Will People Want me To Design for Them? (Full Version)

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Peppergal -> Will People Want me To Design for Them? (9/20/2002 15:39:09)

Please check out my site; I' ve worked hard on it [:)]

Any suggested improvements? Are my prices off the wall? Too cheap? Too expensive for an amateur?

Thanks in advance

http://grk.netfirms.com



Peppergal -> RE: Will People Want me To Design for Them? (9/20/2002 15:40:18)

My URL was incorrect. Here it is:

http://gkr.netfirms.com

Sorry.



paul ruddick -> RE: RE: Will People Want me To Design for Them? (9/20/2002 15:53:09)

Yes I think they will. I think the site is good. It all loads up quickly and the examples of your work Re the photographs are very good. Im not sure on the price but it seems very reasonable to me. Im english and i cant remember what a dollar is to a pound. One small problem i have is that the titles wont display properly .I have taken a snapshot for you but im not sure if it will work properly . I will try .My screen resolution is 800X600 so it may work fine on 1024X768

[image]http://www.frontpagewebmaster.com/upfiles/6219/Ig12313.jpg[/image]



Swirl -> RE: Will People Want me To Design for Them? (9/20/2002 21:53:12)

Hi Karen

I don' t have time to get too in depth here, so I will just offer a suggestion about your top graphic. Why don' t you move it into the top cell of your table. I think it would give you a more finished look. You can either keep the background graphic and make your image background transparant, or lose the background image all together.

I would also suggest that you check your site in NN.

Just a suggestion.
Swirl [:)]



Gil -> RE: Will People Want me To Design for Them? (9/20/2002 22:32:47)

I think your site is attractive and well thought out. But the this page is best viewed in Internet Explorer 4.0 or higher... 800x600 resolution.
screams amateur. I think you need to get rid of that if you want to be taken seriously.



Peppergal -> RE: RE: RE: Will People Want me To Design for Them? (9/20/2002 23:30:57)

Thank you, Paul. I will have to fix that text alignment; I had that happen before. Your kind words are appreciated! I love web design, and as a stay at home mom, this could be the perfect thing to make a little extra spending money. (naturally, the money will probably be spent on software, upgrades, etc...LOL)



Charles W Davis -> RE: Will People Want me To Design for Them? (9/20/2002 23:34:32)

Karen,

There are several items that I think that you should consider:

  • There is a disturbing inconsistency in the placement of links. Sometimes at the top, and on the " who is..." page there is none at the top.
  • If you feel that your pages will take a long time to load, change the resolution and file size of the images, rather than asking the viewer to be patient. Viewers aren' t.
  • There is an inconsistency in the text page banners. I would suggest that these become images (i.e. .jpg or gif).
  • The text in the page banners appear differently in different browsers. One instance will appear with this post and others will follow in succesive posts.


This image will be from IE6:


[image]http://www.frontpagewebmaster.com/upfiles/4840/Ki18674.jpg[/image]



Peppergal -> RE: RE: Will People Want me To Design for Them? (9/20/2002 23:34:39)

>>>But the this page is best viewed in Internet Explorer 4.0 or higher... 800x600 resolution.
screams amateur.>>>

Really? I had no idea; I thought it was a good thing to put up there, LOL. Thanks for the tip! [:)]



Charles W Davis -> RE: Will People Want me To Design for Them? (9/20/2002 23:36:20)

Karen,

From Opera 6:

[image]http://www.frontpagewebmaster.com/upfiles/4840/Db84137.jpg[/image]



Peppergal -> RE: RE: Will People Want me To Design for Them? (9/20/2002 23:37:43)

>>>Why don' t you move it into the top cell of your table. I think it would give you a more finished look.>>>

Thanks!!! That' s a great idea. That table has been bugging me and I just couldn' t put my finger on what exactly was wrong with it.



Charles W Davis -> RE: Will People Want me To Design for Them? (9/20/2002 23:38:56)

Karen,

I hope to get these through tonight, the system tells me that I can' t post successively so quickly. Maybe by the time this has been typed, it will let me.

This image is from NN 4.76

[image]http://www.frontpagewebmaster.com/upfiles/4840/Pn37901.jpg[/image]



Peppergal -> RE: RE: Will People Want me To Design for Them? (9/20/2002 23:39:36)

Ewww, Chuck, that is hideous, isn' t it? Thanks for pointing this stuff out to me. Some of it I never even noticed, because it seems the more you look at your own site, after you' ve been staring at it for hours, then the less oddities you notice. Thanks for the help!



Swirl -> RE: Will People Want me To Design for Them? (9/21/2002 7:49:22)

Hey Peppergirl

Just a few words of encouragement...

I hope all the " suggestions" haven' t overwhelmed you. It' s a lot easier to see someone else' s errors than it is to see your own.

Keep up the good work and stick around the forum. Our advice is free, but we do hope that you will stay around and share what you learn.

BTW, I like your graphics and color selections, you have a good eye. I' m sure with a little help from your " friends" here at Outfront, your business will be a huge success!

Swirl [:)]




Peppergal -> RE: Will People Want me To Design for Them? (9/21/2002 11:24:50)

Thanks so much for the fine welcome and all the helpful words! I' m not overwhelmed yet (I tried to do some of the redesigning last night but looking at my changes in NN really flipped my lid; I need to delete the entire index page and start from scratch! Ugh! ) I really appreciated everyone' s comments and suggestions.

I' m sure I' ll become a regular here, as I spent several hours last night reading the FAQs (and finding some answers to problems that I thought were unique to my sites...) and reading some of the tutorials. I' m a Front Page and PSP junkie; [:)] my other haunt is the PSP Users Group. I' m hoping to learn a lot! This is a great site!!!



Charles W Davis -> RE: Will People Want me To Design for Them? (9/21/2002 21:40:10)

Karen,

Interesting! When viewing your home page in NN 7.0 the four bullets that read:

  • creative
  • tasteful
  • eye catching
  • easy to navigate


The words that fly in from the right (not the bullets) on approximately one second intervals. Far too fast to read.

All is static on both Opera 6 and NN 4.76



ritarun -> RE: Will People Want me To Design for Them? (9/22/2002 8:33:43)

Hi Peppergal! I checked out your site and what hit me the most was the tone in some of your text. It gave me the feeling you are apologizing for what you can or can' t do. My first reaction was yes, you are a real beginner in the world of business. (nothing wrong with that, don' t misunderstand me).

Don' t tell me what you CAN" T do but sell what you can do. As a potential customer I would not be willing to pay you to learn. I expect you to be the expert.

quote:

At this point, I am not able to offer sophisticated flash animations, but that will come with time.

[I hesitate to offer " layouts" or " templates."


Think about how to turn these concepts into a positive that promotes your skills and what you offer. As you learn more in web design you then can have a marketing campaign " Now offering Flash....."

Examples:
" Karen Rice designs offers one of a kind designs, clean layout, fast loading, custom designs, graphics of your choice etc.etc. etc." ,


You know what makes a good website. You know you can meet the customers needs in a basic package. Just sell that. Don' t undersell yourself (no matter what skill level you are at).





Peppergal -> RE: RE: Will People Want me To Design for Them? (9/22/2002 23:08:49)

Thanks for the great suggestions. I guess I wanted to be " up front" in case people wanted me to do Flash for them. I am now, as we speak, working on redesigning the site to implement the suggestions brought up here, but I am getting VERY VERY frustrated when I view it in Netscape.

I' m so disgusted....Netscape won' t acknowledge the Style properties I set for fonts and I read somewhere that if you use the regular font formatting in front page Netscape and Mac users have a hard time seeing the smaller fonts. All I have on my main page is a simple table--one single cell row across the top, with three columns underneath...the two outside columns are set for 25%; the middle one is set for 50%. Should I have it set for pixels instead of percent? It looks great in IE, but when I view it in NN it looks like someone put it in a blender. I hate it I hate it I hate it!!![:@] BLAH![:' (]

Sorry for the rant there...I do have my compatability set at Both IE and NN...so I don' t understand......[:(]



Peppergal -> RE: RE: RE: Will People Want me To Design for Them? (9/23/2002 2:32:48)

I found the answer to my Netscape problem by doing a search here on the forum--the old " border collapse!" So...do ANY of the " Styles" that you choose in Front Page show up when viewed in Netscape? I know when I choose the neat border options available, they never show up in NN. How irritating is that!!!

Anyway, I have completely overhauled my site (I left the guest book alone because I didn' t want to delete the entries there...I have to see how to keep them and update the page at the same time.) I still have a minor flaw that shows up in NN--the middle cell of my table is supposed to be wider than the other two. The way it looks now leaves a big empty space at the bottom of the right cell, and makes the left cell look too big for its contnet. It looks fine in IE....I did choose pixel size over percentage...but the table hasn' t changed. Any ideas??? Here is the link if anybody wants to give it the once over again. I really , really appreciate your input.

http://gkr.netfirms.com/index.html



Charles W Davis -> RE: Will People Want me To Design for Them? (9/23/2002 11:14:27)

Karen,

Good work!

All of the things that I had previously noted worked in all four browsers that I use.

You have the right attitude to do well in this business. Best wishes!



paul ruddick -> RE: RE: RE: RE: Will People Want me To Design for Them? (9/23/2002 18:01:50)

hello peppergal the site is looking good now however i have a few things to show you. these are the only two i have

[image]http://www.frontpagewebmaster.com/upfiles/6219/Tr50702.jpg[/image]



paul ruddick -> RE: RE: RE: Will People Want me To Design for Them? (9/23/2002 18:08:12)

The second one is this the writing seems to clash here where it says additional pages. Im not sure if that was deliberate or not. Im viewing the site at 800X600 and using aol and its own browser i have also viewed it through internet explorer and it is the same other than that the site is looking good. Well done and keep up the good work.

[image]http://www.frontpagewebmaster.com/upfiles/6219/Nl28956.jpg[/image]



Peppergal -> RE: Will People Want me To Design for Them? (9/24/2002 12:10:26)

Thanks Chuck, and everyone for taking the time to view and offer suggestions for my site. I think I have corrected those problems brought up.

I ran my index page thru the HTML Doctor and ran into a few puzzling problems. It said my font, Arial, isn' t supported by Mac...okay--what font similar to arial is supported by mac? Where do I find that out? I hate Times New Roman on websites. I actually prefer Veranda, but it said that it wasn' t a supported font.

Next problem: BORDERCOLOR tag not supported. What do I use instead of that? If I choose the " style" button on Table properties to set the border, Netscape makes the border be a little box underneath the table, rather than around the table. Any suggestions?????

I want to be HTML 4.O compliant; I also really need to dig into CSS more.



_gail -> RE: Will People Want me To Design for Them? (9/24/2002 12:48:14)

Hi Karen,

Lovely site. I really like the unique color scheme! Here are a few suggestions for your consideration:



Home page:

Would love to see less space on the top so more of the area within the main table shows in the window.

Don' t care for your main text starting out with a bulleted list. Try using quotes around each word instead (with or without the !). Let them function as sort of an eye grabbing headline.

" Creative!" " Tasteful!" " Eye-catching!" " Easy to Navigate!"

Did you try the main text on this page flush-left? Justifying it makes large gaps appear between some words. Or try making the text a point size smaller. In fact, my personal preference is to use 10 point sized text for most non-headline copy.

Also, there appear to be typos in the last sentence on the home page. Don' t know if this was intentional for effect, or not.



Imaging page:

Consider pricing to read: " $25.00 and up." You can never really anticipate the complexity of photo someone will ask you to retouch. Don' t box yourself in to a maximum limit of $45.00, even if you never plan to charge more.



Who page:

Not sure you should use the last sentence in your bio. As was pointed out, I don' t think you should emphasize that you are " new." You could lose potential clients. Let your work speak for itself.


I' m not into CSS yet myself, but I think most web designers specify a series of fonts. For example: font-family: Trebuchet, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif

gail





Peppergal -> RE: RE: Will People Want me To Design for Them? (9/24/2002 13:17:35)

thanks Gail...I impelemented those suggestions (which were all very good) though I' m not sure I like the " quotes" look...any opinions?

I' m not sure I know what typos you were referring to on the home page...could you specify? I hate typos and I don' t want any! LOL



_gail -> RE: RE: RE: Will People Want me To Design for Them? (9/24/2002 13:33:38)

Boy, you' re fast!

quote:

ORIGINAL: Peppergal

thanks Gail...I impelemented those suggestions (which were all very good) though I' m not sure I like the " quotes" look...any opinions?


Neither do I now that I see them. Did you try without the quotes?

quote:

I' m not sure I know what typos you were referring to on the home page...could you specify? I hate typos and I don' t want any! LOL


In IE, not Netscape 7.0.

I do like the smaller text size changes.

gail

[image]http://www.frontpagewebmaster.com/upfiles/1556/Jh16030.gif[/image]



Peppergal -> RE: Will People Want me To Design for Them? (9/24/2002 14:56:03)

Ha, I' m fast because I' m like an alcoholic or something. I want this site to be successful! I want to be rich and famous! I want to donate to schools like Bill Gates (and I' m obviously suffering from overload, heh heh)

I' m soooo EXCITED! I got my table fixed in Netscape thanks to a tip I read in Thomas' Building Tables in Front Page article...that table was really upsetting me cause while it looked cool in IE it really looked...dumb in NN. So...I added an extra row of cells and put a clear image in there, specifying it to be the size that I wanted the cells to be.

Yikes, I never knew Front Page required so much KNOWLEDGE to use properly!! I resisted using it only because I wanted to learn the old fashioned way using Notepad, but my friend told me he' d let me build his site if I used FP. I' m not knocking it, I like it--I just am surprised. It also added a bunch of useless " /" characters in many of my tags, and I don' t appreciate it! LOL

ANYWAY...Now, I must pay attention to the kids or I' ll get the World' s Worst Mom award for today.



Swirl -> RE: Will People Want me To Design for Them? (9/24/2002 20:28:10)

I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but your font is showing as Times New Roman in IE6. Strange it is fine in NN 4.76? [:o]

Swirl



Peppergal -> RE: RE: Will People Want me To Design for Them? (9/24/2002 21:56:10)

That' s weird...I see it as Arial in both browsers. This is so headache provoking. YUCK. I have IE 6 and NN4.whatever it is...oh...the pain....



paul ruddick -> RE: RE: RE: Will People Want me To Design for Them? (9/25/2002 11:35:19)

Just popped in to see how things were progressing. Its looking good everything seems to be displaying correctly now. Well done and good luck with the buisness



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