Review :: WebSite : BrainJar.com
Review :: WebSite : BrainJar.com
There are sites you think of even there is nothing near you to remind of them. I don’t remember when I saw this site first time. I believe I always had it in mind, before even seen it, and when I saw it I put my finger on the screen and said it “That’s it!” . You can still see the grease stain, left by my finger on the monitor 
I read in many places about why people don’t use CSS in their pages, despite obvious advantages of CSS + HTML over HTML. The reason they don’t use CSS is the browser inconsistent way of handling CSS. Well, try to explain Mike Hall why his page could not look nice in all modern browser you have. I imagine him saying sadly, “Too bad I didn’t know, because I’ve already make them look perfect”.
Have you ever felt, when visiting a site, that you enter in a room with perfect order, where everything functions? Or that you can’t break anything, no matter what you do? It’s like having 30 inches steel door that opens with a blink of an eye.
BrainJar.com is a site where I go when I just want to relax, even if I don’t want to read anything technical. Changing the colors of the site with with one click is something I always wanted. Count to ten and try to remember where have you seen this feature on big companies’ sites. If you can, please comment, because I would really like to see that sites. Even the menu sizes nicely, if you increase the font size.
The menu he done in CSS is astonishing. I’ve seen commercial Windows standalone application that don’t have a menu this nice. Guess what : the sites remembers your favorite theme when you come back.
This site is my idea of perfection. Not only how it looks, but how the tutorials are made. From zero to hero. It’s like magic. The tutorial called “The revenge of the menu bar“, for instance, is divided neatly in sections very easy to digest. It’s by far the best kind of tutorials I’ve ever seen. It shows you, at every step, how your target WILL look, and then will guide you, step by step. Not only does show you the treasure, but generates a plan of how to get there. It gives you the strong feeling that you CAN get where the author wanted.
Of course, a flash site can bring more animation. But try to sculpture with a kitchen knife. Can you? Well, if you have talent, of course you can. BrainJar.com is a living proof.
Try this page. This is not pulling a rabbit out of a hat. That was done before. This is asking the rabbit to pull another rabbit from its hat.
There is a search page. I searched for “glitches”. It said “Nothing found”. As I expected 
A magician doesn’t reveal his secrets. Mike Hall has no fear : he is above copycatting. Looking to the site you might say to yourself, “I can make something as simple as this site in half an hour”. The same I was thinking, as kid, when I saw the first electronic watch. 4 digits? That’s all? I could make them. Yes, I could paint them, but can’t make them functions. Can’t give life to them. Despite the wonderful picture from the main page, which suggests a dead brain, this site has a life I’ve yet to encounter in many nowadays sites.
Do you think that you’ll find words like the “best of”… ? No, there is no need for words, the site speaks for itself.
Who knows, maybe the word “Mike” has some meaning related BrainJar.com site. I ran a search for “Mike” on AcronymFinder. Here’s what it returned
Menu Interaction Kontrol Environment
Yes, BrainJar.com has the nicest menu control I’ve ever seen on a site.