mrbigdog

I tend to agree. You have some good contrast in your text and background colours - but it still doesn't quite do it. The text is a little bit tough to read. I can't really give any other ideas to develop it as I would personally redesign it. I think personally that the background is good (know you were researching that), but maybe add a tradtional container box and add a bold header with some contrasting colours and a nice logo. Then maybe use the dark panels for the content. I think that would work well. Paul.

I agree with those comments but would like to raise a different point. There seems to be a subtle change in place (correct me if i'm wrong) away from very corporate, plain and standard web design sites to punchy, visually exciting personal portfolio's with blogs. It seems to me as though the guys (and girls) who have the latter seem to be getting a good quality portion of the new work, and also the right quality properly budgeted work from web design. For the above reasons, I think this site is a little 'yesteryear' in its presentation. There are a million sites that look just like this. Very corporate, same looks, same colours etc... It's hard to be different on the web, but its important to try. Paul.

Hmmmm..... I would start by finding out who his clients are and what types of people they are. What are the interested in, what might appeal to them? Maybe think about the colours that mark the atmosphere of your design. If it's minamalist, black or simple white is often good, perhaps with a simple background fade or pattern. Take a look at some of the CSS inspiration page links on here - they are fantastic just for sparking the imagination. I would guess that if you client wants to highlite function - it may require something sophisticated like a flash tour of one of his designs or facilities...? The way I work after iv'e talked to the client and found out a) What they do, who their customers are - I ask them to supply me with 3-4 websites that they like the look of and tell me what they like about each. Thats an excellent starter, and makes sure you are thinking what they are - not just presuming you are. (done that a few times) I think planning the site in advance is good. I tend to spend a day or two planning out the design in fireworks and get an approval before I start the site. It saves a lot of time in the long run.

I know what you mean. I have the magazine. Iv'e got a couple. I have a flash cs3 carosel (visit: http://gotoandlearn.com/) If you need me to zip the file and send it to you by email - let me know. Paul.

Possibly because you need to feed yourself and clothe yourself? There have been some very valid points here, and it sounds like a lot of you have found similar things to myself. There is a group of potential clients out there though that will totally waste your time and effort. Sadly, I think its often about contacts. Most successful web designers have repeat business from those they have done work for and from recommendations. Without that starting block - its almost a full time job in itself to market yourself and your skills. I'm personally at the point where im looking for full time employment as well as keeping my eye out for contracts and freelance work. Possibly £1400 per month basic pay is better than not getting any work for 3 months.... Anyway. I'm digressing a little. Good to read all your replies etc...

Hi Eskimo. What can I say. I looked at your own website a few weeks ago and it was good enough for me to actually 'stay' and read it. Definitely caught my eye. This one is no different. Highly professional look. For the time it took you - you definitely did exceptionally well! I hope you client is pleased with it. A definite gem for the portfolio. The top banner is quite large, but it does work very well and adds originality which is important these days. The site has style and personality without being too fussy or corporate (which I hate). My only comment is on the 'focus' of the site. From first immediate glance, the light browns and red button in the logo possibly hint to some sort of a cross stitch or art site. It takes just a moment to see what it's about though. Your main text gets that message across and directs the users eye. Well done.

Very very nice. I am not often impressed as I place a lot of emphasis on design and originality - but I'd say you are right up there with this one. I love it! In fact, ive even bookmarked it - well done! lol What did your client think of it?

I agree. It will look effective in a good design I think.

I fully appreciate your problem. I have had both extremes when optimising and designing etc... Ie. 6 is an absolute pain for most things CSS or rendering otherwise as it it not as good a browser as almost every other one! Unfortunately, although Ie. 6 and below should have been consiined as a bad idea made real long ago - there are many people out there still on dial-up or not very computer savvy why simply have never upgraded. Last time I checked 38% of all browser use was IE.6 - so, for the moment we have to patronise its 'quirky' and irratating inadequacies. A regards images, I too have a site where I used a patterned PNG to keep quality and optimise in a website header. JPEG 80% just didnt cut it in terms of quality, and file sizes are actually higher because the PNG is vector only. Thus, I think the load time on 56k modem for the JPEG image was 6 seconds and 2 seconds in PNG 24! What to do! Well..... After much thought and trying various methods, I produced the header in PNG, but brought in the photograph within the banner as a progressive JPEG. I have the optimised banner - but sadly - it looks terrible in IE.6 Take a look: www.gardenfactors.co.uk Renders fine in anything aside from IE. 6 and below. The other extreme would be : www.kartingdays.co.uk/test2.php Here I used a JPEG in the header for file size and it was far easier. Gifs are supposed to be 'old hat' now compared to the PNG file. Browsers are all now fully compliant with PNG transparency and PNG file sizes are often quite a bit less than GIF. I also often find that GIF images haven't always got enough scope of gradients, fills and deep background effects to be much use these days... Paul.

Is it just me? I'm becoming more and more disconcerted with people not wanting to pay more than £500 for a website (or less)? The problem is that the standard is so varied on the web and people situations vary so much - that often a client doesn't know what they want or what sort of quality to expect. When quoting for work, I sometimes get infuriated by people popping up or advertising 5 page websites for £100. They seem to be everywhere. Don't they realise that this is damaging the credibility of web design generally and the value people place on it? Personally, I think this is devaluing the hard work of a lot of reasonably priced web designers - who almost have to work for nothing to compete with some 15 year old kid with some skill that offers to produce a similar job for pocket money and eagerness to please.... I have already seen several postings on this forum from people asking for help without quoting a budget (as not advised to do in the 'please read' section), or people asking for help because they have a dream of something big and can't understand why people wouldn't want to share their excitement! It's like 'Money' - your a web designer 'why would you need that??'... What do you think?

Hmmmm. I'm sorry to say I tend to agree. You have to look at the experience from a users perspective. People are used to seeing splash pages on sites with little to offer. They are a bit like background music on a site (great idea to the designer). In my experience, most people (including myself) simply click off and look for a more serious website...

Thanks, I might try it! Is it mac compatible?

Well if running PHP on your local machine is the same as installing Apache web server - then what your suggesting by using XAMPP is installing PHP within a program on your machine. Whats the difference between installing Apache and PHP on your machine to installing XAMPP which is just the same but easier to set up! That's like saying - why would you want to eat fruit when you could have some grapes! Honestly.....

If you know what your doing and are confident in your PHP coding skills, yes. Generally thats not the way people do it though. You need to set up a testing server on your local machine or on your hosting server so you can preview your work and text that the dynamic elements work properly. Dreamweaver will not let you preview and test your work if you don't specify a testing server. Paul.

Hi Tony, Are you planning to use PHP/MYSQL for this on your hosting server? or where you planning on using something like Apache on your local machine? The reason I ask is that I have only ever set dreamweaver up dynamically on my server. Although, you can set dreamweaver up to run on a hosting server on your local machine for dynamic sites. Dreamweaver can be a bit tricky to set up - so if you let me know if it's a remote server, I can help you get things up and running if you wish. The first step would be to set up a 'testing server' in dreamweaver. When you choose this, you have an opportunity to choose the server scripting language you are planning to use. This is either: ASP, PHP, .NET etc. etc. I always use PHP and MYSQL, and it's quite easy to get started quickly using dreamweavers pre-built server behaviors. From experience the most tricky thing as a beginner is setting up properly and creating and connecting to your database. Once you have this - you should be able to make a start! I remember when I started in your shoes doing this. It took me 4 months to get set up. I had no hair left! Anyway. I'm happy to help and guide you if your using your server to host etc. If your using something-like apache - maybe find someone more knowledgeable as I wouldn't have a clue. When you get to creating databases thats an art for to. Which host do you use? Check they give you a MYSQL database and that they run PHP on your hosting server (should do). If you need help planning a database - let me know what information you want to keep and ill help. Paul.

Hi, Looking at your code, I can see two things that jump out at me - and they are related. You have written the form method as 'POST' - but you are checking for some of the variables (if isset) as GET. Secondly, your connecting to the database in the 'else' section of the script. Should this be at the top? Your script seems unnecessarily complex. How do you delete the news? Paul.

Hi Tony, Have you done anything like this before? What program do you use for your web design? and have you got a PHP/MYSQL server? I can give you some pointers, but it's a long and complicated subject you would likely need to trawl the web for several tutorials. Still, give me your level of experience and I can maybe pont you in the right direction.... Paul.

You are quite right - just what I was going to say... To produce a template to fit the design you have chosen is relatively straightforward. Probably about a day and a half's work to copy it directly and get everything working correctly cross browser and validated. I would probably make this from scratch for about £375 - £500 To code it, add the content, scripting to create log in's, favorites, user profiles, downloads and videos, blogs would take several weeks. 6 weeks full time to get the basics coded would be around £8500. I charge an average web design rate of £40 per hour. There are many varied level web designers who could do this from a back bedroom. You could get some 15 year old to do it as a project for pocket money maybe? Hope this is what you are looking for. Paul.

Hey, I wouldn't mind some ideas on how they made the navigation banner on this site! It's absolutely ace! Simple, elegant - and not made in flash! hmmmmm. Don't get me wrong - im also an actionscript 3 developer for flash - and could do this easily - but avoid making flash links usually for obvious reasons.... Paul.

Hi Hunty, To produce something like that, I would charge between £900 - £1200 I would say for about 3 weeks work. This would involve the design and then using an XML file for the information within a flash interface. Thus, it would be really easy for you to change the content in the future- saving time and money. Paul.

I agree with these comments completely.

Thanks for the comments. Too much bevel in the grey titles you think? I know i missed the L. It was just a copy and past job to put some text in and test the content didnt break... The logo is quite dark - but it looks terrible lighter, as does the banner. Just doesn't give the same effect... Also, a fading background colour doesn't seem to look right either. Whenever it try a 999999 to black fade on the background - again - it doesn't look right and I go back to the darker carbon fiber look. Think I may change the footer because I probably need to put more information in it also. Thanks for all your great feedback. Paul.

I agree. It's got potential - but maybe it would be better to use a lighter banner of maybe dogs playing or being trained in a sunny outdoor environment to lighten the design. The emerald green doesn't sit quite right. Try a colour schemer tool off the internet. Choose the Hex code for your primary colour or background colour, enter it and throw up the complimentary colours. That way you can change your nav bar to something more suited. I use: http://www.colorschemer.com/online.html Take care. Paul.

Hi Lewwy, Quite a nice site I think. The colours work well, and the background is quite nice (just takes a little long to load). I like the header - it's got some nice imagery and suits the feel of the site. I'm a little unsure about the navigation icons. I sort of quite like them, but also they don't see somehow quite right - not sure quite why. I think maybe its because they look a bit rough around the edges - maybe try re-doing them in illustrator and trying for something crisper? The portfolio page is different from the rest of the links which looks unprofessional. I would change that.... See what you mean about the IE. differences. I use a mac so would automatically look at it in Safari, and it works fine. Looking at it in Ie. 7 - the margin under the navigation links doesn't go all the way across - some of it is white. This gets worse with Ie. 6 and 5 - so maybe try altering your CSS. Try this site as you check, someone suggested it to me and its really useful: http://ipinfo.info/netrenderer/index.php If you can crack it in Ie. 6 - you are usually there with the CSS design. Generally then - quite a nice design! Hope it helps! Paul.

I agree. What we are discussing is somethjing Iv'e come across on the small businesses forum but to the opposite extreme. This is partly why I have started coming onto this site - people are more balanced. On the other forum there is a website reviews section, and most of the poeple that comment on the sites do so very harshly. Nothing is ever very good, and there is always something terribly wrong. Guess what? They are always the ones to fix it for you! Although I don't like that sort of extreme, I also believe that you should start with a positive and then give your true thoughts. After-all, thats what people are asking for - and that is the most helpful. Thus, I don't think feedback can be cruel - unless is't put very negatively in the first place. I don't agree this is. The layout for this site is just simply someone's plan. We all have various levels of skill and experience that we have built up over time. For a college project, it's okay. For a commercial site - its awful. It's all relative... In terms of the site, the general layout is quite basic, so I would maybe think about creating a stronger theme or presence in the header. Maybe just put a very slim logo at the top, then a wider banner underneath that shows a picture of people playing volleyball etc. That would work well for a college site and look really god. By the way - if you want to see what people do on other forums when reviewing websites - visit: http://www.teneric.co.uk/forums/website-reviews-forum/ Look for the replies from someone called 'fisix'. We have had a couple of run in's about the way he puts people down. However, I think this site is the opposite extreme. The comments here are a little bit TOO nice in some ways. What do you think? Paul.