I need your opinion please

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21

Chris,

I got those books on my iPad . They are awesome thank you for your suggestions!

Julie

Sent from my iPhone

On Oct 8, 2011, at 2:40 PM, DaveW email@hidden wrote:

On 12 Sep 2011, 1:12 pm, Chris wrote:

Hi Julie,

I’ve been reading some of your threads and decided this would be a good time to step in and offer you some advice.

Firstly I’d like to draw your attention to the fact that if one of your clients googles your name they will discover that their sites have been designed by a community here and not by you.

Thanks Chris, that’s a great piece of advice for almost anyone… I also appreciate the book references.
David

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22

This is a bit late, but

My Shorter Oxford English Dictionary, (Oxford University Press, 1973)
lists both spellings: jewellery and jewelry

=============
At 8:15 PM -0400 8/9/11, DeltaDave wrote:

Spelling - this may be a Brit - US thing but Jewellery is the correct word.

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23

Thank you for the confirmation

Julie

Sent from my iPad

On Oct 9, 2011, at 23:48, Alan Dow email@hidden wrote:

This is a bit late, but

My Shorter Oxford English Dictionary, (Oxford University Press, 1973)
lists both spellings: jewellery and jewelry

=============
At 8:15 PM -0400 8/9/11, DeltaDave wrote:

Spelling - this may be a Brit - US thing but Jewellery is the correct word.

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24

Hi Julie,

I’ve been reading some of your threads and decided this would be a good time to step in and offer you some advice.

Firstly I’d like to draw your attention to the fact that if one of your clients googles your name they will discover that their sites have been designed by a community here and not by you. http://goo.gl/3ZDL1

Secondly and more importantly your websites. I believe that if you want to become a Web Designer then you have to do a great deal of learning. I highly recommend this book to get you started, http://goo.gl/yfEmg. It’s called the Non-Designer’s Design Book. It is a great tool for learning the basics of design. It will help you to get a grasp of the 4 basic elements, Contrast, Repetition, Alignment and Proximity. It will also get you started to learn about Typography which is another area you should get to know.

Once you are fairly comfortable with the basics and can pick other designs apart and see why they have chosen to do things in a certain way then I would suggest buying the Smashing Books https://shop.smashingmagazine.com/printed-book-bundle.html. These books are great resources. They were written by Web Designers for Web Designers and cover a lot of material about the fundamentals of good design.

There are also endless resources online for learning about good design. Read, read and read a bit more. Scour the internet for inspiration and try to understand why well-designed sites look good. It would also be a great advantage to learn about the history of design and how the area has developed over hundreds of years.

Becoming a good designer isn’t easy and takes a lot of hard work.

I hope my advice is helpful in some way.

Regards,

Chris Sowley
Softpress Systems Ltd.

For free and responsive Freeway support, visit: Softpress KnowledgeBase :: Softpress KnowledgeBase
For news, follow us on Twitter: http://twitter.com/softpress
Join us on Facebook: Redirecting...

On 8 Sep 2011, at 17:45, Julie Maxwell Allen wrote:

good morning,

I need your opinion.

I am working on a site that i am implementing a bunch of new things (for me that is) including mal’s etc.

http://www.grassrootsweb.net/joe2

I know that there are things to be done. I am just wondering about the following:

a. picture quality (front showcase is just a place holder till he gets me the information there) on the rest of the site
~ if there is something more to do to make them sharper/pop - any suggestions would be gratefully welcome. (yes these are most of the pictures that i was removing the background from)

b. layout
c action workings
d flow

I do know that some of the pictures are large ( i have reduced them as low as I can go) -

Thank you so much

J

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25

On 12 Sep 2011, at 14:12, Chris Sowley wrote:

Secondly and more importantly your websites. I believe that if you want to become a Web Designer then you have to do a great deal of learning. I highly recommend this book to get you started, http://goo.gl/yfEmg. It’s called the Non-Designer’s Design Book.

I recommended Julie buy this book on Aug 12 2009; she said it was on order. Julie, did you ever get it and read it? It’s hard to fathom how you can still be putting together sites this way if you did.

best wishes,

Paul Bradforth

Buy my eBooks at:
http://www.paulbradforth.com/books/

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26

Thank you. I appreciate your input.

Just an FYI, all of my sites are mine. This one in particular is a “bang head here”.

No one here has designed them but contributed ideas when I have asked and needed input, weather or not I have used them. (an most of my sites I have not asked questions about.

My clients know when I have turned to you to see if something can be done. I know this may be bad practice… But I would rather say, I am unsure - let me ask the gurus, then sure - and struggle to find out.

I really appreciate your words and look into it. I do have to have the first book, i have to pull it out again for this site, recommended by Paul B.

I also ask questions because I don’t know all the actions and wonderful things softpress does.

I am sorry if it is bothering you that I have been asking so many questions. I am just trying to learn new things.

Julie

On Sep 12, 2011, at 9:12 AM, Chris Sowley wrote:

Hi Julie,

I’ve been reading some of your threads and decided this would be a good time to step in and offer you some advice.

Firstly I’d like to draw your attention to the fact that if one of your clients googles your name they will discover that their sites have been designed by a community here and not by you. http://goo.gl/3ZDL1

Secondly and more importantly your websites. I believe that if you want to become a Web Designer then you have to do a great deal of learning. I highly recommend this book to get you started, http://goo.gl/yfEmg. It’s called the Non-Designer’s Design Book. It is a great tool for learning the basics of design. It will help you to get a grasp of the 4 basic elements, Contrast, Repetition, Alignment and Proximity. It will also get you started to learn about Typography which is another area you should get to know.

Once you are fairly comfortable with the basics and can pick other designs apart and see why they have chosen to do things in a certain way then I would suggest buying the Smashing Books https://shop.smashingmagazine.com/printed-book-bundle.html. These books are great resources. They were written by Web Designers for Web Designers and cover a lot of material about the fundamentals of good design.

There are also endless resources online for learning about good design. Read, read and read a bit more. Scour the internet for inspiration and try to understand why well-designed sites look good. It would also be a great advantage to learn about the history of design and how the area has developed over hundreds of years.

Becoming a good designer isn’t easy and takes a lot of hard work.

I hope my advice is helpful in some way.

Regards,

Chris Sowley
Softpress Systems Ltd.

For free and responsive Freeway support, visit: Softpress KnowledgeBase :: Softpress KnowledgeBase
For news, follow us on Twitter: http://twitter.com/softpress
Join us on Facebook: Redirecting...

On 8 Sep 2011, at 17:45, Julie Maxwell Allen wrote:

good morning,

I need your opinion.

I am working on a site that i am implementing a bunch of new things (for me that is) including mal’s etc.

http://www.grassrootsweb.net/joe2

I know that there are things to be done. I am just wondering about the following:

a. picture quality (front showcase is just a place holder till he gets me the information there) on the rest of the site
~ if there is something more to do to make them sharper/pop - any suggestions would be gratefully welcome. (yes these are most of the pictures that i was removing the background from)

b. layout
c action workings
d flow

I do know that some of the pictures are large ( i have reduced them as low as I can go) -

Thank you so much

J

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27

I referred to it for a while and have done good sites since and thank you.

I have to pull it out again for this one. this site is just blinding me.

Julie
On Sep 12, 2011, at 9:33 AM, Paul Bradforth wrote:

On 12 Sep 2011, at 14:12, Chris Sowley wrote:

Secondly and more importantly your websites. I believe that if you want to become a Web Designer then you have to do a great deal of learning. I highly recommend this book to get you started, http://goo.gl/yfEmg. It’s called the Non-Designer’s Design Book.

I recommended Julie buy this book on Aug 12 2009; she said it was on order. Julie, did you ever get it and read it? It’s hard to fathom how you can still be putting together sites this way if you did.

best wishes,

Paul Bradforth

Buy my eBooks at:
Hi, it's ebOOxa

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28

On 12 Sep 2011, at 14:48, Julie Maxwell Allen wrote:

I referred to it for a while and have done good sites since and thank you.

I have to pull it out again for this one. this site is just blinding me.

Julie, it’s not really a book you refer to, it’s a book that you consume, and lightbulbs come on in your head. Once read, if you’ve taken it all in and actually understood it, you’re going to see results; it will inform all your design work, paper or Web. But it’s really not a reference book at all.

best wishes,

Paul Bradforth

Buy my eBooks at:
http://www.paulbradforth.com/books/

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29

Ok,

I it did for a while. This site has blocked a lot in my head. – off to consume again.

Thank you.

On Sep 12, 2011, at 10:16 AM, Paul Bradforth wrote:

On 12 Sep 2011, at 14:48, Julie Maxwell Allen wrote:

I referred to it for a while and have done good sites since and thank you.

I have to pull it out again for this one. this site is just blinding me.

Julie, it’s not really a book you refer to, it’s a book that you consume, and lightbulbs come on in your head. Once read, if you’ve taken it all in and actually understood it, you’re going to see results; it will inform all your design work, paper or Web. But it’s really not a reference book at all.

best wishes,

Paul Bradforth

Buy my eBooks at:
Hi, it's ebOOxa

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30

Julie,

I have those “huh?” moments a lot too, where I get stuck and need a helping hand, that’s not the problem. But there’s a big difference between that and and wanting someone to tell you how to do something every time you encounter a bump instead of earning the knowledge for yourself. I think you may be overlooking one of the greatest learning tools: struggling. How can you expect to learn and understand something when people are constantly giving you the answer? You need to bring a degree of self-sufficiency and understanding to the game by making a concerted effort to find the answers and work through the problems yourself before waving a white flag, otherwise it’s just “design” by proxy. By all means, ask for help if you need it, but understand that people may be more willing to help if they feel like you’re making a genuine effort to understand what you’re doing instead of always looking for someone to give you the answer.

Todd

But I would rather say, I am unsure - let me ask the gurus, then sure - and struggle to find out.

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31

Todd,
I get it and glad you have those too.

there are alot of times that I do struggle and learn. I come to you guys when I really have been banging my head on the wall - or if its a simple question and is a Duh - but cant see the tree through the forest and the answer is right there.

I appreciate your words. and everyone elses.

J
On Sep 12, 2011, at 11:01 AM, Todd wrote:

Julie,

I have those “huh?” moments a lot too, where I get stuck and need a helping hand, that’s not the problem. But there’s a big difference between that and and wanting someone to tell you how to do something every time you encounter a bump instead of earning the knowledge for yourself. I think you may be overlooking one of the greatest learning tools: struggling. How can you expect to learn and understand something when people are constantly giving you the answer? You need to bring a degree of self-sufficiency and understanding to the game by making a concerted effort to find the answers and work through the problems yourself before waving a white flag, otherwise it’s just “design” by proxy. By all means, ask for help if you need it, but understand that people may be more willing to help if they feel like you’re making a genuine effort to understand what you’re doing instead of always looking for someone to give you the answer.

Todd

But I would rather say, I am unsure - let me ask the gurus, then sure - and struggle to find out.

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32

Chris nailed it - there is harmony between Contrast, Repetition, Alignment and Proximity and these principles are applicable to all design be it for print, on screen, interiors and architecture. Next time you walk in to the Apple store, look beyond the shiny new merchandise and you will see all four of those principles are evident and very well executed in the store design.

There is a lot of work before we start laying out pages. User experience, wireframes, font and color selection, engaging copywriting, stunning photos etc. This is the blueprint to build a solid website on.

Web design adds another competent - the back end - what’s behind the cool graphics and wonderful colors and fonts.
The front end and the back end (the html, scripts and techie bits) must work together cohesively. Thankfully FW takes care of most of the techie bits and of course FW Talk is there to help us when we get stuck with it.

Some people have a natural gift and see those 4 principles intuitively for others it is a learned skill. If you do not have the natural gift then it’s your responsibility and moral duty to acquire it. Become a student of those principles and you will begin to see it everywhere. Only then will you will start your journey on becoming a designer.

Ask “why” often and read, read, read.

Marcel

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