sugarenia.com

Today marks the (re)launch of the well-known all-around tech site, Webmonkey.com. For those among you that are not aware of this site, go do your 1999 Internet homework and then come back.

To be frank, I couldn’t care less, but it stole one of my favourite blogs, Compiler, from Wired.com. And by stole I mean well, took back. So I had to unsubscribe and resubscribe. So yeah.

Well, by browsing around, the relaunch is not that bad after all. Some grid-iness and Web 2.0-iness around but nothing to write home about, plus, there some faults here and there that I’m sure they will be sorted out.

I liked the “directorified” headers (geekiness) and the warm colours. The menu is not bad either, simple and effective.

So head down there and shake mr. Web-2.0-Monkey’s hand. Not the one with the wrench, the other one.

webmonkey, compiler, wired, relaunch

Dear sexy girls out there,

You’re browsing social networks all day long, or have a video blog with nothing but you in provocative clothes talking about the latest buzz, or post hawt photos of you in underwear, clutching to your Macbook. You have a highly popular Facebook profile and you subscribe to every new trendy social web app.

You get thousands of comments by sex-deprived guys, you have a million pageviews, a gazillion of subscribers.

You think you’re the sexiest geek alive. You think you’re the geekiest piece of sex that exists.

Well, I have a message for you.

You’re not geek.

You may be sexy, but you’re not geek. Get over it.

Love,

Sug.

P.S. Wanna check out a sexy geek? Asia Carrera. The porn star that spends her time playing Unreal. Respect, girl.

sexy, geek, asia carrera

ZDNet.com got recently a design overhaul that for the most part, went really good. Browsing the site though, I couldn’t help but notice this:

Notice the difference? 

In the first image, the masthead in blue is used to contain some blog title, author name and author image.

In the second image, the same masthead is used to contain the actual title of the article, which starts directly in the white container.

Note: Please ignore the troll writing the post. Oh hai, Mac-bashing troll, how original!

It’s a subtle difference but it’s there: why the double role for the blue masthead? I think that it’s perfect for accommodating information that you want to emphasize, but it’s not really appropriate for the article titles. Why? Because its colour and texture feel marginally different, and a title must follow the article in this sense, closely.

So I kinda think it’s an inappropriate way of showing headers - since this same space is already used in a different context elsewhere in the site.

I must get a life. Really.

zdnet, web design

I was testing out BrightKite during the weekend, so I stumbled upon this nice piece of a login page:

Apart from the obvious pun (log, log in, log, haha.ha.) this login screen is right to the point. Just a big nice login form, a “Remember me” toggle, two links out, nothing but the the bare essentials.

What I’d do different: in my humble opinion, the two input fields look kinda awkward, placed side-by-side like this. I’d place them one under another. And I’d make their labels more prominent, maybe a stronger colour. 

Well done, BrightKite!

P.S. This is not the main login screen of the application. The main login screen resides in their homepage. To access this “loggy” page, you must try to access a login-only page (say, your account configuration page) while logged out. Log Get it?

brightkite, web design, login page

I hear a lot of buzz lately around a new service called Mento, which you can preview in Mento.info. It’s supposed to be an easy way to share links with friends, a task most of us do it almost daily (damn you).

Being the nerd I am, the first thing I noticed was the nice - and unusual - design of the site. Behold:

It’s pretty simple actually. Black and white and a splash of light blue here and there. Nice sense of contrast and hierarchy though.

But what I love is the way the site makes your eyes travel from one point to another, making you following their intended hierarchy either you want it or not. Even if the headers are not all lined up and make your eyes wander, the placement is smart enough to make it look like a snake road, leading you eventually to the nice and simple beta registration form.

Couldn’t get any simpler and more effective. Me loves.

What I could do without: the custom font of the main headers, which are images actually. Bah. Why not use a simple font to match the “Want to join” header at the bottom?

mento, web design