Hello everyone! It hasn't been long since decided I want to be a web designer/developer. I have started making websites for about 6 months now. I didn't go to school, all I know is basically self taught through Google and books. The link to my website in which I seek feedback is this one here -> adelorto(dot)com. Pardon me if the code/markup is wrong, I'm still learning things. PS: I'm currently unemployed, and I really want this web design business to succeed. The websites I have designed so far are from friends. It seems very difficult to find clients, perhaps I just don't know the tricks. I would love to get suggestions from you guys on effective ways to find clients as well, please. I really appreciate your feedback. Thank you!
It's a nice website and by the way looks like you have grasp the codes and html tags pretty fast .for a self learner
I'm a web developer. I have a odesk profile and I do job regularly from there. I think it's the perfect way for you.
Six months? That's actually impressive, Alan. I like the way you're paying attention to typography already, on a good way. That's important. What I like the least about that design is the layout. The space is lacking some organization, like the footer who has too much empty space - and the grey box is not aligned. But at the same time, some areas are too overloaded and they need to breathe - the iMac are too close to the border. The huge area to provide to each of your portfolio items - almost the height of a regular laptop display - takes too much of space and, it's almost a wall of text. Come on, most people on the web don't like to read too much when they don't need to and your clients want to see your design, not 20 lines of a description of your previous clients business. By itself, each of the "rows" are looking great, but three of them altogether is too over the top, imo. It would look awesome on a border-less slider! If you want to check how this layout thing is really important to organize stuff, one of the best ways is to open a good magazine - the gossip ones may not count - and trace/paint over what you think are sections. Like paragraphs, main titles, secondary titles, images, that kind of stuff. And... that would be the grid! Your design is good, and if you take the not-so-good things out, it will look awesome. That's it. Welcome to this magical world, you're gonna love it day by day - even when you have to deal with scammers trying to pull your leg!
I won't be that nice While I kind of like the non-conventional appearance of the design, here's what's bothering me about your page: Change your pic, it looks like it's taken from an obituary. Really, my first thought when I opened your page was "wtf, how did this kid die?" Don't use a picture of you wearing a tux -- it's unprofessional, unless you're trying to get a job as a valet or chauffeur. Add a logo and some punchline. There's nothing on the upper half of the page that says you're a designer, unless the visitor reads the text in small print. Also, there's nothing special about that "A", it doesn't even match the sans-serif fonts you're using throughout the page. Drop it or come up with something else. You may want to drop the black&white design. Since you've got plenty of colors in the next screens, the whole page looks a bit unbalanced. "Other projects" should link to other projects of yours, not some images. There's a small CSS "bug" at the contact form. You're using class="label label-warning" for "Required fields" and not for "Name". I bet you didn't want it like this but, if you did, please explain why. The contact form has a lot of inline CSS. Get rid of it. You may want to take the criticism from DesignersTalk seriously. Unlike a lot of people on DP, those guys know what they're talking about.