“At a first glance, one may just see a large and established Zelda community. At a second, one may notice their layout, how the whole website just clicks and flows. It’s very unique and seems to work well from what I can see.”
- Gunslinger, Co-Admin of Hyrule Online -
Some of you may want to chew me out for picking such an obscure Zelda site, but hear me out on this one. This Zelda Universe, despite being small and unnoticeable, has one of the best layouts I’ve seen in years.
I’m being facetious about the whole obscurity thing, of course. Almost everyone in the community knows about Zelda Universe. As one of the most popular Zelda sites for a number of years, ZU has been known for providing timely news and content, editorials and media, all while hosting one of the largest Zelda forums on the internet.
In 2008, ZU decided to try something new in regards to their layout. Following a two month donation drive that allowed ZU to hire a professional designer, Zelda Universe immerged in a new stone clad skin that set it apart from other Zelda sites.
The layout itself is very impressive, looking like a forgotten set of pillars erected in the heart of a mountain forest. But what really makes this layout stand out is its attention to detail. The stones are overgrown with grass and flowering vines, symbols in ancient Hylian are chipped into the weathered rock, all the content headers and buttons match the stone theme, and there’s even a rupee lying on the grass at the footer.
Oh and did I mention the layout is 3D? Yeah. This isn’t a flat 2D layout designed in Photoshop. The entire layout was modeled and textured; with the end product looking like it could exist in real life. The sidebar links look like they are inset into the pillars. The stone bricks at the header are at different angles and feel like they could fall off with a touch. And even the vines appear to weave in and out of the bricks, forwards and backwards. It gives the impression that one could walk around this layout and fully expect to see the back. Of course, there is only so much I can say in words. If you haven’t seen this layout yet, I suggest you click on the picture and head over there right away.
Despite the fact that this layout looks amazing, there may be some who would like to criticise my choice since it was a professional designer that created the layout and not the staff itself. Unlike smaller Zelda sites, Zelda Universe does have the means to ask for donations and it used fact to pay for the layout.
But even though someone was paid to design the layout does not change the fact that the webmasters had to first come up with a vision for what they wanted ZU to look like. That they had to work closely with the designer, insuring that the final result would match the vision in their head. To work with staff members for weeks, recoding and revamping the site to fit with the final design. That is no less important than creating the actual layout itself and it is something that should be commended.
Thus, it is my pleasure to award this year’s Golden Bomb Plant for Most Stunning Site to Zelda Universe. Congratulations to Jason, Scott, the designer Anton, and the numerous staff of ZU and best of luck in the years to come.
