Well Designed Musicians' Sites

http://www.joshuabell.com/
This is the site for Joshua Bell, the well-known violinist. His page is maintained by Sony Records but it offers a lot of content, including photos, audio, tour info, and personal info.

http://www.benfolds.com/
This is the site for Ben Folds. His page is also maintained by his record company, and it offers a lot of multimedia content similar to Joshua Bell's, plus some video footage.

5 Really Poorly Designed Websites

http://www.hrodc.com/
This website for some company has way too many links on one page to be able to navigate easily. What a mess!

http://www.globalaigs.org/
This is the site for the Association of International Glaucoma Societies. Basically I think the layout and colors for this site are horrible. There are also some silly and pointless animations running, not to mention some obvious spelling mistakes. It's very aesthetically not pleasing and if you didn't have eye problems before, you probably will after looking at this site.

http://www.longscycle.com/
I'm not sure what this site is for but it is littered with advertisements and flashing things that go on down the page for basically days and days. Then when those are finished, there is about another 5 days of scrolling worth of whitespace on the page.

http://www.neiu.edu/~flanglab/
Ummm. . . the 90s are over. Update your page please.

http://www.gaia-group.com/index2.htm
This page looks alright at first, but try navigating through it. You'll be lost in the internet forever.

5 Really Well Designed Websites

These sites are some that I feel are really well designed, either for usability sake or simple for aesthetic value.

http://www.bromstad.com/home.html
This site for for designer and artist David Bromstad. I really like his design style which is clearly reflected in his very chic page. The page is interesting and easy to navigate while showcasing some of his best designs and pieces of art. He currently has a show on HGTV called ColorSplash.

http://www.sfcm.edu/
This is the site for the San Francisco Conservatory of Music. The content of the web page is really well organized and it's easy to find the information you need, whether you are a prospective student, current student, or simply someone interested in upcoming performances.

http://www.cb2.com/
This is the site for the interior design and decorating store CB2. They have great colors and lots of fun links to draw you into the sight. CB2 is one of my favorite stores if you are looking to decorate and revamp your living space. Their website does a wonderful job at showcasing their modern and funky style.

http://ellen.warnerbros.com/
This is the homepage for Ellen Degeneres' daytime talk show. She's one of my favorite comedians and her show is fantastic. This extremely interactive site features many activities any die-hard Ellen fan can enjoy, including opportunities to write to Ellen, submit photos for use on the show, participate in contests, watch funny video clips, buy Ellen products, and read previews for upcoming shows.

http://www.adambouska.com/
This is the website for a really great photographer named Adam Bouska. His web page is set up very nicely, allowing you to click on photos of his models to view more shots of them. He also has easy to follow links to view his rates, services, and ways to contact him.

Some of My Favorite Blogs

Here are a couple blogs I read:

http://simplynick.blogspot.com/
This is my good friend Nick's blog. He works for a publishing company and is an aspiring writer himself. He posts random snippets of his writing which I always enjoy reading!

http://realtravel.com/member-m1387184-amelia.html
This is my friend Amelia's travel blog. We met in Vienna at a chamber music program which we were both in for six weeks this past summer. She kept a blog of everything we did there and even posted some photos.

Comments on Web 2.0 Article

This article about Web 2.0 is very interesting. Personally I did not realize all the advancements in web design that have had to take place in order to create the internet we know today. It was certainly interesting to realize how the web has grown from simple text-only pages into fully interactive programs that can do a variety of tasks. What people are referring to as Web 2.0 now allows users to pull from a variety of sources, share programs, and link sites in order to create very complex pages. For example, instead of a simple text page about local gas prices, Web 2.0 has allowed web designers to link maps to local gas prices, which can actually be added and changed by users around the country. This sort of technology has required new ways of thinking about programming websites, but the result is definitely worthwhile.