Site kcchiefs.com designed by Jeffrey Zeldman.
 

Yesterday I teased that I knew who designed the new kcchiefs.com site and that it was one of the most famous and most well-respected designers in the world. I didn't want to say any more in case Jefrey wass planning to do a write up on the design, as he often does. I didn't want to spoil his "big intro."

Well, he did do a write up and it's now online: http://www.happycog.com/work/kc/

A lot of you have had pretty negative things to say about the design, so I thought you'd find it interesting that it was designed by the man many consider to be the most influential web designer ever. I assure you, Carl did not go "on the cheap" for this design.

For those who don't know, Jeffrey has written a few books, including "Designing with Web Standards," a runaway success that is often credited with being the catalyst for the move towards web standards and CSS layouts.

Jeffrey is more well-known for doing useable, standards-compliant, accessible sites than he is for brilliant visual design. I think that shows here. The visual design is an improvement over the old version to be sure, but it is not out of this world. A look at his personal (www.zeldman.com) and business (www.happycog.com) sites will show this.

I guess you could say that Jeffrey is more of a web theorist than a graphic designer.

In any case, I just thought you might find it interesting that the Chiefs obviously shelled out the big bucks to get the biggest name in the biz.

Didn't impress me at all and yes I have heard of Jeffrey. The background distracts from the content a big time your fired no-no in web design. You know that. The headers/catagories don't make sense. Cheerleaders rates a title unto itself? Grey? who does grey?

You can't really think that this site has a good design can you? Jeeezzz .

Hell, I would have done it for better seats.

The background and the typography are my two biggest complaints about the site. To be fair, though, you can change the background, which makes it a helluva lot easier on the eyes.

The typography is just very "blah". I wish more attention had been given to it.

My point wasn't really to pimp the site or Jeffrey -- I just thought you all might like to know, since yesterday a lot of people were saying things like, "this was obviously not done by a professional" and "I guess Carl is being a cheapskate yet again." Jeffrey's book turned me on to standards, so I have to give him props for that, and he has been very kind in driving some traffic to my personal site (jeffcroft.com) a few times, but other than that, I don't have a close relationship with him. Certainly, he is very influential and that has to count for something.

For me, the bottom line about the site is this: it looks much better than the old one, is much easier to find the info you're looking for, and it appears to have an RSS feed in the works.

That's good enough for me, even if it's not perfect.

Did I say I thought it had a great design?

Me too!

It was more of a metaphorical question than some kind of accusation that you were personally full of shi@. Now I don't know if that is the case or not. I will reserve judgment on that until I see if you get those seats or not...:hmmm:

Fair enough. :D

I for one like the site.

I'm not a fan of the background color.

But its clean, and easy to get around. I hate websites that get cluttered up.

I agree. The default background is distracting, but the others are fine by me. The site is more clean and the information is easier to get to and use, I think. While I may not give the design an A+, I do think it's a really significant improvment.

What's wrong with grey? Bob Dole likes grey just fine.

Gray back ground looks really good with blue and white, not red. The site isn't bad, but it isn't good either.

See my point exactly. Bob Dole is on the grey bandwagon. Whos next Art Linkletter, Sen, Thurmond (okay he's dead he can't be on the bandwagon), John Barrymore, Grover Cleveland ?

I like it. I really like grey backgrounds. Especially with red.

I think it is the best website effort ever. Kudos to the Chiefs.

I like grey -- greay is wonderful! But, I think the default background's patten is distracting and a bit hard on the eyes. The color is fine, though!