What are your favorite website designs?

[#1]

Following on from the thread about the alternative design for the community site, I thought it might be interesting to see what kind of designs of websites that members of the community like.
I am purely interested in what type of styling/layouts you like rather than the functionality that the sites offer.
I am sure that we will get a very mixed response, as design as we all know is extremely subjective, so what maybe pleasing to one person may seem like hell on earth to another! 
As a starter for ten, my favorite sites with regards to styling/layout at the moment are the following (in no particular order):
www.flickr.com
www.last.fm
www.threadless.com
www.apple.com
www.newstoday.com
www.emotiondesignstudio.com
www.37signals.com
These are just a few that I can think of at the minute (What I like does seem to change depending what mood I am in!?!  ;))
Thanks
Jonny

[#2]

I love the design of these forums:
http://www.haveamint.com/forum/
http://beast.caboo.se/
http://lussumo.com/community/

[#3]

This is gonna sound a bit mad, but in my job we got in touch with a company called 'DroughtPlug' who manufacture a Water Saving Recycling Kit that we sell. 
I went onto their website yesterday and my first thought is that I was very impressed with the design, look and feel.  It's really clean, crisp and modern.
Worth a look : http://www.droughtplug.co.uk
So, not a commonly used website at all - but still one that I thought was worthy of a mention.

[#4]

To: PJ
Thanks for the feedback on the sites that i listed, obviously as i mentioned its alll very subjective and potentially i will look at them again in a month and not like them because i am in a totally different mind set
What about you, what websites do you like the design/layout of?

[#5]

Quote from: LiamM

Worth a look : http://www.droughtplug.co.uk

I like it alot! Very functional, but at the same time has a very unique individual design/layout which i really like!
mmmm, recycled bath water

[#6]

Oh and another site I love is www.skype.com
Not just the clean flickr-style visual design but the interaction design is excellent. Everything is made exceedingly clear. The download page, for example, detects your operating system and browser and shows you tailored instructions with screenshots and numbered steps. Of course I don't need such detailed instructions but they're presented in such a way as not to be a hindrance to more savvy users. The actual install procedure is also wonderfully simple. just one screen with three numbered steps: select language, agree to license, install.
Let's hope they get some of those skype designers working on ebay soon (actually i hear ebay's got some major improvements coming soon)

[#7]

How timely... look what just popped up in my rss reader!
http://flickr.com/photos/splat/sets/981332/

[#8]

Two sites I like are;
www.bbc.co.uk and opera, both of which I find easy to navigate and read without a problem, Jack.

[#9]

One's that scale to the full width of my browser 😉
I have to say that unless the design of a site really hinders my use of the site (Some MySpace pages for example) I don't tend to pay attention to the layout - I tend to remember sites that have bad layouts than ones that have good ones.
One website that really jumps out at me as being particularly well designed is Flickr - because it's nice, clean and functional and also means that the site design doesn't detract from the other elements of the page (and, in the case of flickr, the images).
I also quite like the layout on Wikipedia, because it's full screen and it separates the page content (the important bit) from the rest of the site.

[#10]

Quote from: jwing

[big snip] my favorite sites

Sorry but they stink.  It looks like the Web Master went to town on the latest Software for web development.  As for "Site Accessibility" lets not go there!

Quote from: Tamlyn

http://www.haveamint.com/forum/ http://lussumo.com/community/

Sorry but they stink.  New toys come to mind.  As for "Site Accessibility" lets not go there!

Quote

http://beast.caboo.se/

That one is a lot better.

Quote from: LiamM

It's really clean, crisp and modern.  Worth a look : http://www.droughtplug.co.uk

Sorry but it stinks.  It looks like the Web Master went to town on the latest Software for web development.  As for "Site Accessibility" lets not go there!

Quote from: Tamlyn

www.skype.com

Sorry but it stinks.  It looks like the Web Master went to town on the latest Software for web development.  As for "Site Accessibility" lets not go there!
and yes eBay stinks to.  As for "Site Accessibility" lets not go there!

Quote from: Tamlyn

Web Design Inspiration

Ar I now know where these bad ideas come from!

Quote from: jackoab

[big snip] BBC

Is one of the best web sites out there, and as well Google is one of the best web sites out there as well.   

[#11]

I'm beginning to sense a common theme.

[#12]

I've not had a look at all sites listed, but a couple mentioned like Google, Skype, etc I am a fan of.
It doesn't need to be hugely fancy, and sometimes the more basic the better. However I do like to come across a well-crafted website/piece of art from time to time
I like the majority of the CSS Zen Garden designs as well. They are a credit to the power of CSS, and why it should be used far more in its entirety.

[#13]

Quote from: James

I'm beginning to sense a common theme.

Hi All
Let me be clere wen I sed:
(As for "Site Accessibility" lets not go there!)
I was jesting only. 

[#14]

I've always had a soft spot for graphics design websites (tutorial sites and the like). Mark Monciardini's sites are always pretty nice His new one advertising his new Photoshop tips DVDs is here.

[#15]

Quote from: tdadyslexia

Quote from: jwing [big snip] my favorite sites Sorry but they stink.  It looks like the Web Master went to town on the latest Software for web development.  As for "Site Accessibility" lets not go there!

Hi Gary,
Thanks for the honest feedback on the sites that I listed  :D, what i would really like to know though is the kind or sites that you like the deisgn and layout of, as I am trying to gain a understanding of what type of styling our users like.
Thanks
Jonny