Best-Loved Avant Garde Sites
by Shel Kimen
Innovative: that broad term to describe the leaps and bounds of creativity
- in design, technology, and content. The sites listed below lead the pack
through Web space; they've cleared a path for the rest of us. Take some
time to browse these landmark pages (if you haven't already), if for no
other reason than to see a bit of Web publishing at its finest.
c|net online (MIRRORED)
http://www.cnet.com
As far as we're concerned, c|net offers one of the best Web sites online.
Period. Nothing quite compares to the level of quality, innovative design,
and breadth of content. c|net, at its base, is a source for technology-related
news, but the Web site is significantly more than that. It's a link to an
amazing software archive (http://www.shareware.com), an online resource
tool, a how-to guide to the Web, a link to a compendium of search engines
(http://www.search.com??), and a chronicler of the latest industry movers
and shakers (you can stay up-to-date on the latest news via c|net's daily
radio broadcast). There's even an audio tour of the site that's available.
And let's not forget that it looks outstanding - even though we were somewhat
disappointed by the recent home page redesign, which homogenizes c|net's
unique look - and it hasn't missed the boat yet on a Netscape-enhanced extension
(even the Frames are palatable). Navigation is simple, and thankfully well-organized
(there's even a navigational help area). Content is concise, well-written,
up-to-the-minute and useful. The server is lightening fast. Make no mistake:
c|net is Web-o-licious.
Deep Forest
http://mbinter.com/deepforest/deepforest.html
If there's a reason to get Macromedia's Shockwave plug-in for Netscape,
it's this. The Deep Forest site is miles ahead of most other Shockwave-enhanced
sites - entertaining and enthralling, even if you don't like Deep Forest
music. The Director files that you'll download may eat up some time and
bandwidth, but believe us, it's worth it. Listen to a variety of Deep Forest
samples, and then mix in your own, on your desktop in your Netscape 2.0
window. There's also an interactive tour guide, and, of course, miscellaneous
info. about the band to give the site an even balance of techno-glitz and
content. The super bonus: The music continues to play, even when you are
running another application with Netscape in the back. Fabulous!
Lumiere
http://www.lumiere.com
This is the first fashion e-zine that really feels like it's supposed to
be a fashion e-zine. It doesn't just transpose concepts from paper to Web
space, it creates a new publishing model. A hybrid, Lumiere takes the usual
fashion content - runway photos, interviews with designers, hair and beauty
tips from the experts - and mixes it with the best of HTML design and wizardry.
Instead of making you flip through pages and pages to see all the latest
from your favorite designer, Lumiere creates video-like sequences of still
shots to show you the breaking trends of haute couture. It's elegant and
sleek, just like those long-legged, wonder-thins who lace the pages.
razorfish
http://www.razorfish.com
As the Internet and the Web gain acceptance across the main stage, the bleeding-edge
barons of technology have to work hard to keep their techno stunts at the
top of the list. razorfish, a Web design firm from New York, pulled out
of the gates so far ahead of the rest of the horses that innovative design
is just par for the course these days. razorfish was one of the first sites
to make successful use of client/server push and pull, creating an animated
effect with still images. The razorfish impressive portfolio includes work
for Zima (http://www.zima.com/), Sony Digital Handycam (http://cons3.sel.sony.com/SEL/consumer/camcorder/digital.html),
Bankers Trust (http://www.bankerstrust.com/), and the New York Botanical
Garden (http://pathfinder.com/vg/Gardens/NYBG/; part of Time Warner's Pathfinder).
Visit the site to sample outstanding layout, tech tricks, and the *BlueDot*,
razorfish's own art/culture, content-rich e-zine a la magnifique.
rezn8
http://www.rezn8.com
One expects a Web design firm to reserve innovative space for its own self-promotion.
rezn8 won't let you down - perhaps *brilliant* is a more appropriate word
for the rezn8 Web site. It starts with a whiz-boom-bang of push/pull animation.
But the animation here isn't the shotsy "see Jane run" picture
flow, it's a suite of astonishing and beautiful photographs and 3D art blurred
to create ambiance. Yes, this site is all about ambiance. It will tastefully
sweep you through rezn8's portfolio and corporate info, but don't leave
yet. There's also a tasty little idea space here that pushes a few conceptual
buttons of its own.
Tripod
http://www.tripod.com
Interactive. Informative. Entertaining. Cool. Tripod is alluring eye-candy
with a knock-out-bang, solid punch of content to back it up. Tripod has
managed to do the impossible: provide a useful yet suspiciously fun Web
site. For example, on the subject of work, Tripod offers well-written feature
articles about interview techniques, has its own resume writer and reminder
minder (which reminds you via e-mail to get your butt to Kinko's), recommends
sources for career related news, and links you out to additional online
resources. It's 100 percent comprehensive coverage. Tripod also explores
politics and leisure, and has a slew of spicy interactive surveys and opinion
polls. Don't miss this.
VDorm
http://www.taponline.com/tap/voyeur/vdorm/
O.K., twenty-nothings, we live in the "real world" now. Gotta
be real, feel real, look real, and you can bet the media is going to play
that image to the hilt. Hence, the rampant attack of online soaps and "real"documentaries on the Web. And while the likes of The Spot (http://www.thespot.com/)
and The East Village (http://www.theeastvillage.com/) want to be at the
top of this list, we're here to say, VDorm is better. Vdorm is about college
students in college dorms, doing college things. The difference - Vdorm
uses CuSee-Me, a freeware live video application, to bring these real people
to our monitors in REAL time. And if anything is real to college students,
it's Web sites that make use of free software capable of running on slower,
older machines. VDorm takes an innovative turn by offering a high-quality
site, accessible for a broader audience. Three cheers.
WaxWeb
http://bug.village.virginia.edu
Is it a plane? A train? No, it's WaxWeb - super-site game, film, interactive
goop at its finest. WaxWeb breaks rules and invents new ones. In short,
it's the first feature film online. Unlike a film for which you pay $7.50
to admire in your local theater, WaxWeb is a multi-user film, in which viewers
interact with the film and other viewers, with extra bonus goodies like
VRML, QuicktimeVR, and animation. It's a cross-platform, networked-based
hypermedia extravaganza! The only true way to understand this site is to
go there (NOW), register, and throw yourself into the thick of it.
Word
http://www.word.com
Word is innovative in two very distinct ways. First, it sports outstanding
design and layout - clever icons, tasteful colors, animation, and some nice
typography tricks. Second, Word is a phenomenal I-net stop for content.
It's a huge, never-ending mass of stories, essays, and images traversing
everything under the proverbial sun - careers, technology, sex, gender,
fashion, travel, and curious vices. Word has mastered the art of creative
design, challenged the role of digital content, and conquered many of the
quirks and quibbles of HTML to create an amazing e-zine that has already
shaped the definition of online publishing.
Zippy
http://www.ua.com/zippy.html
Ingenious. Zippy is small - very, very small. It does one thing and one
thing only - it hacks the Web. At the Zippy Web site, part of Universal
Access, Inc., you type in an URL and Zippy goes out, runs the selected Web
site through a filter, and the results are incredibly amusing - Zippy changes
hyperlinks and inserts extra words ("it's all just part of my existential
angst" or "let's go shopping"). Its novelty may wear off
quickly for some, but that's not to discount the fact that this is an extremely
clever use of the Web. And you needn't worry; none of the hacks are actually
permanent: Zippy only filters what you are viewing, the original sites remain
untouched. Bravo!
Please also visit:
Crash Site (http://www.crashsite.com/Crash/)
High Speed Industrial (http://www.best.com/~humans/hsi/
(shockwave)
Levi's (http://www.levi.com/menu)
Realms (http://artnetweb.com/artnetweb/projects/realms/realmstitle.html)
Sci-Fi Channel (http://www.scifi.com)
Space Pirate (http://www2.csn.net/~rosenz/pirate.html)
The Tele-Garden (http://cwis.usc.edu/dept/garden/)
Virtual Antarctica (http://www.terraquest.com/)