Hey guys made my self a website, what do you think? not sure what I am going to do with it yet, might just have it as a CV as I don't think I have the quality of work for freelance just yet as only been doing web design for a few months.

 

 

Website is connorbr .com

Cheers

Well, I think you have to put a bit more work in that. Wish you best!

Hi

I see what you try to achieve in terms of design (or at least I hope I do lol).

 

Overall the site looks nice and is clear what you do, work, etc. - easy to find things.

 

I don't think orange and red go well together (I mean in this case, combined with the grey). I feel it would work better if you choose either orange or red, my preference will be the red, because the contrast between the red and the grey is better,and easier to read the headlines.

 

The texture doesn't look very good - but here is a link for you to a site where you can download different subtle patterns http://subtlepatterns.com/

 

Maybe you can keep the existing font for headlines only and change the body text font to a different one, like PT sans, Open sans, Droid sans. I am saying this because your body text is bold (the font makes it look bold) and bold should be used to highlight important parts of the text, not for the whole text.

 

The three squares (Web design, SEO, 24/7) need more padding, for the text to breath.

 

I believe all the elements need to be aligned to each other (I hope I can explain this one ) For example the 3 squares need to be the same width (altogether) as the rectangle below (Not sold yet... your call to action)

The slider could also be aligned to these. Hope that makes sense, not sure if I explained well enough.

 

Last: You can make your call to action more prominent, maybe have orange or red background (depending on which colour you choose).

 

Other than that, I think it's a very good start and wish you a good luck

Ah thanks for the feedback, forgot to say it is a work in progress, not completed yet haha. Ah thanks teodora, great help, Yeah i was a bit unsure about the colours etc as I have no sense when it comes to what colours look good/well together lol, cheers for the feedback not a serious website just wanted to see what I was capable of when actually trying to make a half-decent website aha guess these are things I will learn as time goes by,

 

Cheers ;D

Great, let us know how it goes

Also, thanks for the link about backgrounds, alwayx wanted to see what other ones were available but never knew what to google aha:) , another thing... do you think I should keep the site simplistic and straight to the point or try to add some cool features like jquery etc to showcase that i know what im doing? I have tried adding different plugins but it just doesnt seem to look right to me so not sure what to do aha

Also, thanks for the link about backgrounds, alwayx wanted to see what other ones were available but never knew what to google aha:) , another thing... do you think I should keep the site simplistic and straight to the point or try to add some cool features like jquery etc to showcase that i know what im doing? I have tried adding different plugins but it just doesnt seem to look right to me so not sure what to do aha

 

I am no Teodora, but considering your experience, any and all experiences will be a learning one. So i'd say why not?

Edited May 26, 201313 yr by SimpleSucces

Also, thanks for the link about backgrounds, alwayx wanted to see what other ones were available but never knew what to google aha:) , another thing... do you think I should keep the site simplistic and straight to the point or try to add some cool features like jquery etc to showcase that i know what im doing? I have tried adding different plugins but it just doesnt seem to look right to me so not sure what to do aha

 

I'd always say keep it simple and then build on it once it's 'done'. You can't always get jQuery features working across the board for all users and devices so try make it all function and look pretty with the basics and build upon it. That way your fallbacks aren't necessarily stripped down versions of your fully functioning site. Make sense? No, I don't think so either. Maybe with a clearer head I could elaborate on that more.

 

In the meantime, I suggest focusing on your fonts and content the most. The three fonts Teodora suggested would also be by recommendations as well. For this particular site I think Droid would work best. No type jargon other than it'll look good and read well.

 

I am no Teodora, but considering your experience, any and all experiences will be a learning one. So i'd say why not?

 

Blushing

 

 

Also, thanks for the link about backgrounds, alwayx wanted to see what other ones were available but never knew what to google aha:) , another thing... do you think I should keep the site simplistic and straight to the point or try to add some cool features like jquery etc to showcase that i know what im doing? I have tried adding different plugins but it just doesnt seem to look right to me so not sure what to do aha

 

I would say depends on who do you want to target - employers or clients directly. It is important for employers to see your knowledge "in action" on your website, so might be a good idea to do something interesting with jquery.

Clients (I mean small businesses and individuals) are not so much interested in your code, I think, so if they are the ones you are after, maybe keep it simple.

Keep up the good work. Try to play around with a logo, that represents you and your skills. This will ad lots of personality to your website. In this moment, you should try lots of technologies and platform and see how you can get along with them.

 

Good luck!

Ahh thanks , yeah I was planning on making a logo but I don't have the software at the minute, I don't have photoshop or anything so thats something I need to try get haha thanks for the feedback, oh by the way Teodora, may seem a daft question but how did you come across the skill of what colours go well together etc, is it natural or something you have learnt? just that I have no colour coordinance whatsoever lol, I have even tried adobe kuler for some ideas but some just look outrageous in my eyes aha,

 

Thanks

Ahh thanks , yeah I was planning on making a logo but I don't have the software at the minute, I don't have photoshop or anything so thats something I need to try get haha thanks for the feedback, oh by the way Teodora, may seem a daft question but how did you come across the skill of what colours go well together etc, is it natural or something you have learnt? just that I have no colour coordinance whatsoever lol, I have even tried adobe kuler for some ideas but some just look outrageous in my eyes aha,

 

Thanks

 

Hi Connor. I think you answered your question yourself there a little If you look at Kuler again, you can do searches for colour schemes that others have setup. Not sure of the benefits off the top of my head, but you can set up a free account and tap into something useful there if you're a little perplexed. I recently did a search for some rich reds and got a little gem on there - saves having to make your own palette at times. You might want to read up on colour theory (however brief) and look at primary, secondary and tertiary colours to start off with and see if it interests you.

 

Off the record, Teodora's colour choices are always spot on. I think she's using some wizardy of sorts lol

Oh okay cheers aha well I have only ever looked briefly on the homepage and some of the colour schemes seem quite strange, might be because I am so bad with colour matching lol , Yeah i think Im going to have to look at that definately, one of the things I need to get right haha and yeah from the designs I have seen they are good indeed aha

 

thanks for all the help 4li4s,on this thread and others ;D

One things you can do is to find a picture that you feel represents your desired overall mood for your project. Then you can upload to Kuler and it generates colour schemes from the image. Also you can choose from several moods.

Other that that, I have read books and articles on the colour theory, that could help you. Every colour has a mood, it is explained in the theory.

Do you associate people, places and events with colours? If you make some researches on colours and colour theory it will come to you naturally in the end

Off the record, Teodora's colour choices are always spot on. I think she's using some wizardy of sorts lol

 

Thank you

Hi! I think you have a great start! Your intention is clear, the site is easy to navigate, and the heading font is striking and modern. A few suggestions:

 

Personally, I like the patterned background, but I think there's too much of it. You could de-emphasize it by using white (or pale neutral colour) backgrounds in between it and the text content: this would make the patterned background more subtle, and it would make your content really pop (not to mention, easier to read). Perhaps you could place all your page content in a wrapper DIV that is centred on the page, so your patterned background only shows in the margins (kinda like how this website does -- I mean the one we're on, WDF)? Or you could give white backgrounds just to your text areas, so they're like little information boxes on top of the background?

 

The dark grey heading background on the About page is perhaps a bit too dark, makes the text a little hard to read.

 

Define some link styles -- this will make your site look more personalized and professional.

 

I think your copy (text) could use some work. Let me know if you'd like more concrete feedback on this but also check out the Copywriting forum here on WDF, there's tons of great info there.

 

do you think I should keep the site simplistic and straight to the point or try to add some cool features like jquery etc to showcase that i know what im doing? I have tried adding different plugins but it just doesnt seem to look right to me

 

I suggest keeping the site simplistic and straight to the point, and build your portfolio to showcase the cool things you can do. I know we normally think of a portfolio as where to showcase our objective achievements (sites we've made for other people, assignments we've completed, etc), but you're just starting out so you don't have a whole lot to show. So why not make some pages that show off your talents, for the express purpose of putting them in your portfolio? That way you get the best of both worlds.

 

I have no sense when it comes to what colours look good/well together lol

 

I struggle with colour too but I found lots of great stuff recommended elsewhere in these forums, so take a look around! Here's some I found useful most recently:

http://colorschemedesigner.com

http://color.hailpixel.com

http://colormatters.com

 

GOOD LUCK!!! I hope this helped.

Hi Nicolasks, thanks for taking the time to give me some feedback , I totally agree with you about the background I thought that it was a bit overwhelming and made my eyes hurt a little bit which wasn't good haha, I have changed it now and I think it looks a lot better, what do you think? is that what you suggested or have I gone a different way aha?

 

Yeah, now looking back at the about page I also see with you that the grey could do with being a little lighter, therefore I have changed it just now ... about the text, this is one of the things that I will eventually change, just thought I would write a little something in there just to see what it looks like with headings etc as I don't like using lorum ipsum (whatever you call it) aha.

 

Yeah I wasn't entirely sure about whether it was in fact too simplistic as if you look at it theres nothing that makes you go wow he can use... etc etc thats why I added the jquery slideshow just to show that I can add some cool features, however its not yet complete as I need to re-size and change some of the images etc

 

 

Oo thankyou I will take a look at the websites you have posted as I have always struggled with colour matches and things like that aha :DD

 

 

Thanks, was very helpful , what do you think of it now? only made a few changes though

 

 

Thanks!!!

You have some good things going there. It is easy to navigate and makes sense. As usual everyone else has said everything I wanted to say A bit of symmetry would do wonders for it.

 

I just thought I'd pipe up about the copy. It could use a bit of editing. When writing for the web cut the amount of content in half and then in half again (someone cleverer than I said that.) Web copy needs to be very concise.

 

It looks like some of your photos are a tiny bit deformed so make sure to keep the original ratios.

 

Here is another one for colours. I like it because its spelled correctly

http://www.colourlovers.com/

 

Keep going. you'll get there!

Thanks, was very helpful , what do you think of it now? only made a few changes though

I think it looks great! You're on the right track. Good luck with it

This is coming together really well. A good layout, a good user experience very clear

 

Overall I think more subtly is needed, the site is a little harsh at the moment. Some of the background shadows or glows are far too obvious for my tastes. the slightest touch can have an impact without the user (assuming the user is acquainted with an imaged editor) thinking Photoshop layer styles. Kind of the same problem about 10 years ago with the solar flare tool.

I noticed you changed the background and this looks better. I have used that site 3 projects this week so thanks teodora.

I know you have done some work on the colour scheme but I still dislike it, sorry. I feel the shades used kind of drag the mood of the site down so I would work on color to create something more uplifting.

 

Your doing great considering you only started a few months ago.

Hey thank you for the feedback yeah I agree I need to try and sort the colours out etc its really bugging me just cant get them right lol, what version have you looked at out of interest as i keep updating it aha , the most recent one is the background with the squares:) about the harshness... Do you mean like on the home page with the 3 boxes and shadows? As im going to change it soonish i think aha:) thanks for the feedback man learnt so much just on this thread especially on colour schemes etc:) thankyou everyone!

I looked at 2 versions, one on Wednesday before the background change and the change and the removal of the orange and this most recent one. This recent one looks the best

 

Yep this is what I mean about the harshness. I have seen this effect repeated around the site, but that kind of consistency is a good thing even if the effect itself isn't quite working as well as it could.

Ahh okay thanks haha yeah I think the background is definately a lot better, yeah I kinda copy and pasted the box-shadow line of code aha so maybe will have to reduce how much shadow there is, especially on the home page I know that aha cheers for the feedback

Well that tell me, I thought it was a Photoshop effect

Haha learn something every day!. Made a few changes again, does anyone else think i could change or edit anything or have i missed anything out? Just need to crack on with making it responsive next then hopefully it should be done aha:).

For responsive design I recommend gridiculous

Just had a quick look at your source code and didn't see any evidence of anything similar.

Ooo I was planning on just doing the widths and positioning myself however that looks a lot easier, will take a look at it aha these are all things I have never tried but learning still aha thank you!