Comfortably Numb

Some really great advice and a lot of food for thought. Thank you guys. The more I look at it now, the more prominant the flaws have become. The links are definitely a problematic area and I don't think I've made it as easy for my visitors to use as I should've done. When I was making the design in photoshop, I really wanted to try and make a bold statement, but I honestly feel now as if I've tried to do too much. Too many colours and too much going on, to a point where it actually distracts from the rest of the site. I agree, the pages are a bit samey, I was hoping this would sort itself when I had a bigger portfolio and different graphics on all the pages but I come to a point where these problems are big enought to warrant a re-design. I've made a new design last night. It's a lot more simplistic and will hopefully make life easier for people visiting my site. I guess I've got to learn to appreciate that sometimes less is more. I'd also like to thank you all for giving me a bit of confidence in my own ability. I've always given myself a hard time over my abilities. I worry that people I may be asked to design websites for might be disappointed by what I can do for them and I really don't want to sell anyone short by painting myself to be something I'm not, then failing to live up to the expectations. Especially as their website is going to reflect on their business, so I really want to do the best I can for them. Downplaying myself though, is probably going to have the other effect. I guess I was thinking that if I don't promise them the world, they'll be pleasantly surprised with what I make for them, but you guys are right. If I don't have confidence in my own ability, why should potential customers feel any different. I guess I need to find a happy medium and am going to re-write the text too to focus on the positive aspects of my services rather than the negative ones.

Thanks guys. I completely missed the labels, so pointing that out is much appreciated. I'll get on it asap.

Hi. I've been reading the forums for a fair few months now and have finally got a site up together, so I thought for my maiden post, I'd put it up here and see what you guys think of it. As you will see, I'm not the best designer in the world, and there's not much content on it yet, but I'm hoping to attract local individuals and business are who looking to develop a web presence. I'm currently offering my services free, so I can gain experience and at the same time build up a portfolio that I hope to use as a levy to eventual employment at a local web design agency (as I have no relevant qualifcations in the field). I also feel as if I might not be quite good enough to command a fee for my services and wouldn't like to short-change anyone. If it's okay, what do you guys think of the design and the coding? Is there anything I'm doing wrong or aspects that do with improving. I made all the graphics in photoshop cs2 and wrote the xhtml and css in notepad. Please be brutally honest where posssible and also, how far off in your experience do you think I am of being employable as a web designer. I appreciate that is a bit of an open question, but my knowledge of what employers are looking for is limited at best. Thank you in advance for taking the time to look at my site.