Hello good people of WDF.

 

I am new to these forums and have read through the forum guidelines and skimmed over a few of the open topics and threads.

 

It appears to be a very good community with a good group of people! Quite a rarity these days!

 

Let me start with a little about me.

 

I am an all round creative geek and love most things creative. I love drawing and illustrating (not my strongest talent unfortunately), I am a keen photographer and can be found out late at night 'light painting' or capturing star trails, I could be classed as a graphic designer and a 2D artist.

 

I also really like motion graphics and video editing, although, I am still learning the basics.

 

My main stem of creativity is in my 3D modelling. I make models for game engines and for high quality still renders. I have been working with 3D for around 5 years and absolutely love it.

 

Just recently, I decided to teach myself how to make websites. I purchased some software called Webplus from the company Serif. I must say, the software is great for making neat little sites, but, i always felt limited. So, I started to learn HTML and CSS (Javascript as well, but, I can't grasp that).

 

I decided to remake my old site (previously made in Webplus) from scratch and hand code the whole thing, making it all responsive. It has been a great learning curve and I can see I still have a long way to go, but, it's honestly been great fun!

 

If any seasoned pro's would care to look at my site in it's current form, please feel free to cast your wise eyes over it and give some honest criticism.

 

New site, still being worked on, (dead links and repeated pages)

 

Anyway, I have rambled enough for now.

 

Thanks for taking the time to read my first post in the forums. Here's to many more!

 

Cheers

 

Jay.

Welcome to the forum, I like your logo Looking forward to your posts - hope you enjoy it here!

Hi Teodora,

 

Thanks for the welcome.

 

The profile picture is actually my old logo. I have redesigned it a few times since then to follow trending styles.

 

How do I go about changing the profile picture? I assumed it would be Gravatar, but, that has my new logo assigned to it?

 

Cheers

 

Jay.

 

EDIT: I just looked at your portfolio site. I really like the landing page. Very striking! Great choice of colour palette as well.

Edited February 12, 201511 yr by JForthDesigns

Thanks Jay Glad to hear you liked my portfolio - I made it (in its current shape) back in 2012 and haven't had the time to attend to it since then. It's due a re-build to keep up with techniques and trends, big time!

 

I see you changed your logo - it's still good, I like the concept and the colours

Yeah, one thing I noticed when I was looking at your site was the lack of responsive design. Every site I like, I always re-size my browser to see how (or if) the developer has implemented responsiveness.

 

I understand that responsive design isn't for everyone and it isn't a requirement of a good site, so, please don't take my comment as a negative point.

 

I figured out how to change the logo after I actually looked properly! haha. It really wasn't that difficult.

 

Cheers

 

Jay.

Welcome to the forum :-) learning JavaScript does get easier once your up to speed with HTML and the sorts of things you want to do with it :-) I use a lot of jQuery at the moment, but learning JavaScript first is a good idea.

 

Welcome!

Hi EpicWebs,

 

Thanks for the welcome. I have been thinking that it may be wise to stick with HTML and CSS, until I truly understand them.

 

Thanks for the words of encouragement.

 

I did take a look at jQuery, but, I stopped that online course before it started! Much more to learn before I step into those coding waters!

 

Cheers

 

Jay.

Hi EpicWebs,

 

Thanks for the welcome. I have been thinking that it may be wise to stick with HTML and CSS, until I truly understand them.

 

Thanks for the words of encouragement.

 

I did take a look at jQuery, but, I stopped that online course before it started! Much more to learn before I step into those coding waters!

 

Cheers

 

Jay.

 

Welcome to WDF! I would recommend this too, learn CSS & HTML like the back of your hand and learn the rest. Responsive isn't the be all and end all - it can't be such a nightmare, I found that one out when doing my own website, felt like it took donkeys years!

Hi Cherry Designs.

 

Thanks for the welcome. It would appear my initial thoughts about these forums were correct; very nice people!

 

I do enjoy using HTML, but, love toying around with CSS, so, under the advice I have received, I think I will play more with them and see what I can achieve with just them for now.

 

I took a look at your site CherryDesigns, I like the slide out menu you have opted for. I was going to choose something similar for my new site, but, then I remembered; baby steps first, don't over complicate things!

 

I do have one minor critique if I may. I won't say anything unless you say it's OK. I know you didn't ask for any comments regarding your site, so, it's not my place to blurt it out. It's nothing major, just my opinion regarding a very small section.

 

Thanks again for the welcome.

 

Cheers

 

Jay.

If your looking for a good place to learn about html5 then html5 doctor is a useful site. http://html5doctor.com/

Welcome to the forum. Learning JavaScript can be daunting because it's a full on programming language, with features some would argue are far more powerful than those offered by the traditional 'class based' languages, but with that comes extra complexity. If you find the right resources to learn JavaScript from then you'll pick it up. try to learn Javascript before you jump to a library like jQuery.

 

Good resources for improving your coding skills as a beginner:

• http://teamtreehouse.com/
• http://www.codeschool.com/

Edited February 13, 201511 yr by rbrtsmith

@@EpicWebs,

 

Thanks for the reading and reference material. I have bookmarked that site and can imagine it will be a wealth of wisdom for me. Thanks.

 

@rbtsmith,

 

Thanks for the welcome. Yet another friendly and happy face on these forums. This place keeps getting better! Javascript is daunting at the moment. I have been using Codecademy to help me learn the basics of HTML and CSS. That proved to be very helpful; however, not so much for JS. I do like Codecademy, because, when you complete tasks, it rewards you and gives you a badge! The gamer in me likes this and lets be honest, who doesn't like badges!

 

I took a look at both of the links you provided (thanks for those). I think I prefer the look of Codeschool. So, I have bookmarked that one and will take a proper look later on tonight.

 

Thank you to everyone for the warm welcome, the advice and quality reading material! Very impressed with the community.

 

Cheers

 

Jay.

@@EpicWebs,

 

Thanks for the reading and reference material. I have bookmarked that site and can imagine it will be a wealth of wisdom for me. Thanks.

 

@rbtsmith,

 

Thanks for the welcome. Yet another friendly and happy face on these forums. This place keeps getting better! Javascript is daunting at the moment. I have been using Codecademy to help me learn the basics of HTML and CSS. That proved to be very helpful; however, not so much for JS. I do like Codecademy, because, when you complete tasks, it rewards you and gives you a badge! The gamer in me likes this and lets be honest, who doesn't like badges!

 

I took a look at both of the links you provided (thanks for those). I think I prefer the look of Codeschool. So, I have bookmarked that one and will take a proper look later on tonight.

 

Thank you to everyone for the warm welcome, the advice and quality reading material! Very impressed with the community.

 

Cheers

 

Jay.

 

Codeacademy is good as far as free resources go but the two I posted also have the 'earning badges rewards' but because they are paid the quality is a lot higher, both a video tutorials with code challenges after each clip.

I use TeamTreehouse and I really like it, it just feels nice to use in my opinion, although there is a tutor on there with a really annoying voice lol.

Welcome to the forum Jay, look forward to seeing you around