tonychang

all that cycling should give you plenty strong enough legs the problem is it will build up the wrong muscles for leg yielding your horse.

its the 'e' I likey

cheers t.c.

...perhaps you should think about becoming a web designer instead?

Client wants website Client assumes you'll write copy you know nowt about for them You then offer client services of copywriter for additional fee Client then writes some copy You then re-write copy Site gets finished often minus a few pages client realises they can do without as they dont want to write it

learnt far more from lynda.com and psd/net tutsplus than I ever did on my BTEC in web design and development

I do genuinely regret not going to Uni probably because in my day the government gave you money (in the shape of a grant)to go to University. BTW I lived comfortably on £5,000 p/a in Asia so I'd say , yes £20,000 does go a long way!

I'd rather have the 20 grand

A college lecturer told me recently that he though a majority of Uni courses are a waste of time. He said they'd teach underwater basket weaving if people would pay for it...and from my experiences in education I agree. Granted its a good experience but at the age of 30 I took my ill gotten gains (not debt), moved to Thailand and partied hard for 2 years. No Uni wont guarantee you a job, but you knew that already. If you are any good you will get a job.

good question...cartfrenzy is a prime example, thanks v.much for that, bookmarked!

Trying to help out my cousin who lives on the other side of the world. She has a small but established business selling jewellery to shops and wants to start to sell direct to the public. Anyone know anyone from that neck of the woods who's any good, and of course not pricey? She spoke to http://www.zeald.com/ but they were too expensive. cheers t.c.

I dont have a smartphone but as I've been asked to do optimised site for them I guess I need to get used to using one and particularily looking at sites optimised for them. Not really arsed about all the other frills, also I'm the kinda bloke who drops his phone a bit. Not planning spending more per month than the council tax either. Just want one suitable for a web designer. Thinking HTC wildfire s at the mo? (BTW dont own any apple product, no wish to own any).

There seem to be a lot of showcase sites out there for inspiration but does anyone know of any that lean toward more commercial style as a lot tend to emphasize current trends and innovative design techniques more than just a corporate style?

my fave tat I got when I was hammered (and so was the artist) but it carries fond memories for me of that time and a funny night out.

I only did the BTEC as I was considering doing a degree and needed it for that. It was while doing it I realised education wasnt for me but if thats the way you prefer to learn then give it a go, at least you may meet other budding designers/developers. I'd make sure you find out if they have a decent reputation, I also found myself wasting time completing projects and learning stuff that was irrelevant to what I actually needed to learn and as you like me are learning in your spare time you probably dont want to waste it. cheers t.c.

Thanks for all your kind words I have no friends in the web design world and have relied on this board for advice and criticism. I actually started in about April 2009 when I was made redundant from my job as a driver and decided to have a go at making a site for my girlfriends parents business as they needed one and I had plenty of spare time. I made it in weebly.com as research on the net said it was the easiest and I had no knowledge of photoshop or html etc.. and from that moment on I was hooked. Spent the next 6 months learning everything I could get my hands on while out of work then got apart time job so I still had time to work on it. I used w3 schools (though in hindsight would prob recommend html dog) plus the lynda.com tutorials we invaluable for coding and photoshop as was any of chris coyiers stuff and the net.tuts, psd.tuts tutorials. I also attended a btec level 3 in web design and development ( a level equivalent) but in the 5 months previous I'd learnt more than the tutors knew though this was because they specialised in different subjects and the college was ****e (Tresham Wellingborough) but I finished it just out of bloddy mindedness. Like you I worked on a portfolio which waas mostly design lead as this was the area I was aiming for. I planned to wait till after 2 and a half years before looking for work as I felt I need more coded sites in my portfolio but circumstances lead me to start looking early. I always found that job ads always seem to require a graduate qualification and experience in the business which initially put me off but as stocker said: 'if you really want to to do that, it will show to people that you talk to and they will take you seriously!' I know I beat experienced designers and graduates to get the work. Also having a portfolio is vital as it was the only reference to my work they had at interview, though the fact I mentioned I was currently doing a design for an ex editor for a big web firm probably worked in my favour (the one friend I do have in the business happened to need a blog doing). cheers t.c.

Since posting this am now working as a web designer. Being older definatly helped me get the job!

I'm following the lynda.com 'wordpress 3.0 creating and editing custom themes' one. It appears to be the best tutorial out there at the moment.

Thanks my Firefox wasnt displaying their contents (wasnt running add-ons so I used IE) so wernt sure if they were released yet? Cheers for this one Loxley, its even teaching me some CSS along the way

I was wondering if it would be best to start with the very basics as have never used wordpress? I tried jumping straight in to making own themes via a chris coyier tutorial but failed miserably

Any pointers to recommended tutorials for beginners to wordpress 3.0. I see lynda.com are gonna do one soon and some lot called wordpress101 are also. I fancy getting into wordpress and figure I should start with the basics... I eventually wanna make my own themes or develop sites with wordpress so any pointers would be appreaciated (I've googled the obvious). cheers t.c.

I'd quite happily settle for 14k at the moment Hardly, thats why its taken me this long to get started

I think if you get the 2 elements on the index page to slide at alternate intervals it is less confusing

Having discovered an interest in web design over a year ago (during a period of redundancy) at the ripe old age of 39 I would like to persue it as a career but wonder if perhaps I may be a bit too old. I'm looking for an entry level job but wonder if it would be difficult as potential employers and colleagues will be much younger than me. I'm really interested in learning to become a competent commercial designer but sadly dont have so much spare time anymore to practice and learn. I sampled the educational route ( I have a btec level 3 bla bla bla)and learnt nothing I hadnt taught myself already. So my question is at 40 would it be possible to get into this line of work without starting up on my own? (been there, done that) cheers t.c.

Thanks guys was suspicious of the white text. @zed .. 'busy' would be a fine description, I also feel the middle dosnt really match the top and bottom and as usual I'm scared of white space.