Website galleries, aka CSS galleries: they're a great source of ideas, as well as keeping us abreast of the latest web design trends. We all have our go-to web design gallery for quick inspiration when the brief drops on your desk - but are there other sites you might not know about, that could be even more useful?
Galleries come in all shapes and sizes with hundreds popping up every day it's hard to sift through the low-quality ones to find the real gems. Here's 13 that are definitely worth considering to bookmark...
01. Awwwards
- Gallery updates: @awwwards
Awwwards is a little different to most website galleries because sites are selected by a jury rather than a single curator. If you sign up to the site you can curate your own choices and create your own favourites list, which very handy if you're looking for a certain niche of website.
02. The FWA
- Gallery updates: @fwa
The FWA (Favorite Website Awards) is considered the crème de la crème of galleries within the web design industry. Like Awwwards it has its own vibrant community.
03. HTML Inspiration
- Gallery updates: @htmlinspiration
In contrast with the first two web design galleries on our list, HTML Inspiration takes a minimalist approach to its design, letting the work speak for itself. The selection on this website is brilliant and the featured website is nice and big so you don't even need to click on it to appreciate its design.
04. Site Inspire
- Gallery updates: @siteinspire
Site Inspire is another web design gallery that combines minimal design with finely-honed selection of great sites. It's curated by Daniel Howell, who tends to favour minimal, clean and responsive websites.
05. Admire the Web
- Gallery updates: @admiretheweb
Admire the Web is another web design gallery that features large inspirational screengrabs so you don't have to click on every one. Clear categories and tags make finding what you're looking for a piece of cake.
06. Unmatched Style
- Gallery updates: @unmatchedstyle
Unmatched Style is a little busier than 3, 4 and 5 on our list, but they do offer some handy extra design resources. The piece de resistance is the colour chart, enabling you to find inspiration via colour.
07. Styleboost
- Gallery updates: @styleboost
At 1,439 sites and rising, there's plenty of inspiration to be found here. A nice bonus Styleboost offers is a little summary against each inspiration. Nice and clear web design gallery, this.
08. Make Better Websites
- Gallery updates: @lovelywebsites
Make Better Websites offers a superb browsing experience. Nice big images accompany submissions and a brilliant refine function makes the site simple and rewarding to use.
09. CSSDSGN
- Gallery updates: @cssdsgn
We're not hugely certain where the difference lies between CSS galleries and web galleries - not many websites are made without CSS these days! But besides that, we love the clean and clear design of this simple (in a good way) web design gallery.
10. One Page Love
- Gallery updates: @onepagelove
One Page Love, as you can imagine, specialises in one page websites, and it's the best we've come across in this niche. Selections are made by Rob Hope, who has great taste. He's also curator/owner of www.mmminimal.com.
11. Siiimple
- Gallery updates: @siiimple
Siiimple specialises in minimalist web designs. A nice clean website gallery, its heart ratings are a great little touch.
12. The Best Designs
- Gallery updates: @thebestdesigns
Although this site doesn't have the cleanest design and is non-responsive, its legacy alone makes it deserving of inclusion on this list. It's been running since 2001, but the curators' taste is far from vintage, with brilliantly modern web design inspirations getting uploaded daily.
13. Web Crème
- Gallery updates: @webcreme
Web Crème has also been about for some time as you can see by their very slim left-aligned website. But if you think the design might be due for update, that's more than made up for by the brilliant selection of inspiring websites.
Have we missed out your favourite source of web design inspiration? Let us know about it in the comments!
Words: Tom Hopcraft
Tom Hopcraft is a web designer and front-end developer from Northampton, UK. Follow him on Twitter at @CHEWX
