Hello people! I made my first portfolio website. I'd like to have some feedback, please! I'm new in this field and I'm doing my best. Here you go http://www.hypnoticars.com

 

Thank you all!

Edited January 2, 201313 yr by ars

uhh!

 

the yellow hurts my eyes

Your portfolio images definitely should be bigger, not the thumbnails, the target image.

I'd like to see more web design on there, they wouldn't even have to exist, just designs.

I don't like the marble texture, I'd prefer white.

Make use of meta tags and other SEO tricks.

Needs more content, you could arguable squeeze your site into one page, not that you should.

Just my opinion, hope its of some help.

Hey guys! Thanky you for your suggestions. I've made some changes, please take a look! http://www.hypnoticars.com

You didn't 'make' your portfolio website, you clicked install on a wordpress theme called 'Portfolio-press'.

 

I just can't understand why people keep coming on here, asking for reviews of 'their' websites when it's just wordpress theme's they've installed?

Maybe I'd understand if there was lots of content on there, but there isn't.

 

WHAT EXACTLY IS ACHIEVED BY IT?

Hello people! I made my first portfolio website. I'd like to have some feedback, please! I'm new in this field and I'm doing my best. Here you go http://www.hypnoticars.com

 

Thank you all!

 

Thank you for sharing your portfolio website and I hope my advice doesn't sounds too harsh.

 

I would like to say a few things that I hope help you out:

 

#1. Your home page is the most important page on your website. The things you say and post there will be responsible for getting you clients or scaring them away and right now you are not using that page effectively.

 

#2. Why should a client hire you instead of any other designer? That's a question almost no website designers want to ask and yet it is the most important client getting question you will ever answer if you do.

 

#3. Your "portfolio" page is your strongest selling point right now. If you want to get more clients and you're too busy to write copy that will convince them to work with you then that is the only hope this website has.

 

Here's a few client getting thoughts:

 

"Who is visiting my website and what do they want to see?"

"What do I want them to do when they visit my website?"

"What do they know about me, my product, or services?"

"What can I show them that will convince them to hire me?"

 

It just looks like you haven't put in the time to answer any of these questions. If you do, you might be surprised by how many clients you will be able to get with your portfolio.

 

Hope that helps.

Edited January 5, 201313 yr by WebsiteWriter

Your site seems good as seen by me

Thank you for your comments! @andys, I don't agree with you! I changed the theme and I think that there's nothing wrong to use a theme. @openwide, meta tags are not so important anymore. Take a look at this article: http://codex.wordpress.org/Meta_Tags_in_WordPress

You didn't 'make' your portfolio website, you clicked install on a wordpress theme called 'Portfolio-press'.

 

I just can't understand why people keep coming on here, asking for reviews of 'their' websites when it's just wordpress theme's they've installed?

Maybe I'd understand if there was lots of content on there, but there isn't.

 

WHAT EXACTLY IS ACHIEVED BY IT?

 

I am becoming your biggest fan. Completely agree.

 

Thank you for your comments! @andys, I don't agree with you! I changed the theme and I think that there's nothing wrong to use a theme. @openwide, meta tags are not so important anymore. Take a look at this article: http://codex.wordpre...gs_in_WordPress

 

With respect. There is everything wrong with using a theme, then coming on to a Web DESIGNER forum and claiming to be a designer for feedback on work that is not yours against some of the guys/girls on here.

 

It is an insult to their intelligence and a waste of their time.

 

 

I hope this helps.

I would like to say that it's easy to get frustrated with this kind of thing. But this is also a place for people to learn and grow. I know that some people aren't as thick skinned as I am. I just want to say, thank you for posting here.

 

Take the feedback as an opportunity to grow. I remember when I first started posting in forums I was often offended and hurt by the criticism that older members would write.

 

It is only because they care deeply about the community and their profession.

 

It is not an attack on you personally. I hope you will stick and around and learn because the learning never ends and there are a lot of great people here.

Edited January 7, 201313 yr by WebsiteWriter

Look people, I think that I'm not the only one who uses themes, as a beginner! I'd like to point that I'm not here to offend anybody, I'm here to learn and to hear critics and compliments, everything is welcomed!

Look people, I think that I'm not the only one who uses themes, as a beginner! I'd like to point that I'm not here to offend anybody, I'm here to learn and to hear critics and compliments, everything is welcomed!

 

OK, my 2p worth on the "Themes vs Bespoke" issue. Themes are fine, nothing wrong with them. I've had clients who insist on them as they save money, but those sites don't make it into my portfolio. Why? Because I didn't design the theme. I'd feel like a fraud if I said," Hey! look at this site! isn't it pretty?" when I had nothing to do with the design process.

When I was just starting out, many many moons ago, I must admit I didn't use a template, but back in 1998 they were scarce then!

So, to sum things up. It's fine to use themes, but just don't claim it's your own work.

OK, my 2p worth on the "Themes vs Bespoke" issue. Themes are fine, nothing wrong with them. I've had clients who insist on them as they save money, but those sites don't make it into my portfolio. Why? Because I didn't design the theme. I'd feel like a fraud if I said," Hey! look at this site! isn't it pretty?" when I had nothing to do with the design process.

When I was just starting out, many many moons ago, I must admit I didn't use a template, but back in 1998 they were scarce then!

So, to sum things up. It's fine to use themes, but just don't claim it's your own work.

 

^ This.

 

Using pre-made themes for clients who request them is fine and this will be a common occurrence when dealing with clients who want just a basic website at an affordable price.

 

However, a portfolio should be a demonstration of your skills and personal style, the majority of it should be your own work with the only acceptable exceptions (in my opinion) being certain jQuery plugins and small snippets such as CSS resets, but again, these should be coded by the developer/designer if possible.

 

You wouldn't expect an architect to design your house using someone else's design or a photographer to photoshop your face onto someone else's wedding photos; I'm not being rude, just trying to give an honest opinion.

^ This.

 

Using pre-made themes for clients who request them is fine and this will be a common occurrence when dealing with clients who want just a basic website at an affordable price.

 

However, a portfolio should be a demonstration of your skills and personal style, the majority of it should be your own work with the only acceptable exceptions (in my opinion) being certain jQuery plugins and small snippets such as CSS resets, but again, these should be coded by the developer/designer if possible.

 

You wouldn't expect an architect to design your house using someone else's design or a photographer to photoshop your face onto someone else's wedding photos; I'm not being rude, just trying to give an honest opinion.

 

I have to agree.

Maybe you're right...but I'm new in this field and I'm still learning.I made a few websites before but never with Wordpress, so I wanted to try it, that's all! The next time I'll show you "my website"

Maybe you're right...but I'm new in this field and I'm still learning.I made a few websites before but never with Wordpress, so I wanted to try it, that's all! The next time I'll show you "my website"

 

It's good that you have initiative. Portfolio's aren't created in a days work, I've been working on mine for months after completely revamping it several times and it still isn't complete lol. I look forward to seeing your very own masterpiece!

Maybe you're right...but I'm new in this field and I'm still learning.I made a few websites before but never with Wordpress, so I wanted to try it, that's all! The next time I'll show you "my website"

We were all new once Nothing said here was meant to be mean, just hopefully pointing you in the right direction. It doesn't feel very nice , I admit that. I've been on the receiving end of a drumming on more than one occasion! Actually, it helped me out no end, It made me realise that I wasn't a very good designer (its just not in my genes!) so I now concentrate on doing back-end stuff like coding and wordpress development, and leave the pretty bits to the folk who really know what they are doing with it.

Ars I dont see any problems as using a wp theme as a base and learning your way around it, currently doing it myself with the bones theme. I think what a couple are saying is you haven't really changed a lot from the original theme.

 

What I'd look at doing is getting the bones or starkers theme and using that as a base create one of your existing sites

 

some of the other posters lets try and encourage instead of putting people down and scaring them away

I agree with mteam, getting a stripped down theme can really help you see how wordpress functions and can be a great way to learn the basics of coding up a theme.

Your comments are very construcitve! Some of you were very rude,though! I'm constantly looking for tutorials and doing my best to learn. Some people should pay attention on how they say something, because nobody knows everything!

Thank you all, again!

I don't think people were intending to be rude.

 

You see, there is a lot of web design companies/freelancers that bash together a quick wordpress theme and then claim to be designers and think they are ready to start trading when this is obviously not the case.

 

I think what was being said is that if your planning on doing design work for people, You should have at least designed your own site. If this is just a personal site showing some stuff you've done then that's cool.

 

But if your just starting out and learning then stripping back a theme and reforming it can be good practise.