Navigation/Architecture/Content/Typography
There are two primary navigations and a secondary navigation on every page. One primary navigation includes "Gallery", "About", "Submit" and "RSS". "Gallery" lists snapshots of the collection. "About" is the introduction of BestWebGallery. "Submit" allows people to post comments and submit good websites which can add to this collection. "RSS" allows people to easily stay informed by retrieving the latest content from the sites they are interested in. They save time by not needing to visit each site individually. I think these groups make sense. Another primary navigation is on the right with title of "Category". At first I thought it is a secondary or third navigation, but after a while I found it always keeps the same as I click links on top primary navigation. I think it is designed this way because of there are many subtitles but not enough space. But this kind of design is a little confused before I get used to it. I would put all primary navigations together.
I can tell the difference of hierarchy between primary navigations and secondary navigation by their font size. Primary navigation has bigger size than secondary navigation does. When I rollover the links on the top primary navigation and secondary navigation, their colors change from gray-blue to white. After I click, they stay white so I always know where I am. However, when I click the links on right navigation, their color don't change, only the content area changes. So I'd like to make it the same as previous two navigations.
This site doesn't have deep architecture because it only has two levels of navigations. I think it is a good design. Since all categories are parallel to each other, a relative flat architecture can give users a clear and obvious scene.
Grid/Structure
Because this site use google search engine, when I click all links in the secondary navigation, it will bring me to google search result. Sometimes it opens a new window, sometimes it opens a window in itself. So in these cases I need to close new window or click back arrow to go back to the previous page. I think it would be a better way to put new windows in a frame inside the homepage so that people will not get lost and the grid can also keep consistent.
When I look at "Ajax" page, I'm focus on the images in the content area because they have bright color and take large space.
Iconography/Imagery
As a collection website, there are many images on it. It is okay but I'd like to see less images per page. Take "Flash" page for example, I need to scroll down to see all images on this page, and the page number is also at the bottom. I'd like to add more page numbers and keep less images in one page without scrolling down, which would be more user friendly.
Color Palette
In "Submit" page, there are mainly four colors: black for background, white for text, blue and red for advertisement. They separate this page to three parts: top, left and right. The dark background can make light contents clearly. I think that's why these colors are chosen.
Site Focus
This site focuses on collecting good website for reference. It connects to google search for more related links, and also provides a keyword search bar on the secondary navigation so that people can search information in site. The most useful part is "Submit" feature, which supports interactions between this site and users. People can leave message, submit the websites they think are excellent, which is a efficient way to increase the collection of BestWebGallery.
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