Iconfactory

While they seem to have put a lot of work into the site as a whole. I'm not really sure I understand the reasoning for making a halloween theme for icon creation & gallery site. Personally I think changing your design for christmas is odd if you're not an ecommerce site, but halloween?

All in all it does show how easily CSS can be used to redesign components, or a whole site design even if its just for a short time.

I got to be honest, and I must say that it looks a bit unproffessional. I know it ain't but the grid is too hard to follow, the fonts are bad and colors doesn't go well with eachother. Nice idea, bad executed. Sorry.

I think it is overall a nice whimsical look for Halloween. It is pretty difficult to pull off any completely seasonal design and keep it looking really professional.

I agree with Alexander, this theme seems rushed, not that it's bad per se, but the quality here is reminisent of their first design, the redesign was a big step up, this seems to take a step back.

Almost like somebody said last night "know what would be cool? A halloween theme" and everybody said , "Yeah, wow nice idea, can we get one up by tomorrow morning?" =)

The thing you guys have to keep in mind is that we designed the Halloween look and feel *around* the new site, so it had to work with parts of the site that could not change due to backend graphics and layouts. So while the end result may not be 100% perfect, it is evocative of the season and makes a nice break from the normal site design. Not bad for a site design that is only up for 30 days of the year.

Thanks for your comments IF webmaster.

I imagine it is a little bit harder to design the artwork to fit the existing structure. Speaking for myself I always work the other way around. The art of skinning an existing site is another process entirely.

Did it pass my acid test of "Would I trust this site enough to part with my money?" No, it didn't. When you're the size of Google and have their brand-power and recognition, you can afford to be a little experimental and whimsical.

For other sites, such as this, it just comes across as unprofessional. I presume that site would like me to part with my money as a core objective, and in that area it fails and fails miserably.

Design wise, I'm not even convinced it's that attractive or indeed functional, even as a "bit of fun" design.

Sorry you feel that way MazY, but if you had been visiting the Iconfactory since 1996 then you would know that the site is not primarily an ecommerce site. 95% of the content at the Iconfactory is freeware. Free icons (over 10,000 of them) free desktop pictures, free desktop widgets and more.

The Halloween makeover has been going on almost since the Iconfactory was started, but this is the first year the makeover was created in pure CSS. Take it for what it is, a fun holiday break from the norm that tries to bring a little spooky moonlight into our visitor's lives and they love it. We're sorry to learn we can't count you among them.

You should take these comments in stride IF Webmaster, its really not going to look becoming for you answer every negative critique you get on your site. you said what you had to say the first time don't let this get out of hand and turn into a PR nightmare. being a web professional myself and having been apart of the iconfactory 'extended family' for some years, I still don't really buy the line "designed the Halloween look and feel *around* the new site"

You clarified that by saying this is the first time the site has been changed with pure CSS. And I can respect that. For me that was enough said, anyone that doesn't understand the complexities beyond that is just not going to 'get it' fwiw i don't think its the css or the format that is the let down, for me anyway the actual graphics seems rushed. But all that aside i can appreciate it for what it is and that is a holiday spoof. Good luck.

I like the idea to change the css for special days/events... but the "Halloween-theme" was not as good as the great "regular" - thats it, not even more ;-)

What puzzles me is why showcase a site in the SG gallery that was only meant to be up for a short while?

IMHO - I thought it was a pretty mundane design.