As web designers, we often seek inspiration from what others have done before us.  Not to leech too much off their design, but to inspire our work and get us started on the right path.  Here I will share with you my top go to websites for beautiful website listings with great showcases and more.

If you want to take your inspiration to the next level, look at the source code!  I like to go further into websites using Firebug to see just how a designer coded the site.  It’s a useful tool for any web designer.  Enjoy the list!

CSS Line

Recently I stumbled across this site and what a gold mine of inspiration it is! I like how when you scroll down the page it just keeps loading new websites for you to look at. Also, it allows you to submit your own website to be rated. My only request is that for the ability to search the sites and if there was better categorization.

Smashing Magazine

Smashing Magazine is a very popular website for web designers. Here is their Inpiration category that provides some very good web design lists.

On a side note, I ordered their book… “The Smashing Book” and was super hyped for it to come in the mail. It contains some very good information, but it’s kind of short and I thought the general size of the book itself would be twice as large for the $30 dollars you have to pay for it. Still, it’s not a bad book… it’s a valiant first installment of many to come I’m sure.

Six Revisions

Six Revisions is part of the Smashing Network and like the others, provides excellent lists for inspiration. Here’s a particular excellent post on Six Revisions entitled “Inspirational Tips and Tools from a Designer” that will give you an idea of how well the Six Revisions’ authors can write.

Hong Kiat

I’m not sure what “Hong Kiat” means, whether it’s a proper name or company, but who cares? It’s a great site with a ton of resources! Hong Kiat’s Inspiration Category provides some of the most unique web and graphic showcases on the Internet. The site is definitely worth checking out.

Vandelay Design

Vandelay Design blog is packed to the brim with website showcases. For example, there are multiple installments for each showcase such as: Minimalistic Web Design IMinimalistic Web Design II and Minimalistic Web Design III

George Costanza: [George rushes into Jerry's apartment] Did anybody call here asking for Vandelay Industries?
Jerry: No, what happened to you?
George Costanza: All right, listen closely, I was at the unemployment office and I told them I was very close to getting a job with Vandelay Industries, and I gave them your phone number. So now, when the phone rings, you have to answer “Vandelay Industries”.
Jerry: I’m Vandelay Industries?
George Costanza: Right.

Sorry I couldn’t resist, I love Seinfeld and that’s what I think of every time I type in the URL. :]

Noupe

Wow, this site’s design is great. I drew my inspiration from the way the transparency looks… but Noupe’s content is excellent also. Their authors are very talented and distinguished on the Interwebs. Check em’ out.

24 Ways

24-Ways is a funny website because it only posts 24 articles every December. While these are great articles how about 24-articles every month?! Is this asking too much? Well, I included this site anyways because the Authors page links you to excellent 24-Ways’ excellent developers and designers’ websites.

CSS Tricks

Chris Coyier is a well known web designer, speaker, blogger and internet entrepreneur.  His website is awesome and I draw a lot of the inspiration on DLOCC from this website.

He has a ton of Freebies, not so many top-sites but his sense of style is excellent. Looking at the way he designed his site is truly inspiring. He uses one PNG for all the buttons and I think this is just a great idea.

Specky Boy

I just recently took a more in depth look at Specky Boy the other day and I must say… it looks like Facebook doesn’t it? Well, we are really analyzing the content and whether it can inspire us or not. So, upon further investigation I realized this too was another worthy site of my collection. For instance, Specky Boy’s Inspiration Category provides weekly installment’s of the popular “Weekly Web Design and Development Inspiration” Post.

Web Designer Depot

To finish off our list we have the Web Designer Depot. Here we find ourselves at yet another Smashing Network website, but of course this is not a bad thing. I just not realized I should have provided some more non-Smashing websites. Hmm, sounds like a good upcoming post. Anyways, to wrap it up the Web Designer Depot is, like the others, an excellent source of inspiration for starting any new design project. Here’s a post I like: Minimalist Web Design – When Loss is More

If you like this post, check out the Smashing Network… they’re great.  Hopefully one day this website will appear on there! :]