Sometimes you finish a web design project and you’re really proud of the results. Maybe it’s a personal project, or the client gave you complete creative control.
Whatever the case, you know it’s some of the best work you’ve ever done, and you want the world to see it.
Besides adding it to your portfolio or sending out a Tweet about it, there are dozens of web design galleries out there for showing off your work.
All of the ones featured in this post are free to submit to, and all are picky about what sites they accept, so you can rest assured that you’ll only be shown alongside other high-quality designs.
If you have other favorite design galleries, please share them in the comments area below…
General Design Galleries
The design galleries included here accept all sorts of websites. Some might only accept CSS sites, but others also accept Flash-based sites. Most require valid or close-to-valid code, as well as outstanding visual appeal. While there are dozens of gallery sites out there, the ones featured below are some of the best. Feel free to share your favorites (whether featured here or not) in the comments.
BestWebGallery
BestWebGallery is run by Nick La, the guy behind N.Design Studio and Web Designer Wall. Sites must be technically competent, visually pleasing and creative in order to be considered for inclusion. There are a variety categories, including a “best of”, blog, CSS, Flash, Illustration and Portfolio. Submit here.
CSS Elite
CSSelite.com has fairly basic standards for inclusion: your site has to have valid XHTML and CSS and offer a “pleasant experience”, and it can’t be spam. You also have to submit the home page, not internal pages. Sites are categorized based on both the type of site (corporate, colleges & universities, etc.) and certain design characteristics (clean, dark, colorful, etc.). Submit here.
Unmatchedstyle
Unmatchedstyle has over 200 pages of great website designs. Visitors can rate sites on a scale of 1 to 10. There’s a custom Google search on the site, but otherwise there’s no real way to browse except chronologically. Submit here.
Site Inspire
siteInspire has over 1700 websites in their gallery, all browsable by theme, type, or style. They also have a “Selected” section, which are the editorial picks for the best design examples out there. Submit here.
Nice Stylesheet
Nice Stylesheet is a gallery of CSS-based designs. There are over 800 designs included, browsable by categories like fixed layout, liquid layout, single columns, dark, minimalistic, and blogs. Sites need to be free of tables (except for tabular data), should make minimal use of Flash (preferably none), cannot be adult themed, and have to be a custom design. Submit here.
Nicely Done CSS
Nicely Done CSS is a gallery of CSS-based designs with over 800 designs currently included. Designs are tagged by the type of site, design style, color, and other descriptive terms. Submit on their homepage.
Beautiful 2.0
Beautiful 2.0 is a Flash and CSS gallery that focuses on the best websites out there as inspiration to designers, art lovers and clients. Websites need to be as well-designed and artistic as possible for inclusion. They should also have amazing technical achievement and be very original. Submit here.
Gallery Buzz
Gallery Buzz stands out from many other gallery sites by including screenshots of the entire web page being featured. They’ve incorporated these screenshots in an irregular grid that’s still visually appealing. You can browse their sites by tag, color, or favicon. Submit here.
Styleboost
Styleboost is a long-running (since 2001) web design gallery currently showcasing around 1250 sites. You can browse sites by most recent, most liked, or last commented, as well as by tag or color. Submitting sites is done through Twitter with the hashtag #styleboost.
Web Creme
Web Creme is a gallery of excellent website designs, sorted chronologically but also browsable by color. Currently, more than 3700 sites are included in the archives. Submit here.
The Drawar Design Gallery
The Drawar Design Gallery showcases some of the best and most creative website designs out there. They have more than 1400 sites featured. They also have a section where you can get feedback on your work. Submit here.
Creattica
Creattica has galleries for all sorts of design projects, including CSS/HTML websites and Flash websites. You’ll need to sign up for an account in order to submit items. Submissions generally take a few days to be reviewed. Submit here once you have an account.
Design|Snips
Design|Snips categorizes and tags submitted sites based on elements of their design: typography, backgrounds, hover effects, textures, etc. There are currently a few hundred designs included. When submitting a design, you have to describe the snippet you like, rather than the entire website. Submit here.
CSS Fresh Blend
CSS Fresh Blend showcases the best CSS designs out there. Sites can only be browsed chronologically. Submit here.
Styleprone
Styleprone is a gallery of HTML/CSS and Flash websites that only accepts the best designs available. Sites are browsable by tag or date, and there’s also a rating system. Submit here.
InspireMix
InspireMix showcases a variety of design types, including CSS/HTML and Flash website designs, WordPress themes, and portfolios. There are also tools to share designs you like on Facebook, Twitter, or Delicious, as well as a rating system. Submit here.
Divine CSS
Despite its name, Divine CSS also includes Flash websites. Sites are categorized by type (blog, CSS, Flash, ecommerce, corporate, etc.). They won’t feature sites with adult or offensive content or incomplete sites. Submit here.
The Web Based
The Web Based separates their designs by category, including blog designs, entertainment, personal, life style, and corporate, among others. Their requirements for being included are pretty basic: minimal validation errors and a great design. Submit here.
Niche Galleries
In addition to general web design galleries, there are also a number of galleries that feature specific types of websites. There are galleries included below that focus on blogs, ecommerce sites, minimalist sites, and one page sites, among others. If there are additional galleries you think should be included, please share them in the comments!
Minimal Sites
Minimal Sites is a gallery specifically for clean, minimalist designs. They have both editor’s pick sites and publicly submitted sites. They also have forums and other resources for designers (which are invite-only). Submit here.
We Love WP
We Love WP is a gallery of only WordPress sites. You can browse by category (including illustration, organization, technology, education, entertainment, and more). The requirements for inclusion are that the design is built on WordPress and is either entirely original or an entirely original modification of an existing free or premium theme. Submit here.
CSS Nature
CSS Nature contains only nature-themed websites. They accept high quality designs with valid CSS/XHTML. Really exceptional designs are added to their featured designs section. Submit here.
Blog Design Heroes
Blog Design Heroes is a blog design gallery with over 400 designs included. Most of the designs featured are for WordPress blogs, but there are also examples from Expression Engine, Drupal, Textpattern, Tumblr, Blogger, Movable Type, Joomla and more. Submit here.
WP Inspiration
WP Inspiration is a gallery of more than 200 WordPress-powered sites. Sites can be browsed by color or category. Sites have to be visually appealing to be included. Free themes cannot be submitted. Submit here.
CartFrenzy
CartFrenzy is a showcase of ecommerce site designs. Over 700 sites are currently featured. Submit here
Folio Focus
Folio Focus is a gallery of portfolio designs with around 800 designs currently included. Site are categorized by style (hand drawn, colorful, clean, dark, etc.), design element (lighting effects, wood, textured, etc.) and other things (PSD, HTML Templates, etc.). Submit here.
WPView
WPView.com is a smaller gallery of innovative and imaginative WordPress-powered websites. They don’t include blogs in the gallery, which is a departure from most other WP galleries. Sites submitted should bring some novel or different functionality to WP, and should be more than a blog or basic CMS. Submit here.
Minimal Exhibit
Minimal Exhibit is a minimalist design gallery with more than 500 sites currently included. You can browse sites by categories, which are mostly broken down by either the type of site (blog, ecommerce, gallery, etc.) or the industry it serves (music, non-profit, photography, etc.). Submit here.
Siiimple
Siiimple is a gallery of clean, minimalist and simple website designs. You can browse sites by topic, as well as view those that are most favorited. Submit through the link on their home page.
The Horizontal Way
The Horizontal Way is a showcase of sites that use horizontal rather than vertical scrolling. They include a few dozen sites. Submit here.
One Page Love
One Page Love is a gallery of single-page websites. You can search or browse by category or tag. They don’t allow full flash websites, sites with links to any other page on the same domain, or (obviously) sites with more than one page. They do allow sites with pop-up or modal windows, as well as sites with multiple language versions. Submit here.
Written exclusively for WDD by Cameron Chapman.
Don’t forget to post your favorite galleries, whether featured above or not, in the comments section below…
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Andrew Follett is marketing director at a small business outside Chicago, Illinois and founder of the new feedback community, 
