Rickton

When using fonts for your various web graphics / logos etc, how do you source your fonts ? Do you all download fonts you like from places like dafont.com etc ? If so, what are the ownership implications of this ? Do you have to pay to use them for commercial sites ? ie. Anything you might be making for a client ? Are there any places / packs that are totally free that require no such payments etc ? Any help would be appreciated as im a bit of a novice ! Cheers Rick

On this note, for a designer starting out, making smaller websites... would the "Level 1" hosting package from 5quidhost be sufficient from the spec given here; http://www.5quidhost.co.uk/hosting.php - I too am a 'newbie' and require the advice of those in the know!

I must admit, i am very new to the site, i stumbled across it via a search engine! Oddly perhaps, my area of expertise is Business Management, yet i have developed an interest in webdesign, so i enjoy the Business section of the site as much as anything else! But i have certainly found it to be a vast source of knowledge and support, so i certainly believe i will be here to stay

Just picking up on this point, it may be worthwhile just contacting them again, they may have simply not taken your original enquiry seriously. Contacting them again with the site in its current state would surely invoke a response!

OK, so what you need to do, as quickly as possible, is establish why your company can add value to theirs. You should briefly outline the business case for an 'online presence', suggest the benefits of a website and other online marketing strategies. Then outline the services that your company offer. Back up what you say with facts wherever possible, businessmen and women recognise numbers, they want to see as how much profit you can make them and for how little cost. Keep it brief, but most importantly, keep it to the point. You get such a small amount of time in which to make enough of an impression upon these people before they decide your advert/letter is crap and throw it away. Be bold, confident and precise and you wont go far wrong.

One word...WOW! Within the first few seconds of being on your site, i fell in love with it. Usually i am not a fan of animaton on websites, but as this is the feature point of your whole site i followed your link with an open mind, and my was i impressed. I love the layout, colours, and general feel of the site, and as for the actual examples and guides of how to build a PC, i think they are great too! I havent given it a particularly detailed critique because i got so excited i felt i had to instantly write a positive response! I am sure someone will let you know if there are any more technical errors/oversights you may want to consider, but my overall initial impression was hugely positive! Excellent work!

On a side note, deliberate or not, i like the way the stars on the .eu flag seem to be orbiting the characters head in the same way they would on a cartoon with someone who has been hit in the head.....'Dizzy'.. Clever play on words, or lucky fluke, either way, nice!

You do link to an external style sheet, but there are numerous styling attributes in your code too.

Loading times were slow! Not overly keen on the navigation personally, feels 'blocky'!

Give him a .pdf

As far as i can see, in terms of brand image, there is nothing wrong with for example, a slight rebranding. For instance...The parent 'comapny', Brightbox. Operating under the Brightbox umbrella you then have various other companies, Brightbox Design, Brightbox Networks, Brightbox Digital Marketing Solutions so n and so forth... This is quite a common way to operate for many companies, as it does seperate the businesses core activities without losing sight of the brand itself. It is also a far more effective way of encouraging cross selling. A client satisfied with your services under the design umbrella, may return for repeat business in a years time under your networking umbrella etc Apologies if i have got the wrong end of the stick, and this is actually what you were suggesting, but regardless, in your shoes, this is the route i would take! Hope this is of some use! Rick

Bookmarked

Think this site was featured in this months .net mag !

The downside is that i cant really draw with pen & paper, im pretty useless in fact lol! I think im going to take your advice notbanksy and try to isolate each part of what i want and see how i get on!! Cheers for all the advice guys!

Right, i use photoshop mainly for graphic creation/manipulation, and even at that, i would describe myself as a novice. My problem is that i have come up with a good idea for the visual branding for my business, including that contained on my website, however, i dont know how to go about creating the image. Can anyone please offer me any tips that they may think i might find useful, i would be extremely appreciative! Kind Regards Rick