We each of us have had sites that we’ve created in the past become the subject of a handful of showcase web sites, but none of us have ever experienced, or even witnessed a response as phenomenal as the youlove.us web site has received.
As Alex mentioned earlier, the site made a huge leap from PR0 to PR6 within 6 weeks of launching, and I’m happy to announce that mere months after launching the web site from dust, we have achieved a position in the top 250,000 web sites on Alexa. This is simply unheard of, and we couldn’t have done it without your help, thank you all very much.
The design here at youlove.us has received an incredible amount of accolades and mentions in the last few months, from write-ups on big magazine sites such as Smashing Magazine and Web Designer Wall, to small tweets and tumbles, and we genuinely couldn’t be happier. It seems that each day that we check our referrers we find another few links and showcase features and if ever we needed any encouragement to continue our design mission, this would be all the encouragement we would need.
For me, the mentions on Smashing Magazine and Web Designer Wall were particular high points. Not simply because of the size and popularity of both sites, moreso because they are both web sites that I read and check religiously, relying on as sources of both excellent inspiration and invaluable resources.
As I type this, we are lucky enough to have over 220 people bookmarking our web site on Delicious, a number that is growing by the day. As long as we continue to inspire and encourage fellow members of the design community we can sure that we’re doing something right.
Next to the mentions we have received on various web sites, a particular source of excitement for me came in the form of emails sent to us from visitors to the web site. Some of those emails were so fantastic I feel that I need to share them with you, such as this one from Mikey:
“It is not often, in fact never that I look at a site and feel the need to actually mention how beautiful the site and the experience is, but I had to this time.
I really love what you guys have done here. it is truly a work of art.
nice one.”
And also this great one from James Ball:
“I found your site and it blew me away. It’s simplicity and style are mezmerizing. I had to get in touch and say well done, I hope one day I could produce this level of creativity. Your copy is spot on too.
Keep up the great work lads, well done”
Obviously we can’t publish all of the emails that we’ve received, but those two are a good indication of the general loveliness we’ve experienced. To be receiving emails such as these from other designers has absolutely blown me away, as my typical experience of the web design community has been tarnished with competitiveness and a desire to pick holes. It’s truly refreshing to receive such selfless praise.
As a result I am feeling extremely guilty about having not released anything in the Goodies section as yet, so will be putting some time aside next week to address that. In all honesty – and I’m not complaining – we have simply been too busy with client work thus far, and that is why it has taken me so long to write this entry. Typically you would see a blog entry written about getting one showcase feature, instead, I’m going to list below the (in excess of 70) features/mentions the site has received thus far. Full list of links after the cut!
In no particular order:
- http://www.dezinspiration.com/track/site/1475
- http://www.boxedcss.com/?p=3546
- http://www.css-design-yorkshire.com/
- http://www.mostinspired.com/sites/view/9276bf67a13a0667052e1988936f0544
- http://cssmania.com/galleries/2008/06/12/youloveus.php
- http://www.webdesign-is-art.com/webdesign/you-love-us
- http://www.alabrasil.com/2008/06/12/youlove-us/
- http://liveblog.crssp.com/BlogEngine/post/Weekly-Top-Standards-Most-Gallery-12.aspx
- http://fishintheriver.com/2008/06/15/youloveus/
- http://dailyslurp.com/
- http://www.lightondark.com/sites/view/1213477326294/
- http://cssrss.com/?p=2267
- http://wd-gallery.com/ – SITE OF THE DAY!
- http://www.botwg.com/gallery/youloveus.htm
- http://www.dydric.com/site/
- http://dailyslurp.com/default.aspx?dts=6/16/2008
- http://csscreme.com/gallery/youlove.us/
- http://del.icio.us/url/3a0b25692f270430dd95b2e08ca41ff9 – 224 bookmarks and counting!
- http://www.loomax.fr/blog/2008/06/24/youloveus/
- http://www.messandnoise.com/discussions/3025717
- http://help-developer.com/index.php/2008/06/29/10-great-looking-image-based-sites/
- http://virlander.jaiku.com/presence/37559722
- http://www.flickr.com/photos/jsbox/2580406312/
- http://cssdivine.com/?p=569
- http://vision-media.ca/resources/mashups/top-10-javascript-jquery-powered-sites
- http://translate.google.co.uk/translate?u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.prananet.es%2F&sl=es&tl=en&hl=en&ie=UTF-8
- http://www.sitocreativo.com/2008/07/02/ispirazioni-del-2-luglio-ore-1911/
- http://www.stunningcss.com/2008/07/10/youloveus/
- http://onepagelove.com/youloveus – MOST LOVED!
- http://bestwebgallery.com/2008/07/30/you-love-us/
- http://betterelevation.com/2008/07/30/brilliant-scrolling/
- http://www.mister-wong.de/index.php?action=addurl&bm_url=http%3A%2F%2Fyoulove.us%2F&bm_description=youlove.us&v=1
- http://www.bestcssgallery.com/web-development/you-love.htm
- http://thebestdesigns.com/
- http://buzzetcie.com/article-21636871.html
- http://www.my3w.org/Web/youlove
- http://www.scrnshots.com/users/paulmwatson/screenshots/38498
- http://friendfeed.com/rooms/web-design-inspiration
- http://birdiz.tumblr.com/post/44336278/website-of-the-english-web-agency-youlove-us
- http://cssbuilt.com/index.php/2008/08/02/youloveus/
- http://wpcandy.com/
- http://www.hamedbanaei.com/items/uloveus_870513.aspx
- http://designm.ag/inspiration/101-awesome-portfolio-sites/
- http://sinrepublic.com/
- http://cssexchange.com/?p=643
- http://www.submitcss.com/archives/586
- http://www.designinterviews.com/news/20-Exciting-Blue-Designs-36567.html
- http://cssmess.com/?type=single&site=http://youlove.us/
- http://fedeweb.wordpress.com/2008/08/20/portfolio-inspiration/
- http://palmback.net/2008/08/single-page-portfolio-sites/
- http://foglia.nl/?p=92
- http://dabrook.org/webdesign/articles/determine-what-makes-a-good-website/
- http://www.yogodoshi.com/blog/o-melhor-da-semana/o-melhor-da-semana-xxv
- http://www.linkcreme.com/2008/09/08/youloveus/
- http://www.booto.net/?p=1578
- http://www.smashingmagazine.com/2008/09/03/40-creative-design-layouts-getting-out-of-the-box/
- http://www.webdesignerwall.com/trends/single-page-portfolio-sites/
- http://cssfreshblend.com/gallery/?submitID=588
- http://www.dejurka.ru/web-design/single-page-sites/
- http://www.blackdog.ro/2008/09/06/webdesign-you-love-us.html
- http://ciarabryans.tumblr.com/post/48757664
- http://cssexchange.com/
- http://logbuch.formrausch.com/post/48273916/youlove-us
- http://rjoannej.com/hobbySite/week1/websites.html
- http://melonicmaniac.blogspot.com/2008/09/vibrant-web.html
- http://cssbuilt.com/2008/09/02/best-of-css-design-august-2008/
- http://fokr.soup.io/
- http://www.submitcss.com/archives/586
- http://sparkling-tux.livejournal.com/13281.html
- http://www.blandless.com/2008/09/08/youloveus.html
- http://icreativelabs.com/blog/2008/09/one-page-site-a-creative-idea/
So this is just a big, big thank you from all of us here at youlove.us for all of your support throughout what has been a very exciting first season of business.