Frequenty Asked Questions

What is Showcase Lane?

Showcase Lane is a place for web designers and developers to list not just sites they've worked on but any site they like the design of. It's a visual gallery of the best of the web - as selected and voted by you the web design community.

How does it work?

Anyone can list a site they think deserves merit. Just enter the URL of the site and we'll go grab a screen shot and create a page for it.

Once a site is listed other members can vote it up by clicking the “Like” button and the best, most liked sites float to the top.

What sort of sites should I list?

Showcase Lane is all about beautiful web site design.

It's about the end result - what's seen on the screen. It's not a discussion forum for CSS, HTML, JavaScript or any other technology. It's the “what” of web design, not the “how”.

Examples of sites that should be listed:

• Sites that are simply beautiful to look at.
• Sites that show great use of fonts, colors, layout and/or typography
• Sites that present an unusual or interesting user experience

Examples of things that should not be listed:

• A blog post about about the latest CSS box shadow tricks (that would be content, not design)
• Web design resources - ie: no “50 free web icons” links
• Technical articles.

Before listing a site ask yourself if the site in question really does have a beautiful design.

Can I list multiple pages from the same site?

No. When listing a site you can enter a full URL which will be used for the screen shot however the site will be indexed by its domain name only.

Why is there a limit to how many sites I can list?

Currently you can only list 3 sites per day. There's two reasons for this:

1. By imposing a limit we hope to encourage users to think carefully about which sites they should list.
2. We're small and we want to grow in a controlled manner - by limiting the amount of new content we can better manage this.

How does the Built By information work?

Each site's listing page has a section titled “Built By” that shows which (if any) Showcase Lane members were associated with the design and development of that site.

Also, each user's profile page shows a list of all sites they've worked on - it's like a mini-portfolio of their work.

How do I indicate that I worked on a site?

In the “Built By” section on the site listing page is an “Edit” link - from there you can add or remove yourself from the list of people associated with this site.

Can I add someone else to the Built By information for a site?

No, only that person can do that.

What if someone else claims to have built my site?

The Built By information for a site relies on the honesty of the community members. If someone incorrectly claims to be associated with your site, use the Report link on the site listing page to let us know and we'll investigate.

Deliberate fraudulent claims of association will not be tolerated.

What are Invites?

Showcase Lane is an invite-only community where existing members can invite others to join.

In order to grow the site in a controlled manner, there is a limit to the number of invites you can send. On first joining Showcase Lane you'll be given a small number of invites (currently 2). Periodically, as we're confident of the site being able to handle the higher traffic, we'll issue more invites to existing members.

Remember to only send invites to people you think will improve the Showcase Lane community. In other words, only send invites to web designers and developers whose work you admire.

How do I update the a site's screen shot?

Just click the edit link on the right of the site's listing page and you'll see a checkbox option to re-capture the screen shot.

What if the automatic screen shot capture doesn't work?

For most sites we can automatically grab a screen shot directly from the site itself. Occassionally this might fail, or not render quite right - particularly if the site uses certain plugins (ie: Flash) or is of unusual dimensions.

If the automatic capture doesn't work as well as you'd like, you can manually upload a screen shot. Just click the edit link on the right of the site's listing page and you'll see an option to upload.

Do I need to resize screenshots before uploading them?

Not usually. We'll automatically resize screenshots to a maximum resolution of 800 × 600 pixels.

(In case you're wondering, resizing works by horizontally shrinking the width and then cropping the bottom).

What if I see spam, inappropriate or offensive content?

Please use our flagging system to let us know about it. Each listed site has a report link that can used to report inappropriate content or conduct. We actively moderate the site but need your help to do so. Anything being consistently flagged will be investigated.

May I promote products I am affiliated with?

If it's a site you've designed, you're more than welcome to list it so long as the emphasis is on the site's design and not shamelessly plugging a product on that site.

As for promoting your products in comments, be careful. Overt self-promotion is generally frowned upon and will often be flagged as spam. Write good interesting comments and if they happen to include a relevant mention of your product then so be it. You must however disclose your affiliation with the product.

Also, if a large percentage of your posts include a mention of your product, you're clearly here for the wrong reasons.