falkencreative
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Posts posted by falkencreative
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This might help you out...
http://www.killersites.com/forums/topic/154/i-dont-want-to-edit-the-menu-100-times/
Basically, you are looking at building one menu file, and including it in all of your pages. At the moment, that will mean editing 30 pages to add the include code in, but in the future, you would only have to edit one file, rather than 30.
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This one will be a bit tough to code, mainly because of the image in the upper right... I'd suggest using a header div (which would contain the logo / navigation), a content div (including the main content), absolutely positioning the image "above" both divs, and finally a footer div.
The header would use one large background image, and the navigation would use an unordered list with individual images per nav item.
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It depends on the language you are using... some programming languages require a variable to be defined/initialized before it can be used. PHP doesn't require that though. As far as I know, the third line in your code sample above really isn't necessary, though there is nothing necessarily wrong with it.
Stefan may be able to comment on this more.
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You'd want to do this either client side via Javascript, or server side via PHP. Javascript will be less work intensive on the server, but it could be disabled by the end user. I'd suggest doing anything non-essential via Javascript, and anything essential via PHP.
Email addresses can be validated by using a PHP regular expression... do a web search for "email validation regular expression", and you'll come up with a lot of options.
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Whats wrong with my CSS? =(
A:link {color: #008cdc, text-decoration: underline}
A:visited {color: #008cdc, text-decoration: underline}
A:hover {color: #008cdc, text-decoration: none}
Please help
You need ";" following your css statements, rather than commas. For example, this is the correct code:
a:link { color: #008cdc; text-decoration: underline; } -
The GIMP is very powerful - as powerful as Photoshop, but I find it more awkward to use. The tools are less discoverable and aren't as intuitive. Good if you can get used to it though.
I found the same thing... You can do a lot with it, but it isn't the most user friendly. GIMPshop (a modification of GIMP that adjusts the user interface to be more like Photoshop) is better, but not much. However, it is free, and it will get the job done if you don't have Photoshop.
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[*]generally every one clicks on the link directly instead of using open in new window
if user clicks on the link the target page is opening in the same of forum again he has to move back and use open in new window
This comes down to a usability issue... It's generally accepted in the usability community that links should open in the same window, unless the user specifically selects Open in a New Window or Open in a New Tab. This reduces confusion and gives the choice to the user, rather than forcing them to follow whatever conventions the website designer follows.
You'll just have to keep in mind that links here open in the same window, and if you don't like that, make sure to right click on them and select "Open in a New Window" instead.
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Also I think 180 seconds between post's seems a bit excessive.
I believe after 15 posts, that number drops significantly. It's intended to slow down spammers.
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what's the CSS/HTML you are using? Hard to say without seeing the code.
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I'm currently working on making my new portfolio website WCAG 2 compliant. In case anyone else is interested, here is a useful article that covers what WCAG 2 is and how to go about ensuring compliance:
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This is a summary of the topic 'Starting a web design business', originally posted on July 23, 2008.
Original thread:
http://killersites.com/mvnforum/mvnforum/viewthread?thread=11509
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Hey all,I am new to this forum.... looks like a good one
I am interested in starting my own web design business, but am unsure about exactly what I should do to get started, besides just design. I have one site, going on three, that are still under development.
So how do I start designing for people? Do I just do a couple free jobs to get started? Do I need a site, that displays my work, etc?
Thanks in advance!
Josh
Josh,Sounds like you are about where I was a couple years ago. I actually started in high school -- figured out I enjoyed graphic design and web design, and decided I wanted to do something with it. I currently run my business as a side project, usually accepting only one or two clients at a time since I have a regular job and take college classes full time as well.
Where do you get started? Probably after you finish up with the sites you are currently working on, you should settle on a name for your business (unless you are simply going to use your own name) and design/build a simple portfolio site to showcase your work. Ultimately, that will become your best selling tool for explaining who you are and what you do. If you can, do this while you have the time and aren't busy with client projects. As I have learned, the longer you wait to do it, the better chance that you won't. It's hard to spend time on personal projects when you have paying projects to think about. smile
Depending on your skills, it may be a good idea to come up with a logo and some basic templates for your business, (letterhead, business cards, a design proposal template and an invoice template). You are about my age, and I have found that having some of these items has boosted my credibility and made people take me a bit more seriously as a designer and entrepreneur. If you can't do this yourself, perhaps see if you can find another professional or student who you can trade services with -- they'll do some identity work for you in exchange for a website.
As far as getting started and getting more clients, the best way I have learned is through word of mouth, and also through online. If you offer good service and reasonable prices and keep your client's happy, they'll refer you to others. Also, it helps if you take some time to create a quality website that is optimized for search engines. My latest client is someone who found me via my website (how the did that, I really have no idea, since I don't rank highly for anything at the moment...) and they have quickly become my highest paying client.
Should you do free work? It depends on the skills you have and your situation. Unless it is for a non-profit organization or a cause you feel deeply about, I wouldn't suggest it. However, you may offer clients that since you are just getting started and need the experience, you would be able to offer them a deal. That way, there is a clear understanding that you won't always be cheap, and they won't undervalue your services.
Setting up a business does take a bit of legal understanding... Where are you based? If you're in the USA, I'll go into that a bit more. Otherwise, you'll have to do that research on your own.
Just ran across a series of articles on Freelance Folder that might be helpful... especially the one on branding.http://freelancefolder.com/the-seven-deadly-sins-of-freelancing-part-1/
Yes, i am in USA. Currently, I have a site that I was going to use to showcase some of my sites that I have created. So yes, any of the legal/business advice would be a great help?Also, right now what my skills lack is image creation, since I am not very good with either gimp or photo-shop, most of my sites lack very many images. Any suggestions/help in this regard? Also, how do I know what to charge clients?
Thanks so much for you help!
OK... some legal details... As a disclaimer, I really don't claim to be an expert on this subject, but I'll pass on whatever I have picked up in the last few years of doing this.OK, this applies primarily to California, where I live, so you may have to check on your state's rules if you live in a different state...
If you live in California and operate a business that does not include your name, you need to register your business name with your County and set up a DBA (Doing Business As). Basically, this registers your business name and your contact information with the state, and allows you to legally operate. In addition, once your DBA is approved, you have to place an ad in a local paper stating that you have started a new business. Usually, after you register your DBA, a couple local papers will contact you with ways that you can post your ad in their paper -- it's pretty easy. If I remember correctly, registering the DBA costs about $20, and the newspaper ad costs somewhere between $30 and $50.
Also, if you are using a business name that does not include your own name, you may want to double check that it is not in use with some major corporation. While the chances of you getting sued over a business name is probably pretty low, you could be pressured into changing the name to avoid legal hassles.
There are tax rules that you will need to research more, especially if your business will be your sole means of income. I need to go back and refresh myself on those rules, so I really can't cover it in much detail. However, if you are self employed, the government will take out about 25 to 35 % in taxes, and if you are earning a significant amount per year, you are expected to file estimated payments with the IRS four times a year to cover the tax bill that will come due in April. However, (as in my case) if you have another job where the employer is paying part of your taxes for you, and you aren't making a great deal of money working freelance, it is much less of an issue.
One thing I forgot to mention in my previous post... It really helps to have a standard contract that you use and ask clients to sign before you start work with them. The contract would cover what services you are offering the client, what the cost of the project is, and which parties have which responsibilities. This document should also protect you in case the project falls apart and either side decides to cancel the project and other legaleze if things don't work out. When I was first starting out, I didn't use a contract, but I have found that it is very useful to have a document that lays out the exact agreement between me and my client. I simply won't do a project without a signed contract.
As for your lack of image creation skills, that is definitely something you will want to improve in. There are many sources of online tutorials out there online that may help you, or you may consider taking some classes at your college or a local junior college -- that is what I have done. Knowledge of photoshop or a similar program is very useful, since that is the part of the website that most people will see directly and understand. Most clients don't want or necessarily need to understand the coding that is involved.
What do you charge clients? I don't think anyone has an answer for that one. =P It depends on your skills and confidence level, and often where you live as well. If I remember correctly, I started at around a $20 an hour figure, and worked my way up from there. It does vary greatly though, depending on who you ask. I've found the average figure for design work (at least in my area) seems to be around $50 or $60 an hour. It'll often depend on the client too, and what they are willing to pay. Obviously, you would charge a large corporation that will get a lot of publicity more than a tiny one person business.
Two books to recommend... One is "How to start a home based web design business" by Jim Smith. (Amazon Link It doesn't go into things in great depth, but I found it useful for some general business knowledge, and it has a useful contract template that should get you started. Also you may want to look at the Graphic Artists Guild Handbook: Pricing & Ethical Guidelines (Amazon Link) which contains some useful legal/pricing information.
Any other questions?
Thanks, how do you go about getting someone to sign a contract if they are from a different state? Do you ever do work for clients in different countries?As far as the images on your sites are concerned, do create these or get free images from the internet?
As far as coding it concerned, I am very familiar with CSS and HTML, but just starting with PHP. Do you find it necessary to know scripting languages for your work such as JavaScript, PHP, or APS.net? If so, do you know of any good source for learning these languages?
Thanks so much!
Josh
"Thanks, how do you go about getting someone to sign a contract if they are from a different state? Do you ever do work for clients in different countries?"Depends... You could always accept a signature by fax. I don't always ask that my clients physically sign the contract. Often, I'll simply accept a written acceptance via email (though I'm not quite sure if that would hold up in a court of law).
Recently, however, I have been developing a client backend to my website in PHP, which allows my clients to login and view project details. In that area, it includes the contract, and the client can electronically sign it, which sends an email to both parties saying that the client has signed the contract and stores the agreement in a database.
Images on the sites I develop are a combination of free stock photography (sxc.hu, specifically) and paid stock photography (istockphoto.com or dreamstime.com). If the site will require a significant amount of stock photos, I usually ask the client to agree to cover the costs of the photos.
"Do you find it necessary to know scripting languages for your work such as JavaScript, PHP, or APS.net?"
Originally, I started out with HTML and CSS, and have been slowly adding to my skills. A bit of knowledge of PHP or another dynamic programming language is quite useful, and I'd definitely encourage you to continue learning. It'll help set you apart from all of the rest of the coders out there that only know HTML and CSS. Most of my PHP knowledge either comes from personal experimentation, PHP books or tutorials on killerphp.com or phpvideotutorials.com.
Ok, well I really appreciate you time. A few more questions:If a client asks you to do something for their site that you do not know how to do or can't do, do tell the "I can't do that" or do you hire a third party to do it for you?
Secondly: This is a issue I have been very perplexed about. Once you design a site for someone, how do you handle updating it? Do you allow them to update it via a CMS or are most of your sites pretty stationary?
Thirdly, do most of your clients already have hosting and a domain, or do you include that in the price as well?
Lastly, if this a area that is going to be profitable for me once I get started, so that maybe I could do it full time, or is it more of a "chunk-change every-once in a while" hobby?
Thanks for your experience and input!
Josh
OK...If a client asks me for something I can't do... it depends. If it is something that I could do, and just may need a bit of experimentation, I usually tell them it isn't something I have experience with, but I will get back to them in a day or two and let them know if it is possible. If it isn't something I could learn quickly enough to do it yourself, I may check if a friend or contact can/would be willing to do it (though that may cut into your profit.) If you can't do it and you can't find a friend to do it, I usually would pass on that project, and perhaps suggest another company in my area that might be able to help.
How do I handle updating sites? Depends on the site. Up to this point, most of the sites I have designed are static sites that I take care of updating for a monthly fee. However, as I have found this to be sometimes stressful and timeconsuming, I have been moving towards using a CMS. It's just a matter of finding the necessary time to learn. Especially with larger clients, they tend to assume that they will have the power to edit content, so it is important to either know a CMS or be working in that direction.
As for hosting, I usually offer hosting services via a resellers account at hostgator.com. Most of my clients want hosting, but don't want to deal with the hassle of setting it up. I usually include that in the contract as a quarterly fee that they pay me.
Will this be profitable? It really depends on your experience, your energy and your networking skills. Doing it yourself is tough work, and I have had a few friends burn themselves out trying to do it. At this point, even after a couple years experience, I don't feel ready to try and do it myself -- it'll stay part time for me, at least while I am busy with school. The longer you do web design, the more there seems to be to learn. At least while you get started, I'd suggest doing it as a hobby or part time job, and thus don't expect to get paid a lot. Don't make it your primary source of income -- that's just asking for trouble. However, as you build up experience and improve your skills, yes, I do think it has the potential to be profitable.
You may also want to consider, after you have more experience, trying to get hired by a web design firm in your local area and working for them for a while. You'll get a lot of good experience, and will be able to build some of the skills needed to do it full time.
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Just thought I would mention this, since it's possible that members who are just getting started with PHP will find this helpful...
Need to work with PHP and MySQL without the hassle of constantly uploading files to your web hosting? Perhaps you want to install Wordpress or another CMS on your local machine?
Installing the Apache server, PHP, MySQL and PHPMyAdmin separately can be a pain, and sometimes requires troubleshooting to get everything working. If you are looking for an automated installer that simplifies the process into a couple easy steps, check out WAMP (for Windows users) and MAMP (for Mac users).
WAMP:
Screencast showing installation: http://idea22.com/vi...708285941765250 (part 1) and http://idea22.com/vi...082810695178710 (part 2)
MAMP:
http://www.mamp.info/en/index.php
Screencast showing installation: http://www.falkencreative.com/resources.php
One final note: XAMMP (http://www.apachefri...g/en/xampp.html) is an alternative to WAMP, but in general, it seems that people tend to have more trouble getting it up and running.
If you have trouble working with WAMP or MAMP, please start a new topic in the PHP forum -- don't add your question to this thread. Thanks!
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- haven't find signature feature yet ( not if I so concern about it, just curious if it will be there?
This forum used to include the signature feature, so maybe it's been temporarily disabled. Stefan will have to comment on that.
- haven't find signature feature yet ( not if I so concern about it, just curious if it will be there?
PLease review my sites and help me make them faster
in Peer-to-Peer Reviews
Posted
I have a couple comments, mostly in regard to usability...
Crimson Vortex site:
-- The site feels amateurish. As you say, it seems to take a while to load, and having to possibly wait through both a loading screen (why the annoying sound effects?) and a slow moving intro is frustrating.
-- I don't like the way it takes over my browser and forces itself full screen. I want to be able to control that myself. This is especially bad in the portfolio section, where the portfolio items look pixelated and unprofessional.
-- The navigation is confusing to use. I often don't know where I am in the site, and I don't know how to get back to the home page. I could go up to the URL bar and reload the site, but then I'd have to wait again for the site to load. When I am on a sub page, I have to both hover over the nav in order to see my options, and tilt my head just to read the nav items. Also, even on the sub pages, the navigation doesn't stick to a consistent location, so I have to search every time to find it
-- The animated "crimson vortex" logo is distracting -- it draws the eye down to the bottom right and away from the content
-- You are using a lot of fancy special effects for some of the pages, especially when changing the page, that is totally unnecessary and increases load time. This site seems like it would be done much better as a static HTML site. Sure, you would lose the fancy effects, but it would actually make the site usable and understandable
-- From a accessibility perspective, I doubt that anyone who is blind and uses a screen reader could make any sense of the site. The animations and effects would be distracting to those who have problems concentrating, and could make the user experience frustrating
-- The copywriting could use some work, modifying the writing style to remove unnecessary long words. For example, the home page reads "It is a long and tedious journey to reach an appropriate and effective expression of your work, ideas and product. But if you are reading this, you have just reduced the journey considerably. Welcome to the experience of being on the cutting edge of communication." I can't tell where you are from, so I can't fault you if English isn't your first language. However, if you do have an English site and hope to sell to English speaking customers, it would help to reduce the wordiness and eliminate some of the long complicated words so that it is easier to read quickly. Perhaps even consider hiring a copywriter for this.
Tirthanjali
-- a lot of my comments above seem to apply to this site as well. Seems like an unnecessary use of flash, and seems to have both a loading screen and several intro screens. No skip intro link as well, unless the visitor is viewing the intro in the first place... Again, forcing the user to view full screen is frustrating.
-- The (second?) intro screen (that contains the text "A child is the most unique creation of God. His curious little mind is restless... etc.) has a lot of yellow that makes it difficult to focus on the light blue text. The text probably needs to be darker so it has more contrast with the background... I had a hard time reading it.
-- The subnavigation (for example, "Infrastructure, Curriculum, Team", etc. under the "Resources" item seems oddly placed (all the way over to the right side of the screen) and it doesn't seem to follow the same style as the rest of the site
-- Same comment as the last site about the wordiness of the text and run-on sentences... It often doesn't seem to make sense. For example, "Natural inclinations and instincts of a child have the ability to become his guide in future learning and our focus is to understand them and provide challenges and strengthening opportunities for them, so they evolve into more intelligent aids for the child in his voyage to growth."
So, to answer your questions... I agree, both sites are slow to load, primarily because of all the unnecessary effects. Seems like both sites would be much better off as static HTML sites, rather than Flash sites, which would increase their usability and accessibility. I don't think there is any way to "make the sites" faster, without either removing some of the animation or losing the quality. One or the other has to be adjusted.