What do you do?

I am a partner at Kulturbyrået Mesén, where I design websites with Geir Arne Brevik.

What is Styleboost?

Styleboost is a gallery for showcasing beautiful web sites. It has been around since January 2001 and is created, designed and maintained by myself, Johan Bakken. I do this to learn and to promote stuff I like.

How long has this been going on?

Ever since first launched in January 2001, Styleboost has been all about showcasing the most beautiful sites on the web. Focusing on my own subjective experience and taste instead of trying to stay entirely objective has been an integral part of shaping Styleboost into what it is today. I started the project as a young student intent on learning as much as I could about good web design. It's been important from the very beginning not to specify the exact requirements of what it takes to be featured here. One site may be linked because of its usability, another because of its unique graphic style, and yet another because of its CSS trickery. This, in turn, has made Styleboost a quite different design community site. The fact that more than a few people around the world quickly took an interest into the project also made me take the time to expand it over the years. Today, there's a lot more functionality to the site, as well as the hundreds of links listed. I've also learnt very much from this process; improving my skills in coding and design, as well as seeing what the web truly can be.

How often is this lame site updated!?

The link database is updated regularly, usually several times every week. All links in the database are hand-picked by me. Therefore, every once in a while, there will be no updates for a week or two when I'm off on vacation, travelling the world or when I've had too many cocktails. You know, I do need to get away from my computer every once in a while. Still, Styleboost is all about good links, not lots of links. You'll find more links on Del.icio.us and Newstoday than you'll ever find here.

What makes Styleboost run so smoothly?

Styleboost was developed by myself using PHP, MySQL, CSS, XHTML and some JavaScript. A warm thank you goes out to everyone who's helped me, especially Geir Arne Brevik.

Is there, like, a point to all this?

Styleboost is all about showing off great designers' and developers' work. Tell them if you like their work, it'll probably make them smile.

What is the name of that delicious font in the Styleboost logo?

It's called 078MKSD Medium Condensed and it's designed by the nice folks over at Maniackers Design.

Where can I get a hold of that smooth logo?

You can get it in the version you're looking for right here.