I’ve been meaning to post something for a while now about one of my favorite Pittsburgh sites, Bike PGH.  First off, it’s wonderfully designed both functionally and aesthetically.  It combines all the elements that a non-profit organization would have (Mission, Board, Staff, Events, etc), a ton of valuable resources to the biking community, and the art blends biking, crazy Pittsburgh topography and crazy Pittsburgh directions into an attractive and interesting visual diplay.  ClickNathan did a wonderful job.

As a non-profit/community resource website, it accomplishes its purpose beautifully, and to keep with the Waxing Blogosophically theme, also sports a blog.  Even in the current biking off-season it is updated 2-3 times a week on average, and serves up an array of content including advocacy, site news, tips for local bikers, etc.  My only complaint is that the blog is hard to find from the main page. A user either has to access it through the news menu, or see it amidst the content/link box in the sidebar, which somewhat resembles an ad.  This means that most users would have to know the blog is there to find it, which is definitely not optimal.  The blog is a great resource–don’t bury it!

This site is a good example of how a blog can be integrated into a non-profit/community site to better serve its members/interested parties and make the website come alive.

Other Waxing Blogosophically site suggestions, hit the comments or email brett at marginaldesigns dot com.

Marginal Designs is not only interested in making kickass t-shirts, we’re also committed to raising the bar on web design in Pittsburgh. Too many websites describing our lovely city’s businesses, organizations or events are poorly-designed, hard to understand, and frustrating to use. So we thought we’d highlight those websites that do an awesome job at providing information while being nice to look at, too.

The website for the Three Rivers Film Festival, going on now, is one of those websites. It has a very clean design , great art (get a load of that top image!), and multiple ways to access information. If you’re looking for a film to see, you can browse the films page, which lists the movies in alphabetical order. You can also download the PDF listing of the films and print it out in case you find yourself at the Regent Square theatre without an inkling of what the films that are playing are about. If you know you’re free on Thursday night, though, you can just click to the calendar page and find films by date. Each of the films on this page are linked to their descriptions, too, so you don’t need to worry about remembering which films are playing on which days to find out more about them.

The site also provides a listing and map of all the theaters participating in the festival, along with contact information for the people running the shows. You can also find information about ticket prices and where/how to buy them on the site.

Overall, very well-done. Bravo, Three Rivers Film Festival!