bumfluff

If you used save for web, that would save as RGB. Even if you didn't, check the save settings when you save the file. Shouldn't really use a jpg for print anyway though, try a TIFF instead.

I loved it when it was still loading... just the text, without images. It was really different and interesting, nice and airy-feeling. Then the background and stuff loaded and I was like, "bugger.."

That doesn't really cover it. From that page: ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Should I submit my own logos only? No. You can submit any logo that you find online and you think is good enough to be listed in our gallery. Please note that credits go to the designer only, so if you were to put somebody's logos, you should include his website instead of yours, otherwise your submission will be rejected. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ The credit part is irrelevant - you need the copyright holder's permission to reproduce their intellectual property on your site. Saying to people that they can upload any logo that they find is basically saying that you are allowing copyright infringement. The only way you could get around it is to follow each submission up by contacting the designer/owner and asking them if they'll allow you to use their work. As owner of the site, it's your legal responsibility to make sure you have that permission.

First thought (top of the head).. don't actually use radio buttons.. I'd use an image that looked like one instead. If you did this in conjunction with ajax or similar, you wouldn't have to have the page reload or anything either. ::edit:: Just thought, you could probably use the button images to toggle a div's visibility so that the new div appears on top of the old one, and the new div would have the new form in it

Potential copyright issues here.. do you check to see if the copyright actually belongs to the person uploading it?

And I didn't even mention bouncing up and down on it afterwards, either

Not entirely sure what you mean by 'inline'.. do you mean you want some some menu levels to open horizontally or something?

If it's the embed part that's getting flagged, try this approach

oh, say "hard" and "erect" again, that was hot ;P

Although.. I remember getting XP when it was first out (before SP1 etc), and it was pretty crappy back then. I actually like it now, but that's more down to the fact that various patches have improved it over the years. I can't stand Vista right now, but I'd imagine it'll improve in time.. whether it improves enough before the next Windows is another matter, though. Personally, I'm waiting.

PHP includes will do it

Prefer the original, if I'm honest. On the redesign, the flash is way too distracting when I'm trying to read the content. There's also not a lot of leeway when it comes to enlarging the font size, so pointst off for accessibility there. Visited link colour is hard to read against the grey background. There's also a bunch of validation errors. The copy just seems to be kinda plonked on there in a box.. it's presentation doesn't relate to any emotional message that would hook a potential customer. The original site design/style has it's issues, but it's much clearer. Btw, what's with the frames?

There's no prospect of having sex with a table, though

It's not very memorable.. it's basically an exclamation mark on a 3D triangle. Doesn't seem to be a lot of concept behind it

I use Foxit as well. I only use Acrobat Reader to check I've set up print files - everything else gets viewed in Foxit. BTW, Wizely.. if you want to use CSS for print, take a look at this.

That's kind've a sign they've got some kind of content management system going on. There are a bunch of free CMSs around (do a forum search for more info), but the basic principle is, all the pages are stored in a database and given a reference id. This can be in the form of '?page=2' or it could be something like "my-first-article' (which is better in SEO terms) but the principle is the same - when the url is called, a server-side script looks up the database info and serves the content stored under that id. If you're looking to learn tools to make a system that can do something like this yourself, best bet is probably PHP for the scripting, and MySQL for the database.

That sounds a little vague. Kinda like when a client asks, "it's nice, but can you make it POP more?" I took a look at the site, and it did strike me as slightly drab due to the amount of grey shading. If you brightened the graphics of the grey bits, I think that could make quite a big difference.. nothing major, just +50% brightness or something. I think that'd give it a fresher and more inviting feel.

First off, yeah, there are loads. There's also a lot of crap ones who simply haven't got a clue and shouldn't be charging other people. If you know what you're doing and you're friendly and helpful, you can get your name around pretty quickly. I'm thinking that if you're not confident in design just yet, you could focus on learning back-end skills. PHP, ASP, MySQL, Javascript etc. You'd have a head-start, seeing as you've got a background in programming. You can either team up with a designer, or market yourself as a web developer. That would give you time to start earning while you brush up on the design side of things. Wash your mouth out People aren't actually THAT worried about things being cheap. In fact, I don't think anyone really does. What's important is being value for money. The value isn't just based on what you supply, either, it's based on how you supply it. Let's say a water pipe in my house bursts. There are two local plumbers I know of who can come out and fix it. I know that both will do the job to the same standard, but one is friendly, the other is a miserable bastard - guess who I call first. I'd probably be willing to pay slightly more for the friendly one as well. Remember, there's two parts to supplying web design services - the web design and there's the service. Both are important. Regarding the permanent/contract work bit - well, maybe you've discovered a gap in the market. As a freelancer, what would you be in a position to supply that an in-houser or contract worker couldn't? I'd imagine that customer service would come into it again. You can be the friendly local face of programming.. get out, meet local clients in person, let them know what exactly you can do - programming is seen as a bit of a dark art amongst most people. Enlighten them, explain it in easy to understand terms. I'll bet they haven't had a programmer do that before Right, I'm stopping there, gotta remember I'm not writing a book..

1. What would you be willing to pay per month to advertise your company? (Keep in mind, if you charge $200 per client, 1 ad at $20 is super cheap) - As bluedreamer says, I'm not sure I'd see the worth of advertising on the site. The number of people who would search using this site would be pretty miniscule compared to the amount of people who would just use a search engine. This site is more targetted and there's the multimedia aspect, but the numbers don't work out well in my opinion - I'd be limited to the people who use your site, and also by the smaler number who would be using it to find someone in my field. I don't think the multimedia bit would add much seeing as if I promote myself on search engines, I can put as much multimedia as I like on my own site (if needed). If it were something like $20 a month, then I might consider it if I could see favourable figures on pass-through conversions and stuff. 2. What is your view on the referral program? - I like the idea of the referral payment being monthly rather than a one-off, but unless the concerns above are addressed then I can't see myself signing up (or recommending others to). 3. Do you think this would be a successful idea? - Not from the information given, no. I think it'd have to be very inexpensive to attract people, which means you'd have to sign up more people. I'm not sure if the numbers would be sustainable in the long term. 4. Would you use the site to find businesses locally around you? - Probably not. My browser homepage is Google - from there it's not far to Google Maps 5. Should there be a log-in system or simply a search, find, and get out. - I'd make it log-in.. let people edit their ads, bookmark businesses that they like, stuff like that. You're going to have to work hard at making this a site that people return to regularly if it's going to succeed, and that means making them feel involved in some way. Though people shouldn't have to login to just search for ads - you want that to be as quick and simple as possible. 6. Would you participate in competitions if you could win food vouchers, fuel vouchers, ect? - Probably not for vouchers, but what about if you gave a front-page ad spot to companies that donated goods or services above a certain value as a prize? It'd be much more of an incentive for me, and could be beneficial to the company in terms of customer goodwill and promotional value. 7. What could be a good name for the business? - I could tell you but then I'd have to kill you. Well, charge royalties anyway

Well, you need something to sell and be able to sell it. In terms of something to sell, your list of things you're brushing up on covers most of the technical skills (though I'd add PHP and maybe Flash). If you can take a course in graphic design (focussing on the design part rather than getting things ready for print), I think that'd help, especially as you've highlighted that as a weakness. The business side probably isn't that much of a problem, there are plenty of forums and websites you can learn from (I'm on the forums at internetbusiness). There are a lot of freelancers here you can get advice from too.

Nobody here's actually said to do the design before the copy, smartass ;P

One thought off the top of my head... maybe create database entries showing what items a particular user has paid for already. That would have the advantage of being 'sticky' so they can re-download stuff that's already been paid for. Those entries can also be checked to see if the user have access rights to download particular files.

The client would normally supply the text, and the designer puts this text on the site when it is built. After the site has been completed, the client is responsible for keeping it updated, although they may hire someone (perhaps the original designer) to make the updates.

Your script outputs an image link, right? Can you adapt it to do the following? - take out the link info from the image - add another image on top (z-index) and apply the link to it the top image would basically just be a transparent png with the white border and clear inner bit ::edit:: Other way would be to preprocess the uploaded image, which can be done server-side.. so you upload your plain image, the border gets added to it and then the image is served up by your current php script

Do you have any other requirements? If it's just the forum, you can add one to the existing site without redoing the whole thing.