Differnt Design Techniques

[Squintz]

I know that alot of stuff has to be considered when designing a site...Color, Fonts, Positioning....

What i want to know from everyone is what goes through your mind when you start brainstorming for a new site...

ill start for example with a site that im really unhappy with. Everyone i live with and all my friends say to me "You have talent you should start your own business" -Making web sites. So i say to my self hmm...i could probably make a little extra cash if i did this(not that i need it) but its good for the experience and i could add it to my resume for future promotions(i work for the U.S ARMY) So i think what do i need to start this business....

Answer: a web site

What should be on this site...
1)Contact information
2)Examples of my work
3)Advertisement with catchy fraises
4)Eye catching Graphics and layout

So i start with the layout...now i never created a business site befor so what i did is went onto google and typed differnt fraises and got idas for layouts... i saw one i like and tryed to mimik it while also adding my own touches to make it unique...

well this is what i came up with www.DomainWebDesigns.com

First of all i hate the color scheme and second of all the graphics stink!

Now im wondering if i cant make my own site and be happy with it how in the world am i going to be happy making other peoples sites...

HELP BOOST MY EGO! share your Design techniques, stories, or maybe even suggestions of how to improve on my designs.

P.S. i'v tryed Adobe Photo shop Tryout version and really cant figure it out... and PSP makes boring graphics or should i say i do with psp...

Thanx for letting me blabler on

[allida77]

Inspiration differs for everybody. For me it is music, the web (especially coolhomepages.com), or users input. As far as techniques go you just pick up them up as you go along, you do not just start using a program like PhotoShop and become Colin Smith (http://www.photoshopcafe.com/) . So I guess to improve is do a lot of tutorials and get criticism. Users (not your friends) are a lot better at picking out the bad things than the good.

And as far as:
Now im wondering if i cant make my own site and be happy with it how in the world am i going to be happy making other peoples sites...

You will not be happy if you take pride in what you do, but if you are in it for money you could probaly care less.

Just my thoughts...

[duniyadnd]

I learned this the hard way, when you making a site, make the simple layout first (and keep in mind how far you want to go with your design), and the funky graphics come later. If you work on graphics from the beginning, then you'll never finish putting up the site, cause the site is NEVER good enough... :S Got to agree with allida77 on that one.

Keep the navigation system simple and consistent. Fast loading is always a plus. Keep in mind who your target audience is, and how big your target audience is and what your ideal hit count per day would be.

Most important, be open to criticsm, though it doesn't mean you have to do what they say, just get the general consensus. If you get an email from a person who says your site Rocks out of the blue, you know you did something good, if you get bad comments, without making anyone initiate such a response, respond positively to that.

For some reason, I relate more to the sites that have a "human touch" to the site (unless I have to get information quick and so get information; and get out scenario). Make sure you are responsive to emails you receive, show what you are working on, and how user input is actually effecting the way you design. Of course, that's just my opinion, but that's what makes me come back, because I see its someone's handiwork that's being created, not just another company/service out their to make money. Good example of this (on a pretty large scale I think) is Bravenet.com.

Just my two cents.

Duniyadnd

[KevinG]

aye, coolhomepages.com is a good source of design inspiration.

Treat a new website as if you are building a new house:

Design your blue print - draw a flow chart on some paper and work out your pages and navigation.

Visualise your design - Pick the main site colours (i tend to never use more than four colours) and design the navigation.

Begin the build - start constructing each pages design and content.

Add the decor - Add those scripts, images and animations as appropiate.

Landscaping - thats a whole 'nother story.

[dillieo]

A BIG thing to consider is the balance between form and function. On most sites out there you'll find they are either too bogged down by graphics with no functionality, or are truly a "killer app" but is not laid out in a manner that is appealing and easy to use. I agree with duniyadnd on the layout approach idea.

Now just start putting things together! Find a site you really like and try to copy it. Not for plagiarism sake, but you can see some of the techniques they use, both good and bad. You can see where your strength's lie and what work you need to improve on. The more you simply build the easier and better you will get.

Happy programming!

[Squintz]

Just wanted to say thanx to all of you who replied... You gave me some good ground to walk on... after reading your post and thinking of what you guys said i found that my week point is resizing the page...

For example i do alot of my page design on my spare time at work and i use a 800 X 600 screen resolution....

and i usualy use IE 5.5 to preview it simply because ie loads faster that mozilla. and once i like what i got with IE then i check it with mozilla and opera to make sure it still looks right....

Most of the time it looks better in Mozilla even tho i designed it more for IE but.......

My question in what are some keywords i should search for when trying to learn how to make a page resize for differnt resolutions...My home resolution is 1024 X 768 and i seam to fins that what once fit the page befor does not fit the page with the higher resolution...

Put another way...I see most pages with images as backgrounds or borders stay at a uniformed size no matter what resolution nor max or min....and when ever i ask this question i am always told to USE Tables but i still dont see how table would help me because if i use table and resize then any pictures i have get distorted...

Once again i ask waht are Keywords i should look for to help me overcome my weekness?

[allida77]

Use percentages (http://www.codingforums.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=2673&highlight=table+percentages) when creating your tables. I guess some keywords to try are: basic web layouts html tutorials
You may want to try
WebMonkey (http://hotwired.lycos.com/webmonkey/design/site_building/) for some more help.

I do not understand why your pictures are distorting unless you have some dynamic script that changes the width when someone changes resolution. Images should look the same no matter what resolution.

Good Luck.

[Squintz]

thanx for the reply i think i may have mislead u to understand about my images...They dont distort with difernt resolutions but when i use percentages to resize them....





Im confusing myself now :)

[KevinG]

I'm confused too.