Eskymo

That book sounds good - it's got very good reviews at amazon: Amazon Reviews

that reminds me Eli - I need to download that as I've been waiting for it's release!

I'm really happy with the results of this poll so far as it's proving to me that a lot of people do use 1280 x 1024. But then these results a biased towards designers and people who use computers daily in their work - what about all those people out there we can refer to as "joe bloggs" - people who don't use computers everyday but still visit the websites we build. I bet they're still on 800 x 600!

I just found this which you might find useful: CSS Walkthrough

I do my own site of course - I certainly wouldn't pay someone else to write my quirky nonsene, but for clients sites I get them to do the hard work.

SP?

I've never had one yet...I've helped clients write their content but never had to do the entire design, build and content of a site.

but surely if the 'deal' is done via email - she has that as evidence. I always note down the time and dates of specific emails relating to the project in my contracts - this way it's easy for me to track back on payments and so called 'verbal' agreements that were made via email and it also makes the client very aware that I'm recording and storing all the information relating the project. It does helpt to be tough though - I'm no pushover and so don't find it hard phoning a client after 30 days has elapsed and demanding to know where my payment is. I've got a mortgage to pay, so I can't let things slide and need to be on the ball regarding when my money is coming in at all times. Plus if you let things slide and are lenient with clients regarding payment and don't hound them about getting your cheque, they will soon regard you as a pushover and will always leave paying you last after other clients they deal with as they know they can get away with it.

Yay! Firefox wins!

I'm far too busy dealing with the design and build to worry about writing copy as well! I get my clients to write the content for their sites as I don't see it as my responsibility to write about what they do or what their company does - they are far more informed about that than I am. I advise them regarding keyword placement and the importance of H1 H2 H3 tags etc. Once they've supplied their copy I often offer suggestions on how it can be improved and they often go and adjust it.

that's why I bought myself Studio8 when it came out as then I don't need to worry about what Adobe is going to do regarding Fireworks as the current version works fine for me and should last at least another 5 years or even more depending on advances with web technologies. Can you export images in PNG format from photoshop?

sorry - I promise I won't do it again!

I personally choose Fireworks. I use it all the time. I been using for over 5 years. I can't see my self changing and going to Photoshop. Some people have been telling that Photoshop is pretty good, but I fail to listen to to them. So whats your choice?

I think it's getting there - I would ditch the faded ladybird on the bottom right - it'll be a nightmare to incorporate. The navigation stands out a lot better now and so does the quote on the left. I'd go with ben on the 'My Site' changing to your name idea. Get building!

you could go and cancel your amazon orders!

cool! thanks E...x

I like it. The colours are good, the theme is nice and cheerful especially at this time of year when we get constant rain - it's uplifting. The only thing I'd want to change is the navigation - I think it's impractical to have it vertical like that as I find it difficult to read and I don't think it stands out as your primary navigation - it just looks like any old text. One thing about designing websites - the more people have to 'think' about 'what do I do here' or 'how do I find that' or 'whats this site all about' the more frustrated they will be and more likely to leave your site unexplored. Make things easier to see and use. If you want to keep the navigation as it is - style it a bit more into buttons rather than just text on an uninterrupted background as that will make it look more 'clickable' and people will recognise it as navigation. As a first design it's impressive - I've still got access to the first site I ever designed and built and it's appauling!!! So keep up the good work!

I'm glad someone else uses coloured boxes. I do exactly that when I'm building a site layout as then you can see for definite when your floats aren't working or your padding is throwing the layout out. It's easy to take a screen shot and measure in pixels how wide your divs are and see if there is an issue with padding. I use background colours on all my main div elements until I've got the layout sorted and tested on all browsers cross platform. Then I'm ready to start exporting graphics and placing them within the file. Sometime you need to change things as maybe the design changes, so I always go back to the original coloured file and tweak that until it works and apply the changes to the site in progress. It's a very good way to work.

do you remember atic atac? The graphics were so basic - look: But it was a great game!

that's because Ben fixed it!

that would be good - I'd like to see it!

Thought I would share this with you....found it years ago and whenever I get a 'problem client' I read it again and am always tempted to email the article to them. If Architects Had To Work Like Web Designers…

Some people do have a definite 'style' though and sometimes I think I'm not a real designer as I don't have a 'style' - I'm self taught and I think that's got a lot to do with it - those that I know who studied design at college have developed a kind of signature and you can always tell a design is theirs.

With me it changes all the time. At the last company I worked for, when I was first getting into CSS and XHTML and accessibility, I pushed myself in a different direction with regards to styling on every job, as I wanted to try new things all the time and so every job I did looked very different and I'm not sure there was a coherent style to my work. I think I'm pretty much the same now. I would hate to churn out the same kind of thing over and over again. I see some old colleagues work and they do the same thing over and over and you can spot their sites a mile away. I think the consistency to my work at the moment is that I try to have clean clear code. I make sure all my sites validate and have all the relevant accessible features in them...this reflects in the design in that I try to keep things nice and simple and uncluttered.