Asterisk* 2003 Top Ten Lists -- Web Sites

December 31, 2003 7 | Comments (Closed)

There are a great many awesome Web sites out there and it would be damn near impossible for me to highlight them all, so it was a great challenge to choose my 10 favorite Web sites here. This was one of my hardest posts in a long time.

These are all sites that were either new to me or redesigned in 2003. They could have been chosen for many reasons. A great design, amazing content, or just something I think was special.

My 10 Favorite Web sites of 2003

Andy Budd - Great design, great content and some of the best photos around.
Dave Shea’s CSS Zen Garden - An amazing resource and design showcase.
Matt Haughey’s Ten Years of My Life - I love this and really wish I’d had the idea.
Ethan Marcotte’s Sidesh0w - One of my favorite blog designs and some great content to match.
PGA.com - Showcasing the power of CSS and Flash.
Jon Hicks - Interesting content and a unique and fun design.
The Beat Surrender - Amazing blend of style, design and content.
Dan Cederholm’s SimpleBits - What can I say, one of the best reads around. It’s is fun and educational.
Afterlife - Love the photos and design and this site showcases the good side of Flash.
Speak Up - There has been some really great discussion here this past year.

Very Honorable Mention

Paul Scrivens’ CSS Vault - I’ve found some really great inspiration here.
Karova Store - Bringing Web standards to the shopping cart. Great design to boot!
Michael Heilemann’s Binary Bonsai - I really enjoy the variety of topics Michael posts on. Great design as well.
Dutchcelt - Just love the design and thoughtful posts
Webgraphics - One of the more interesting redesigns of the year.
Bob Sawyer’s Built For The Future - A great resource. The ReUSEIT contest was one of the hightlights of the year.
Squidfingers - Great designs and you’ve seen the patterns everywhere.
Johhny Hollow - Interesting music and killer visual and motion design.

Filed under: Life and Such

Comments

1. Michael Heilemann said:

I told Rikke, my girlfriend, excitedly that I had made the list of Very Honorable Mention to which she replied: “That’s nice… So how come you weren’t on the Top 10 list?”

DOH! :)

Thank you for the kudos, I’m very proud to be among such good company :).

Posted on January 1, 2004 07:28 AM | #

2. Scrivs said:

Hey thanks Keith! Looks like I will have to strive to put at least 4-5 sites in the top 10 this year! You yourself should have asterisk in there since you are one of the few great content design blogs in existence. Happy new year!

Posted on January 1, 2004 11:03 AM | #

3. Jon Hicks said:

Keith,

Thanks very much! I’m suprised and delighted to have made it onto your list!

Keep up the good work - your site always has good quality content!

Posted on January 2, 2004 12:07 PM | #

4. Keith said:

You’re all very welcome. I hope no one feels slighted if they either didn’t make the list or the “top 10” – it was very hard to pair it down to 10, that’s why I added the “Very Honorable Mention” to the list.

There isn’t much of a difference between those and the top 10. And anyway, I’m not necessarily saying these are the best sites out there – just my favs. If you’ve not checked them out, do so, you’ll see some great stuff!

Also, if you’re reading this and have a wonderful site that’s not on it. It’s most likely because I’ve enjoyed it since before 2003. Lots of really great sites didn’t make the list for that reason. Or it could be too new to me…or I may have never seen it! The Webs a huge place after all.

To all the people on this list – Keep it up and here’s to a great 2004!

Posted on January 2, 2004 12:30 PM | #