Hi,

As a complete beginner I've been checking out loads of peoples sites on here and there is some fantastic work. However, I found it all too common that the designer's site wasn't of the quality of the portfolio work. So, is doing your own site harder?

I'm finding it hard. Too fussy.

 

Also a lot of the time you're too busy to work on your own, some of the most successful designers/freelance hardly have any site.

I've actually found that making mine was easier than a lot of clients work. I dont know if its because i'd recently had quite a bit of time off - or because i was in new surroundings and feeling most inspirational but somehow it just was.

 

I also knew what I wanted from the site, and sometimes with clients they're not 100% sure so it can sometimes be hard...

 

I do have quite a bit of spare time at the moment though... So...

 

Hopefully things change - and then you might see my portfolio get destructed!

Yes - I am currently re-doing my wedding photgraphy site, and its a Bxxxx Nightmare. Not only will it be a showcase for the photography, it is a showcase for the webdesign. Doing a clinets is easy, I just use the images they supply me. I have the pleasure of choosing forma pool of thousands and thousands of my own

 

It is a masterpiece in DHTML, a modern arty style, with a fairly freeform design (full screen etc.), and I am setting a stupidly high standard.. the problem is that it goes on the backburner the moment i need to do anything else

Absolutely!

 

I found my own site was the hardest to design for..... took me ages. It also went through about 3 different designs.

I've actually found that making mine was easier than a lot of clients work. I dont know if its because i'd recently had quite a bit of time off - or because i was in new surroundings and feeling most inspirational but somehow it just was.

Thats why we are on the market and moving to the countryside.. need a studio and some inspiring space (and a veew that beats the monitor)

Thats why we are on the market and moving to the countryside.. need a studio and some inspiring space (and a veew that beats the monitor)

 

Best of luck with that

Absolutey; I selfishly spend a lot more time on my own website than other's.

Since I started 4 years ago I have redesigned it 4 times. My problem is that when I learn someting new I tend to want to incorporate it into my own website. Or after a while I get to feel I want a different layout and end up changing it again. I am now tempted to change things again but feel it needs consistancy so am not changing the whole website but I think I might change the portfolio page and avatar portfolio page as I am not 100% happy with them right ow but now sure how yet or which style I will incorporate into the existing style.

 

In sum, yes your own website can me the most difficult one to create

Indeed it is! I've been trying to do my site now the last month and i always end back at square one!!

 

As a client said to me the other day "it because you know where to look to get inspiration, you see so many things, you get millions of ideas"

I dont think a developers site will ever be finished....

Im constantly changing things on my site, testing new ideas trying new designs. as soon as i think its done i try something else.

 

Im definitely my worst client...

I adopted the KISS effect....Keep It Simple Stupid! The idea is to let your portfolio do the talking. Also, a good designer will always update their portfolio so having it simple as poss just makes sense.

 

I am now developing my own custom CMS so i can just add to it as easy as i can. That way, i will free up time for my client work.

 

- Neil

Since I started 4 years ago I have redesigned it 4 times. My problem is that when I learn someting new I tend to want to incorporate it into my own website. Or after a while I get to feel I want a different layout and end up changing it again. I am now tempted to change things again but feel it needs consistancy so am not changing the whole website but I think I might change the portfolio page and avatar portfolio page as I am not 100% happy with them right ow but now sure how yet or which style I will incorporate into the existing style.

 

In sum, yes your own website can me the most difficult one to create

 

for my webdesign site I used wordpress. Just lets me keep the content up to date, with out worrying about design changes all the time. Wierdly, that site took 2 hours to write, the content is a ongoing thing

I find that the problem is I see/design so many sites that I like bits of different ones, but when you put those 'good' bits together, it looks awful. I also think I am fussier than all my client put together..

I know from my experience in writing music that when it comes to doing your own thing there are too many options. It's much easier to have someone tell you they want this and that. I agree with Neil that, as a designer/developer, your website should probably be understated and let your portfolio be your selling point. But I completely understand the position of wanting to appear 'up-to-date'. The last poster mentioned having so many goods things to add but putting them all together didn't produce the killer site. I learnt a big lesson when writing music and that was the element of having a couple of blinding sounds and the rest mediocre. Often when you broke the track down the individual sounds weren't the ones you'd have chosen, but a collection of mediocre ones produced that killer sound because it made your blinding sounds stand out even more rather than lose their impact.

 

As I embark on this looooooooong journey of learning web design I can see that 'designing' music and websites have very similar paths. I Just hope I don't get ripped off like I did in the music biz LOL