General stuff

Why are we here, and who sent us?

Around 1997, as a busy web designer, I wished I could scan good looking web design work to help inspire me for new projects from time to time. Sometimes I'd feel in a rut, and I often wished there was a good source to VISUALLY browse the coolest designs. This is not to say I wanted to steal other designs, which is a conclusion some people jump to -- this is to say that viewing creative work from others would open my thinking and allow me to take something I'd seen, and by the time I was done, I'd modified it into something distinct and my own.

CoolHomepages.com is the answer to this need, and thankfully, it's become evident that I wasn't the only one who was looking for a resource like this, based on all the great feedback we receive from all you webheads.

As for who sent us, it was our parents, I guess. Or maybe aliens. Or Elvis. Probably Elvis.


Submission questions

Did you add the site I submitted yet?

Do a search in the search box in right side of header to find out.


Why didn't you add it, and should I be offended?

This is the hardest part of running this site, hands down. We are really sorry if we decided not to add your site, but please don't hate us. Somewhere along the line, we decide what's a remarkable homepage, and what's not really that remarkable.

Remember that this site is not about good content, it's about remarkable design and website building. We try hard to include the sites that strike us as remarkable, and that we think others may want to see to get ideas and inspiration.

We have to work to not include too many sites that look sort of the same.. there are tons of great designed sites that look really similar out there, so we don't include them all, we include a few of them. We're looking for good design, with variety and innovation primarily.

This site doesn't claim to be the last word on good homepage design, nor will it. What goes on this site belongs here, in our opinion, those 3 words being key. No more, no less. Have a nice day - hope you understand our position.

How long does it take you to get my submission, check out the site and add it to CoolHomepages?

Anywhere from several weeks to several months because we are always swamped out of our minds with submissions, as well as (you know how it is) millions of things to deal with, not to mention non-working hours, as few as they are!


What constitutes "cool"?

Cool can be a lot of things. Almost the only thing it can't be is something we've already seen over and over again. Our watchword is 'REMARKABLE' - there must be something remarkable about the homepage design that others may be interested in seeing. It could be a layout, a cool way to embed a Flash movie, maybe just the navigation scheme. Almost anything we haven't already seen before, and is clever and usable, could qualify.

We intend to include pages and designs that have done something unique, and something that works well for some reason, usually due to their attractiveness and functionality.

In the interest of pushing the envelope and breaking new ground, sometimes a design or element that's just plain different can be "cool". We look for pages that have something special happening on them that we think others might like to be exposed to.

The art of the homepage is a dynamic and changing pursuit, as users become more accustomed to navigational and informational devices and paradigms (I hate myself! I've used the word paradigm!). We can usually tell a bad homepage design right off the bat: it confuses us and is unattractive on some level. What makes a good homepage is a more difficult question, and 10 people will give you 10 answers to it.

We believe the best and coolest homepages are a mixture of functionality and visual attractiveness. What's the best percentage of each? That's a question you'll have to answer for yourself.

But what are Yahoo and NBCi and ParentSoup and all these other big sites that aren't very attractive doing here?

Good question. Good answer: A lot of us have to build these sites, and it's tough getting a hundred pieces of information all onto a page and making it navigable alone. This is a craft just as visual attractiveness is a craft - so for the benefit of those who are building these enormous portal type sites, we include the big boys as reference for you even though they are not great designs necessarily. If they're that big, they've gotta be doing something right on some level (we hope, anyway).

We strongly encourage you to submit homepage designs that you feel are outstanding in some way, in order to build this site and it's usefulness to the development community.


What happened to the old layout?

We decided that the stacked bricks look was more fluid and cool looking, plus with the added comments and author credit boxes, it allow you to interact better with other users.


What are these "Request Invite" buttons I'm seeing? Do I need an invitation to be a user here?

You do NOT need an invite to me a member/user here. Anyone can sign up.

However, if you want to help us curate content and post it at CoolHomepages in the Design Gallery, you will need to request an invite for that. We are looking for people with a great eye for superior design so that the level of content stays as high as possible. If you're invite is accepted you will get our CoolPinIt button that helps you instantly grab and post cool designs from other sites.

If you're interested in helping, please request an invite (button is near the search bar area in the Gallery) - we'd love to hear from you!


Why do I see sites that I think SUCK here?

Remember - the sites here have done something remarkable that others may be interested in using or seeing. It could be a site with bad navigation, but a beautiful color scheme. It could be a site with horrible colors, but a homepage layout that would really work for a lot of folks. Maybe they have a new take on rollover buttons that we haven't seen before and that others may be interested in seeing.

Of course we are more likely to feature a site that works well as a WHOLE, but that's not always the case.

It's true, there are some sites here that kind of suck, but there's something special, remarkable or innovative happening if you look.Or in some cases the site was included for a point of reference.

Lastly, one person's junk is another person's gold. It all depends on your needs and your perspective.


Design portfolio questions

Why isn't my Design Portfolio listing up yet? When I search for it I don't see it.

First off, we offered free listing for a limited time, but the listings are now offered for a low fee of $8/month. So you might need to subscribe to our portfolio listing here. Another issue could be that you bought the listing and filled out your portfolio listing samples, etc. but that we haven't approved it yet. This normally takes a day or two, or less. Our moderators need to review your listing to make sure things are all in order, then we'll email you to let you know your listing is live.


How do I get my Design Portfolio listed? I've paid already!

If you've completed the Paypal checkout process for your Portfolio Listing, all you need to do is go to your Account area and click "Designer Portfolio" link there. Complete your portfolio listing and submit it. Our moderators will check it to make sure things look good, then we'll email you that it's been activated. This process could take up to 48 hours but normally it happens the same day. If you have any problems please contact here thanks.


Why is the Design Gallery MODERATED?

Traditionally, the Design Gallery has always been moderated, in order to make sure we are bringing you the best and brightest designs. We're sticking to that part, otherwise the site would be full of barely good designs unfortunately - you should see a lot of the submissions we get.


What happened to the Critique Area??

Not many people were using it and nobody was critiquing the sites except me, so we decided to put it in mothballs for now.


How can I create public or private Boards (collections) of designs I see at CoolHomepages?

Couldn't be easier. Just sign in and while you are browsing designs, click the blue ADD+ button! Go to your Profile area and edit your boards to make them public or private and rename, add, delete or share as you wish. Have fun!


What is "pinning" and how can I start pinning at CoolHomepages?

Check out Pinterest.com (they are the hottest thing in the news now and for good reason) - they use the term pinning to mean posting a piece of content. Allowing users to go out and curate their own content is here to stay.


What is "curating content?

A huge trend online is curating content - which means to go out and find content you like then post it on a site for others to enjoy. It's like the curator of a museam... that's the person who is in charge of deciding what art goes on display and where it comes from.


User account & login stuff

How does Facebook Connect work as far as logging into CHP?

If you have a Facebook account, and you have already created a CHP account, you can connect them together. If you are logged into Facebook, you'll be logged in automatically to your CHP account when you go to the CHP Profile page. If you log out of Facebook, you will still be logged into your CHP account for that session.

You can still log into your CHP account without logging into Facebook, as long as you know the username and password you entered when you signed up at CHP.

How do I logout?

There's a logout link in the footer in the bottom of this page.

I forgot my password...

The login page has a password retrieval form you can use.

I am having login trouble!

Please contact us here if you don't see an answer on this page.

 

Thanks all. 🙂

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