Is this page good enough to put in a portfolio?
Hi
I have created a demonstration web site to show I have some ability to make web sites. I wish to become a professional web page designer. So my question now is this page good enough to put in a portfolio to help me break into the field of web page design. Also if you have any advice on what abilities a next demonstration page might show I am able to do or give me some suggestions on what I might demonstrate I am able to do in priority order those kinds of opinions would be greatly appreciated. So give me your frank opinions. Link below.
Very sincerely
Marc
Megan posted this at 13:18 — 21st August 2006.
She has: 11,421 posts
Joined: Jun 1999
I hate to break it to you but it's not even close. There isn't really much of a design here at all. You've shown that you can code some basic HTML but it's not even close to being at a professional level. You need to work on some graphics, better layout techniques and more modern design styles. You are using CSS for layout and the page validates which is a big step in the right direction.
Try putting a strict doctype in here - I ran the validator on it and it seems to have passed (it says "This Page Is Tentatively Valid XHTML 1.0 Strict" because I had to override the page doctype). If you wanted to show off your HTML coding this is a good example, but the design leaves a lot to be desired.
Megan
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MarcMiller posted this at 05:51 — 22nd August 2006.
They have: 25 posts
Joined: Jul 2005
You have referred to three things I have to work on in that one sentence. Would you be so good as to be a little more voluminous in your explanation of these three points.
Anyone else to please.
Thanks
Marc
Busy posted this at 21:58 — 21st August 2006.
He has: 6,151 posts
Joined: May 2001
A little bit of work would bring it up to par, add a logo and colour the navigation.
I like the visual impaired info bit, but isn't suited to a photography site. Ideally the text should be shorter with even a icon.
Use your hobbies etc for dummy sites, make them for your friends, family ... ask local businesses if you can make them a web site (for free) and have your link at the bottom of the page (website by you). using real life examples you'll find are a lot easier to design and work with.
Good luck
demonhale posted this at 03:02 — 22nd August 2006.
He has: 3,278 posts
Joined: May 2005
what I commend you though is that you got the basics covered which is important, knowing how to code and design using css is the first step, the second is to observe your favorite sites... to get a feel of what some good designs look like, visit CSSzengarden, it will inspire you the way it inspired me... Theres a bunch of inspirational sites design wise somewhere in the threads... try to look for it here at the archives.
Megan posted this at 12:48 — 22nd August 2006.
She has: 11,421 posts
Joined: Jun 1999
That's a lot to explain in one sitting
Here are a few links for you to check out.
Current Web Style - great examples of current design trends and a summary of what they have in common.
Actually, just one link - that article has more good links at the bottom to check out.
Take a very close look at some of these sites and techniques. Look at what they are doing and try to figure out how they are doing it. Look closely at the code and the graphics. Your site doesn't need to be as beautiful as some of these CSS gallery sites to be a worthy portfolio piece, but it does need to look more like those and less like somebody's first web site.
The most important thing to do is to get a logo and do something more eye catching with the navigation menu. It's blending into the background too much. Then try experimenting the the layout.
Megan
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benf posted this at 13:49 — 22nd August 2006.
They have: 426 posts
Joined: Feb 2005
There is to much writing, i was bored after the first paragraph. I tend to use alot of bullet points that way users can just scan the information. I would maybe put one nice banner at the top or a large one on the left with perhaps some slogan on it or something, with a link to the gallery.
Loose the borders around the images, i dont think it looks smart.
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MarcMiller posted this at 18:49 — 22nd August 2006.
They have: 25 posts
Joined: Jul 2005
Hi
after getting the opinion that my site must be much better before it was suitable as a portfolio piece I went surfing the web for what sites on my same topic might do a better job. I found this one that really looks nice.
It seems to meet some of the criteria mentioned just above. But not others. I mean it doesn't "Loose the borders around the images, I dont think it looks smart". But it does use very little text. It also has images of high quality rather than quick download time and the overall time to download this page is great. A Serif font which is hard to read with default text size browser settings. So I'm wondering if all these possible faults I'm not faults at all in today's world of high-speed lines and customizable browser settings.
I do know I will have to spend a lot of time than just my quick look on the Web to improve to portfolio quality work if I am as shy of it as mentioned above. So I beg your indulgence in answering this question.
Very sincerely
Marc
Megan posted this at 20:36 — 22nd August 2006.
She has: 11,421 posts
Joined: Jun 1999
That's not a very good example of a photographer's portfolio either. If I could think of a good one offhand I would post a link but I can't right now.
Megan
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Shirthead posted this at 12:05 — 23rd August 2006.
He has: 58 posts
Joined: Jun 2006
Photography is actually a hard topic to do as a demo, as the quality of the site is very much governed by the quality of the images (or at least should be!). In the case of a site for a photographer the site itself needs to do very little other than show the images off in the best way possible and provide some basic textual information.
From a web application point of view I would generally suggest to a photographer that they have a database behind the site allowing them to continually update their portfolio as well, but that is a lightly different matter.
Quickly googling for some photography sites I came up with this bunch. Note, these are not selected as "great" examples, just examples:
http://www.patclinephotography.co.uk
http://www.davidhughesphotography.co.uk/
http://www.musicphotographer.co.uk/menu.html
http://www.michaelwilliams.co.uk/
http://www.rosshalfin.co.uk/
http://www.chrisgloag.com/chrisgloagphotography.htm
http://www.mattstuart.com/index.php
http://www.willamettephoto.com/
(ignore the fact that some of these are flash - the design principals are the same whatever the media)
The over-riding theme is monochrome. Not surprising if you are trying to show off photos (not many photo galleries will have blue walls - as it changes the feel of the image). Clean simple designs led my the images not by the site.
Image borders, where used, are again mostly monochrome and not patterned. Again this is to concentrate the viewer on the image not on the site design.
I don't really picking holes in people's designs as a lot of work goes in to your first sites, whatever the result. Hopefully by turning this around to "how would you design a site for a photographer" it will give you some idea of the thought process.
One other tip... if you do decide to use a fictional photographers website as a demo then get the best photos you can find to put on it! These will make the world of difference to the feel of the site.
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MarcMiller posted this at 20:53 — 23rd August 2006.
They have: 25 posts
Joined: Jul 2005
Thanks Shirthead-- you obviously have spent some time in the selection process of presenting me those links. Analyzing why your results yielded better and more artistic sites than my surfing yielded I believe the reason is this. I was specifically surfing for sites which mentioned weddings, occasions, and portraits. The more common type of everyday photographer you find all round the US. Not so limiting what I was searching for may have yielded results more similar to yours. Looking at the links you presented to me I get the feeling that perhaps if I am to emulate the very best in photographer sites I may want to change the theme of my site to more of a fine arts photographer. The reason for me picking a photographer for my demonstration site was wanted to utilize Creative Commons, free of copyright restrictions, photographs. This source can be a sauce of pictures of very high quality. The full extent of what's available from the original source photographers can be found on my attribution page. The photographs I picked are far from the limits of artistic worth one can find in the Creative Commons photographic resource. I could stick to my present theme of a wedding, portrait, and occasion photographer if I somewhat change my view of this photographer to a world-class photographer in this area. However it seems that you're correctly stated observation that these high art sites you presented me with are from the monochromatic palette is obviously correct. I find the sites of more everyday photographers not utilizing these colors perhaps because they are not of a cheerful nature. Were I key change the purpose of my site to that of a very high art photographer the wealth of fantastic images available as Creative Commons photographs is truly impressive. It may be possible to pick even better images than the ones I have chosen from the Creative Commons resource where I to stick to my original intent of a wedding, portrait, and occasion photographer. However the images I present on my site do represent a considerable investment in time in their choice.
Again thank you for those links Shirthead.
Marc
Alexashare posted this at 10:27 — 2nd September 2006.
They have: 4 posts
Joined: Sep 2006
with a more work it will be perfect.
Shirthead posted this at 10:47 — 2nd September 2006.
He has: 58 posts
Joined: Jun 2006
Not at all. I think I just put photographer into google and picked whatever links looked relevant. With the exception of 2 poor examples I just linked to whatever came up.
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