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Justin Flom Veteran user 325 Posts |
Hey! I want to know who here actually designs their own websites. I personally design my own site with Macromedia Fireworks and Dreamweaver. What do you fellow designers use and where do you like to look on the web for inspiration??
Justin |
brownitus Loyal user 237 Posts |
Justin,
I used to use Dreamweaver, but I found that Frontpage adds quite less the wonderfully unnecessary HTML that both insert, so it's Mr. Gates' product for now. For graphics and all of that, I use Photoshop, Flash and Swift 3D mainly. I have Fireworks, but it's not even comparable to Photoshop. You should get Adobe's masterpiece, it's really the best! My site doesn't really showcase anything too special as I opted for a simpler design, but I am currently doing up Zenneth Kok's website, and it's going to be very visually intense. Take care, Bobby.
"Everything that can be invented has been invented." - Charles H. Duell, US Commissioner of Patents, 1899
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DarkKnight Regular user 151 Posts |
I do my own but then it's what I partly do for a living ! Most of the design of our site is fixed though as we use a shopping cart package ( to lazy to build my own !! ).
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craig fothers Loyal user 215 Posts |
Well, I still use a text editor - wysiwyg editors are the devil. You can't get much slicker or lightweight than a text editor!
Another thing to keep in mind is to learn HTML, CSS and dom type things. Using text editors will help you do this. In terms of designs, though... you are better off NOT looking at the web... and to start reading actual books on web design I just finished Jeffrey Veen's book 'The Art and Science of Web Design.' He looks at the web and asks "why" and not necessarily "how"... it was a very interesting and helpful read. Check it out at amazon: Click here |
dchung Special user Montreal 616 Posts |
I'm a text man myself. Unless, I'm doing a gargantuan project, I actually do most of my designing on Emacs under Linux (the other nerds will know what I'm talking about). And I agree with Craig on the web. Most websites have a really crappy design. Simple is the way to go. Too many people get hung up on things like fancy flash animations which only take up precious bandwith.
Cheers, dchung |
stevenamills Veteran user 397 Posts |
I hope this is within the context of this question.
FWIW - I see a lot of magic sites that show a huge amount of work, but I feel they shoot themselves in the foot on a couple of counts: 1. Color choices - magicians like black. So do I, but combined with dark blue and red some sites are nearly unreadable. 2. Give some thought to navigation. 3. Help visitors find the new stuff. 4. Most importantly, I think, design sites with some eye towards search engine visibility. Even some of the techniques and software mentioned in this thread CAN lead to search engine invisibility. I've dealt with, literally, thousands of sites and most would be surprised at what is successful and what is not. Just some thoughts.... Later..... Steve |
Justin Flom Veteran user 325 Posts |
stevenamills, I couldn't agree with you more about the colors magicians tend to use. I love my fellow magicians to death, but I wish they'd get away from the stereotype we already have!
I want to be careful not to offend any magicians with websites, but I think we as magicians may have the reputation for poorly designed websites. I shutter when I enter a site and see the black background, fire, wizard, stars, or torches (which are all growing more and more popular with animated GIFs). Many personal websites I've seen have had these exact things, and, even worse, all on the same page! I think it's great that they've taken the time to make a website, but I wish they'd take more time to consider A. what colors look good together. B. who their character is and if their website reflects that image/character or not. C. is it pleasing to look at? D. ask for feedback from magicians who will be HONEST (here at the Magic Café is a good place to do that.) In conclusion, I think we should still spend more time practicing our magic, while at the same time spending enough time to design our site, so we don't make magicians and magic in general on the web look ugly. This is just what my humble opinion is after surfing the web, speaking with professional designers, reading books and books, and designing my own site. Please don't take any of what I've written the wrong way. Justin Flom P.S. Check out my website and tell me what you think because I'm not perfect and could always use some ideas! |
Kard16 Regular user 144 Posts |
Hey, since I am a designer, maybe one day that will be my career, but I thought I would give you some suggestions. For inspiration, I go to the source, who the webpage is for, what is the purpose of it and build off of that. I don't suggest using black as a background, really hard to read stuff and makes the site feel small (don't ask). I suggest a mixture of dark blue, light blue, red, and black. You should add in little things, like incorporating your logo with a cup and ball set, or a magician's hat. An Idea for your links is if you are advanced in flash, when the mouse goes over a certain link, make a wand tap it or something like that. The design should really reflect you, and plus, other people have different taste, so you can't please everyone, but try to.
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stevenamills Veteran user 397 Posts |
Justin,
I really like the visual layout of your site. Obviously a lot of thought has gone into it. Since you ask for suggestions, I'll give them. I'm sure you're aware of the value of free advice! Anyway: 1. I have a personal dislike of unrequested music. I have no other idea if others feel this way. I tend to surf late when others are asleep and I personally find it intrusive. A lot of sites use it, such as L&L, so maybe it's just me. 2. I know you warn people about the large size of the pictures, but you may consider some downsizing. The png format scales nicely. Until broadband is pervasive, I recommend a maximum page size of 40k - 50k. 3. Most important - you may want to verify this with one of the spider simulators on the web, but your opening splash page stops most spiders in their tracks. The rest of your site will not be seen by the search engines. I hope these thoughts are worthwhile and not offensive. Frankly, if all sites were as good as yours, the web would be better place. Later..... |
Justin Flom Veteran user 325 Posts |
Thank you very much for your suggestions! How do you fix the spider problem you mentioned with my splash page?
Justin |
stevenamills Veteran user 397 Posts |
Justin,
Actually a spider is, generally, rather a stupid animal. It builds a "crawl list" by searching the source for "href"'s to other pages within the domain. If you look at the source on your splash page the only href is a "mailto" link. I would put a simple link to the top page right on the splash page. Hope this makes sense. Later.... Steve |
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