines of some random "daily" journal deal is a little too....well...."random" for me. at least how its presented anyhow.

www.trueistrue.com (new...)

http://www.trueistrue.com/tt3/ (older...)

ummmm other examples pour vous...

http://www.normalnatural.net/sketch03.php?...chiv=set3&start

http://www.counter-parts.com/paint.htm

http://www.plastickid.dk/rodeo27/ (splash screens perhaps?)

even though you said no flash....i love these 2...very simple, yet nice.

http://www.quinta-feira.org/eng/armario_eng.html

http://www.rinzen.com/themachine.html

Originally posted by seeking

that hifi layout is kinda dope. i could do wiithout the stuff that moves, but whatever.

yeah, my feeling zakkkkly.

but i was talking bout the previous 'magazine' (for lack of a better word) style of site they had in the interum before the current layout. but whatevs. that way you can kinda have a story behind the series of fotos you are posting, making it more interesting for the viewer, and giving them a little more insight on the photos. as well as that, it saves you having to upload a zillion fotos in one go, and gives you lots of surplus material to add in future days/weeks/months to keep heads coming back for more and not leaving any gaps in the updates as hifi have been known to do on occasion.

yup, there was already gonna be a little story for each. usually i just do the stories as 'alt tags' though. so you gotta roll over to get em. kinda sneaky, sneaky that way naw'mean.

didnt see the magazine layout.

i like the click a thumbnail > load picture > back button

but then again my back button is on my mouse so its not really an inconvienience for me, seeks, theres 2 options i can think of, either

A) have the thumbnails in one frame and then have the pictures load up in another

or

B) click the thumbnail and have it load in a new window

those are both pretty obviouse answers, but relativly simple set ups

maybe i helped somewhat...i tried

i like nice composition with listed links > images pop up in their own window > x em out > click next link

Curious... why no Flash? If I were you, and was looking for a way to come up with a different type of navigation, I wouldn't discard Flash right away. Unless you're ill with Java. Flash doesn't have to "look and feel" like Flash if you handle it right.

i just meant no 'flash sites'...know what i mean? some tastefull flash is fine, and ultimately, i'll wind up using some im sure, but it will be minimal.

not sure if you've seen my present site mams, but it'll be along those lines.

i could make it so each thumbnail clicks open a new window, which would be cool, cause i could force-set the dimensions to the exact size of the pic, which would solve my 'randomly sized photos'/layout, problem. if i did that, id make it so you just click anyplace in the photo and it would close.

one thing i like, and the direction i was going, was a sort of 'slide show', where when you click on one pic, it opens up a pop up with the pic in it, then << . >> navigation back and forth. the problem with that, was the dimmensional shit, which i mentioned.

blah.

i dont know why im telling you all this stuff. no one cares but me.

sorry to get off topic...

but seeks, could you fix my poll? (see tesser's comments in thread). holla.

Originally posted by Tyler Durden

http://www.normalnatural.net/sketch03.php?...chiv=set3&start

http://www.plastickid.dk/rodeo27/ (splash screens perhaps?)

Thanks for the links. Perhaps, this will help me out.