StephenOC

A whole hour?! Christ! I was slightly distracted earning a living.

I went to uni to do Media Technology but I think you do the most of your learning actually working on projects and working your way through books/tutorials etc, unless you have someone you can learn from, an experienced designer/developer in your current place of employment for example.
 
Over the past few years I have taught myself ExpressionEngine, JavaScript and jQuery from books and online, my next jaunt will be in PHP and MySQL as although I understand how these technologies work I wouldn't say I could actually code in them.
 
I think a course might be worthwhile, but I guess that depends on what course it is an how much it is going to cost you etc. I think most courses are probably worthwhile but not all, and it would all depend on how hands on that course was that would make my decision for me if I were in your situation.
 
For now, I am going to stick to books and websites like Codecademy to see me through.

There's a whole load of different ways to make your images responsive and only load what specific images you need depending on screen size, but unfortunately there isn't a 'perfect' way to do it - one of my gripes with RWD. Try looking at this site, it seems to tackle the problem quite well.

I use Photoshop to design the site, layout, colours, textures etc before I code the site, I cannot design something 'off the cuff', I need to know what the final project is going to look like before I can code it. This is just a personal opinion but I think designing in the browser would take longer (for me). But I guess it's about what is the best way to do things for you.
 
 
Photoshop to design logos? :0 The graphic designer in me squirms at that, logos should always be designed in a vector program, Illustrator (or equivalent).
 
I also use Photoshop for what it was designed for, to edit photographs

I use Photoshop to design the site, layout, colours, textures etc before I code the site, I cannot design something 'off the cuff', I need to know what the final project is going to look like before I can code it. This is just a personal opinion but I think designing in the browser would take longer (for me). But I guess it's about what is the best way to do things for you.
 
 
Photoshop to design logos? :0 The graphic designer in me squirms at that, logos should always be designed in a vector program, Illustrator (or equivalent).
 
I also use Photoshop for what it was designed for, to edit photographs

Site design and CMS for a local wedding show, almost finished ....
 

Using ExpressionEngine can start to eat into a budget for sure, $299 for the CMS, plugins you will almost definitely need for a project: Structure (site tree/pages) - $65, Matrix (galleries, table data, large pieces of complex info) - $49, Playa (relationships between entries) - $69, WYGWAM (text editor) - $29, Assets (file management) - $99, Safe Harbor (backup) - $40.
 
EE is very powerful out the box but my experience is that you cannot build a site without the above add-ons, well, you could but it would make your life and the clients life fairly difficult. I am not much of a programmer so I find using EE very simple as you can basically design your site as you wish then add some EE tags where you want your content to be updated, it's that simple.
 
I've never used WordPress but it is something I am going to start learning to give me more than one option when building a site.
 
 
 
Thanks. I might add some texture to the main body of the site, I tend to chop and change designs a lot, sometimes it drives me mad how much I tinker with things

Lyndsey - I am using ExpressioneEngine, I love how flexible it is.
 
Teodora - You sound like one of the girls who works in the office (who's in charge of the show), her only guideline for the design was "it MUST be pink"

Lyndsey - I am using ExpressioneEngine, I love how flexible it is.
 
Teodora - You sound like one of the girls who works in the office (who's in charge of the show), her only guideline for the design was "it MUST be pink"

Site design and CMS for a local wedding show, almost finished ....
 

Site design and CMS for a local wedding show, almost finished ....
 

I recently bought this O'Rielly book about JavaScript & jQuery, in fact I bought the HTML5 and CSS3 books as well as a bundle. I find them very easy to get through and they give you real life examples of how can use the technologies. There is a tutorial (or 2) at the end of each chapter which I find very useful.

I think it's nice, clean and simple and to the point.
 
Suggestions I have:
- I can't read your submit button on your contact page, there isn't enough contrast on the gray button against the light background, nor on the white text on the gray button.
- I think the contact page is important enough to give it space on the primary nav.
- Is your copyright date out of date? If not I'd list some new projects, later than 2010.
- I think there are too many portfolio items, I'd have 10, maybe 12, 15 max, you have at least 40...
 
Other than these, it's good stuff.

Yes, stay away from Bootstrap. Code it yourself and feel like you've achieved something!
 
Responsive design is simple in principle.
 
1.Design a site to scale in Photoshop using a 960 grid or design the mobile version first and work towards the desktop version.
2.Code your website as usual. (Using HTML5 Bolier Plate with Modernizr)
3.Convert all your widths from pixels to percent.
4.Add media queries to target your device sizes.
5.Test, test, test.
 
You can learn from tuts, as posted above, but I prefer to work with books (still). I'd recommend this one 'Responsive Web Design with HTML5 and CSS3 by Ben Frain.

Can I have the link for personal use...

I like the simplicity of the top part of the homepage, the orange on the gray works well and the typography in your banner is strong. The site feels a bit 'templatey' to me, is it a template that you have altered?
 
I do have a few observations:
- The green in your logo doesn't have enough contrast against the gray background, I'd consider changing either the green or the gray.
- Your pricing boxes on the homepage need to be spaced out more, at the moment it looks like there is one missing.
- Your t&cs need to be inside the wrapper, the way they are not aligned with the other content at the moment looks strange.
- I'd expect the bit about your team to have a description of each team member, at the moment, it's just a cartoon graphic and a name, I'd expect to be able to read more about each team member, if that's not possible I feel like this section is a little bit redundant.
- On your Linux, Windows and SSD VPS pages I'd expect the content to stretch across the page more, again in certain areas it feels like there is something missing from the page.
- When you click on your status page the nav breaks and comes out of its container (Chrome, Windows 7).
- When I click on your contact page it takes me to a site that looks completely different to the one I have been viewing, not a good experience for the user and won't install confidence in them to contact you/buy your product. This page needs to run from the same stylesheet/template as the rest of the site. And once I am in this different section of the site I cannot get back to the other part of the site, even if I click the logo or the home button in the nav, I would (and do) find that very frustrating.
- I think your could inject a little bit more colour into the site, possibly into the footer or header.
 
Potential for a nice site here but I feel it still needs some work done to it.

I like the simplicity of the top part of the homepage, the orange on the gray works well and the typography in your banner is strong. The site feels a bit 'templatey' to me, is it a template that you have altered?
 
I do have a few observations:
- The green in your logo doesn't have enough contrast against the gray background, I'd consider changing either the green or the gray.
- Your pricing boxes on the homepage need to be spaced out more, at the moment it looks like there is one missing.
- Your t&cs need to be inside the wrapper, the way they are not aligned with the other content at the moment looks strange.
- I'd expect the bit about your team to have a description of each team member, at the moment, it's just a cartoon graphic and a name, I'd expect to be able to read more about each team member, if that's not possible I feel like this section is a little bit redundant.
- On your Linux, Windows and SSD VPS pages I'd expect the content to stretch across the page more, again in certain areas it feels like there is something missing from the page.
- When you click on your status page the nav breaks and comes out of its container (Chrome, Windows 7).
- When I click on your contact page it takes me to a site that looks completely different to the one I have been viewing, not a good experience for the user and won't install confidence in them to contact you/buy your product. This page needs to run from the same stylesheet/template as the rest of the site. And once I am in this different section of the site I cannot get back to the other part of the site, even if I click the logo or the home button in the nav, I would (and do) find that very frustrating.
- I think your could inject a little bit more colour into the site, possibly into the footer or header.
 
Potential for a nice site here but I feel it still needs some work done to it.

William, nice, site, I like the logo and the layout and I think the green works well.
 
I have a couple of points:
- I'd expect your logo to link to your home page.
- I think the animations on the homepage slider are a little bit slow.
- I'd expect the arrows on the "our range of premium brands" to function in some sort of way, they don't do anything just now so I am not sure why they are needed.
- You don't have any validation on your forms.
- I think your about page is important enough to have its own spot in your main nav, and maybe have a bit about you/the company on the homepage, at the moment it's not clear what your USPs are.
- Although not a necessity but 10 stylesheets is a lot of stylesheets to be having, I'd try and get that down to 1 or 2, but that might just be my personal preference.

Panda, thanks for the detailed response, my sister looked at it yesterday and she was using IE8 and pointed out the issues with the hovers and nav, I will look at it over the weekend and see if I can figure out why it is happening... IE must die
 
Appreciate the critique.

Hi,
 
I think it's a good start, the colours are nice and easy on the eye and it's clear enough, the fact that it is responsive is also good.
 
I would definitely add some of your work if it is a portfolio website, even if it is just work you done at uni, at least then there is something for potential employers to see at the moment there isn't much on the site to keep the user engaged. I would also add a picture of yourself, it's nice to see who we are reading about. Some people are not a fan of this but I would style your CV to go with the branding on your website, just give things a bit of continuity, not styled too much though but it could incorporate your logo and some colour.