Hi

 

I have studied web design at college and continued to teach myself in between my job but have struggled to be honest to find time. I only learnt adobe Photoshop, macromedia Flash/fireworks/Dreamweaver, hand coding html at college along with allot of media. The college taught us how to build sites but in tables!!!!! why i do not know and why they are still teaching this is beyond me. since this recently i have been learning css but haven’t moved into building my site without tables. i have learnt i tiny bit of java but can only really read the code i haven’t written any of my own as of yet.

 

So the site is www.shizendo.co.uk i redesigned the tai chi side of the site and the index page so the karate and kobudo side are as they was when i finished college.

 

I have applied for web jobs left right and centre without even getting one interview of response. i am 25 now and left college at 21 so its been a long time searching for jobs, i know i have a hell of allot to learn and the site isn’t the best of sites but im applying for junior roles what do they want?? 2yrs experience........... how???? no one will give you a chance. i have taken 6months unpaid work with the fire service and the police but still it is not enough i would really appreciate feedback on the site and tell me what i need to do to break into the web design industry i would really be thankful

 

also i keep hearing how kids at 16 and some as young as 14 have started web design businesses and some have managed to make allot of money i just cant figure this out at 14 they cant be highly skilled in the subject but i have spoken to a women who says her son has a whopping 75k in a bank account from this selling sites to people in America. maybe that is the way to go instead of trying to get a job in the industry.

 

I look forward to your help and maybe i can start getting on the right track

 

Thanks

 

Chris

 

www.shizendo.co.uk (index & tai chi side)

The college taught us how to build sites but in tables!!!!!

 

I'm affraid you site design feels a little outdated to me,

the homepage needs changing for sure - (too many junk sites have used a similar style to this in the past)

 

To improove the thai chi side I would:

- Make the text more readable (changing colours, titles and columning)

- add a simple gradient to the menu

- move dragons from behind text to around the main text area (overlaping slightly would be nice)

- (http://www.shizendo.co.uk/Tai%20Chi/Tai%20Chi%20menu.htm is your most readable page, columning this way is good)

Hi

 

I have studied web design at college and continued to teach myself in between my job but have struggled to be honest to find time. I only learnt adobe Photoshop, macromedia Flash/fireworks/Dreamweaver, hand coding html at college along with allot of media. The college taught us how to build sites but in tables!!!!! why i do not know and why they are still teaching this is beyond me. since this recently i have been learning css but haven’t moved into building my site without tables. i have learnt i tiny bit of java but can only really read the code i haven’t written any of my own as of yet.

 

So the site is www.shizendo.co.uk i redesigned the tai chi side of the site and the index page so the karate and kobudo side are as they was when i finished college.

 

I have applied for web jobs left right and centre without even getting one interview of response. i am 25 now and left college at 21 so its been a long time searching for jobs, i know i have a hell of allot to learn and the site isn’t the best of sites but im applying for junior roles what do they want?? 2yrs experience........... how???? no one will give you a chance. i have taken 6months unpaid work with the fire service and the police but still it is not enough i would really appreciate feedback on the site and tell me what i need to do to break into the web design industry i would really be thankful

 

also i keep hearing how kids at 16 and some as young as 14 have started web design businesses and some have managed to make allot of money i just cant figure this out at 14 they cant be highly skilled in the subject but i have spoken to a women who says her son has a whopping 75k in a bank account from this selling sites to people in America. maybe that is the way to go instead of trying to get a job in the industry.

 

I look forward to your help and maybe i can start getting on the right track

 

Thanks

 

Chris

 

www.shizendo.co.uk (index & tai chi side)

 

Chris,

 

I have a lot of sympathy for your plight and it is a difficult industry to break into full-time.

Personally, I have a full-time job working for the Police, writing web-based applications - i started on the Helpdesk, answering the phones but decided to teach myself - first programming, then web design. I've never even set foot inside a college (and a good job too if yours is still teaching web design using tables!).

 

One day, I was asked by the sister of one of my workmates to design a website for her new childrens play centre business.

Working for the Police, everything had to be above board and I had to start and register a new company so that everything was fully transparent from a police point of view.

 

Then, another colleague asked me to design a site for the veterinary surgery that his sister works at.

 

I guess that what I'm trying to say is that sometimes you just get a lucky break and everything mushrooms from there. I still work full time as a web programmer but now have a freelance business that brings in some extra pennies.

 

As far as your site goes, I think that it's too in-your-face. The font is difficult to read and this is made even more so by the colour choices (yellow on red).

 

Also, your site does not validate (I suspect that any potential employers checking out your work would test this first).

I would totally go back to the drawing board on this and try to gain some inspiration from other sites (inspiration only, of couse, not copy/paste).

 

Further, I find that a subscription to .NET Magazine has helped me enourmously. They have excellent tutorials every month and the Website Build Off section provides me with inspiration.

 

Hope this helps.

I think by 2 years experience they are talking about working with html, css (and probably having a portfolio of past work). It would take up a lot of time and money for a company to teach someone all of this, that is probably why they aren't giving you a chance (they don't want to have to hold your hand)

 

I'm currently in my 2nd year at uni studying web design. Although most of the learning is done by yourself the tutors are there to show you what you should be learning and correcting you if you're not doing it right. I'm pretty sure you could sign up for a short course in web design somewhere or even teach yourself.

 

Best of luck

Firstly, don't compare yourself to these kids, there will always be these kind of stories mooted around but they're pretty much few and far between.

 

It's standard to have a good portfolio to get into the web design industry, if not, then a good showcase of your work to show to prospective employers. To be honest your site looks dated and ignores basic design/accessibility principles and this will put off most employers. My advice would be to browse showcase sites everyday for inspiration such as Smashing Magazine, CSS Mania, The FWA etc and study how you could possibly bring your style back into the 21st century. Then you can experiment with your site and really use it to sell yourself. Use a better font (btw afaik "sands of fire" isn't a commercial font so most users won't be able to see it), improve the text/background colour contrast, play around with the images etc. You have the foundations in place, just needs some hard work to finish it off.

 

Good luck!