The Dumbest Layout I Ever Made

[Robin]

There are a few layouts I'm really proud of, and then there's the infamous Version 4 of WithinMyWorld.org, profiled in this article titled "The Dumbest Thing I Have EVER Done in Webdesign. (Click, but be warned: Much illegible. Very font. Such pink. Wowww.)

But all designers have hits and misses when it comes to layouts--it's the nature of the business, I guess you'd say! LOL!

So, what's your least favorite layout you've made, and why?

[Mikari]

Colored scroll bars! I miss those.

I guess my worst layout would be the non-layouts from my first few months. I say non-layouts because all they had was a background consisting of a repeating faded picture and banner or picture on top. They were very plain, so plain that I couldn't even call them layouts. The picture was faded enough not to make it hard to read, but they were just too empty as layouts. There have been others I didn't really like, but none quite as bad.

In terms of more recent layouts, I've made a few that are not mobile friendly, though that wasn't a concern in the early 2000's, it's kind of a big deal now. There is one that is actually up that I intended to leave up only for a little while, but life had gotten in the way and I'm not done coloring the picture for the layout that will replace it. The lesson: don't put up layouts thinking that it's just for a little while.

[Robin]

LOL, I'm guilty of the "just for a little while" layouts, too. One was supposed to stay up for 2 months and ended up staying up for 2 years. College happened...BOOOOM no energy/life xD

Most of my layouts fall into the tremendously simple, even though I try to challenge myself with every layout to try new things and learn new techniques. Version 4's challenge was "use a color I hate with more images than I'm used to..." and it failed pretty hard, ROFL.

(Now that I think about it...I actually got REJECTED from a webclique I tried to help out with because of Version 4. Even though they said on their site they "really needed any help they could get," they emailed me back saying I "probably wouldn't understand good design well enough to help out with it." They went defunct about 3 months later, mwahahaha)

[Mikari]

Well that was mean O.o;; if they're going to be like that it's no wonder they didn't last long.

[Camy]

It's actually not that bad on my screen, probably because my contrast is turned down XD

My Sesshoumaru fansite once got rejected for a affiliate because of one of it's layouts from another Sesshoumaru fansite years ago. I was really hurt since their tone was so condescending, even saying that the information about his birth was wrong despite it being pointed out that it was a guess.

My least favorite I made is version 9 for Sesshoumaru's Castle. The overuse of the blood brush and brushes in general plus to the awful letters with strokes! Aggggh, what was I thinking!

[dubiousdisc]

It is probably a good thing that there's no such thing as a screenshot of my layouts from 2004...
Please close your eyes and imagine: a page with poorly drawn pictures of Pokémon in insane neon colors and gradients from one corner of the page to the other in BRIGHT RED TO BRIGHT YELLOW. And Comic Sans marquees. Yeah okay, good that there's no screenshots of that.

That layout was up for the summer of 2004 and I gotta say, it was painful to look at, but it sure gave the full burning summer experience. XD

[Crystal]

I'm looking through all my old screenshots and I am finding nothing I didn't like or found embarrassing. I tend to be extremely picky about what I will and will not use. If I don't like it I don't use it. I think also anything I did use and didn't like I scrapped a long time ago and don't remember anymore as a result.

[Robin]

@Mikari: Yeah, that particular clique (plus a few others circa 2005) had some REALLY snarky elitist designers...made me feel pretty awful about putting anything online for a while. Then that clique got shut down, ostensibly due to "lack of people joining" (I WONDER WHY? LOL). I was like "Oh, well, karma's a bitch, ain't it?" LOL

@Camy: LOL you might be glad your contrast isn't turned up...the sheer pink-ness might sear your retinas permanently, xD. (Your Sesshomaru layout wasn't too bad, all things considered--it was still a darn sight better than the stuff I was designing at the time, LOL. But that stinks that somebody decided to be a butt about your site :/)

@DD: LMAO COMIC SANS MARQUEES!!! I had a design kinda like it in the fall of 2003. Just imagine: bright cyan page, pink links that turned purple when you clicked them (OH SO FANCY...YOU ALREADY KNOW~~). I wasn't skilled enough to do gradients or even add images yet, but the site might have just spontaneously combusted if I'd added that to the mountain of fail that was my first-ever layout. LOL

@Crystal I agree with you, these days I'm a LOT pickier about what I use on my sites. When I first started designing, though, every layout I made was awesome, until I visited someone else's site and saw how amateurish mine was in comparison ^_^;

[Crystal]

Haha yeah. I remember thinking like that too. Makes me glad I have improved a lot since then. xD

[Mikari]

I once had a layout with Comic Sans, but no marquees. I actually liked that one. XD I prefer Arial and Verdana, but I don't mind Comic Sans, though a lot of people seem to dislike it, I can say I'm not one of them.