In web design, trends are very easy to spot, and they greatly impact us as designers because we are often inclined to follow those trends. You will notice many trends based on the type, or category, of site you are looking at. One category of websites that follow similar trends are software and application websites. This includes everything from Mac applications to web-based apps.
No matter what type of app, the trends are always visible.
One of those trends is the use of a strong and attractive introduction. The introductions welcome the user and provide a very brief but informative description of the software or app. Also, you will notice the use of screenshots, often placed within this introduction. Not only that, the screenshots for web-based applications all follow the trend of placing the screenshot with the browser, generally Safari. There are many software sites that don’t have screenshots though. Instead, you will see that they often include a detailed and vibrant illustration in the introduction.
Furthermore, you will notice trends in navigation. Most sites will use a very simple main navigation bar. The throughout the sites are often similar, too. Software sites usually include pages such as About, Support, Pricing, Features, Tour, and sometimes blog. Finally, you will notice throughout these pages strond use of icons. Icons are an excellent way to support text based elements within a content heavy design.
With all that in mind, take a look at these 35 excellent examples of well-designed software and application websites. To view the full page in further detail, follow the link of the screenshot. Pay attention to the numerous trends mentioned above, and how each one helps the overall usability and visual aspect of the website.
An eCommerce CMS with many features including Email Marketing, Analytics, and CRM.
A web-based Suberversion browser.
Silverback App
A usability testing software for designers and developers.
This is an excellent web app which allows to plan the flow of web products by looking at other successful plans.
An execellent screenshot software for the Mac.
Another top screenshot application for Mac.
This app offers ways to organize, find, and view mail in an easy manner.
This is a simple and easy invoicing service, which is excellent for all freelancers.
An award winning sales software for running business. You can easily work with sales, orders, receipts, invoices, and much more.
This is a folder protection and security software for Mac.
A very easy and pain free resume building software.
A secure and easy way to share files, manage products, and collaborate online.
One more invoicing software for the Mac.
Yet another excellent invoicing application, but this one is web-based.
An excellent time management time tracking application.
An easy way to organize social networking information from services including Twitter, Facebook, Reader, Flickr, RSS, and Reddit.
Coda is an award winning web development software. It is arguably the best web development software, competing with Adobe Dreamweaver.
Pixelmator is one of the top image editing applications and specifically for the Mac.
Traffik is a business and corporate CMS.
Things is one of the best task management and productivity applications for Mac.
This is a powerful corporate social networking application.
A web-based presentation builder.
MailChimp is one of the top HTML email marketing solutions.
Another corporate communication tool/
Another awesome development software for the Mac.
An organized and easy way to track clients in every aspect, from emails and links to news feeds.
Mint is the premier tool for budgeting and money management.
Helps you organize, find, and store recipes with some awesome features.
This is a to-do management software that is easy to use.
This application helps you to work with Subversion on your Mac.
An excellent application that helps you keep track of things by allowing your to create notes, voice notes, screenshots, and more.
Allows you to take notes and highlight content in a web page. You can then organize and share the notes.
A simple email marketing web application.
Miro is a great app that can play almost any internet video file, and brings access to HD TV shows and podcasts.
Iceberg is an application development software, and allows you to easily create costum applications, and access to an extensive application library.
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I happen to notice most of this software is for Mac!! Do windows apps not have any nice websites.
Please separate what is for Mac and what is for Windows. You have a lot of Mac stuff on here…Macs are still only a tiny <10% of the market….
I echo the call for more windows apps or clearer differentiation but nevertheless, this is a good list of apps. Personal fav is Evernote, works pretty much everywhere, from phone to pc and manages notes very well and it’s free!
Great collection of websites..
Mac wins again.. Mac app websites are the sexiest indeed!
Thanks for the mention!
This is a great list of web gems — I think we can learn a few things from the design and simplicity of some of these apps
You have a good eye for design! I’m glad you pointed out these similarities.
First, the mac market share in the US is >10%, at least for new computers purchased.
Second, if you’d like windows software mentioned, at least link to a site for a piece of windows software that you think is good. I don’t know of one myself.
Lastly, I’d like to say that RAVE vfx (ravevfx.com) did the site for SousChef.
Great list for Web Designer and me. Thanks a lot
But all soft and apps used Mac, i use Windown
Nice to meet you !
I saw this list and thought I’d share two web services/apps for Windows users since it seem a few of you seem left out. The first is Office Live Workspace from Microsoft. It allows users to store 5GB of files online for free and then collaborate on them with other users. You can also gather feedback, share notes, post schedules etc for your select group to see. Each Workspace also includes web app versions of popular Office programs meaning you do not have to have Office to work with the files. The second service with is Office Live Small Business, which lets users create a website, register a domain name, add e-mail, checkout carts etc for free as well. More info on both of these can be found in the links below.
Cheers Everyone,
Jeff
MSFT Office Live Outreach
http://workspace.officelive.com/LearnMore
http://smallbusiness.officelive.com/
To all reading this, this is not a list of best apps, it is a list of application and software websites. There seems to be a large amount of confusion about this.
Wow, lots of my favorites included here
Silverback, Things, MailChimp, great collection!
Great collection of software and applications. I bookmarked this post. Thanks for sharing good information.
Interesting..
Very nice information. Thanks for this. Hope you visit my site and post up some stuff
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Thanks for the collection, this is a round up of some very useful and very creative sites, that push the envelope of design.
thanks for this wonderful post. concepts described here helped us save time.
There are 100’s of social bookmarking websites, not all of them produce a lot of traffic, but almost all of them will however be useful as a backlink to your website. Submitting your pages to every one of these sites can take a long time. That’s why buying a automated bookmarking tool is fundamental, because this way you can save an average of 3-4 hours a day, or possibly an average of $200/month in bookmarking expenses while you bring in the best results in terms of traffic and Page Rank boost.
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