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Jonny Strange
6,412 PointsIdeas for a redesign of my personal website
I'm looking for ideas for a redesign of my personal website, but struggling for ideas can anyone help??
Also, I want to be a Web Designer/freelancer, I want to promote myself. My website http://www.jstrange.co.uk
6 Answers
Unsubscribed User
18,288 PointsIts hard to actually give you specific ideas because everyone like different designs, different looks to sites, however...... I found the best ideas when doing a redesign is look at other websites, get inspiration! Of course don't copy other sites or other code but it can give you a real idea of what you like the look of and what could work for your site. Secondly once you have some ideas sit down with a pen and paper and sketch it out, it will give you a rough idea of how it will look without going into indepth code or design on photoshop for example. I have redesigned my own site at least 4 times and I still feel it needs some love and attention and work. Get the layout right before you add to much content and as shez azr mentioned you need to look at the width of your site. Another idea is, whilst working on your site, put up a small holding page, a "coming soon" page i suppose so when people go to your domain name they are not faced with a work in progress site just a simple one message page. Trail and error will be your friend, well it was mine anyway. Try something, try something else, recode, redesign, research and investigate. Take your time and loo for inspiration, I personally think thats a great place to start. I hope that at least helps a little and I'm sure many other people on here will help you and give you some ideas to kick start your redesign! Good luck! :)
shezazr
8,275 PointsFirst of all the site width is TOO large, there is no way a user should have to scroll sideways.. (Safari, Mac).
Also broken links & permission issues.
Unsubscribed User
5,512 PointsYou check out my personal site for an idea.
Naima Arif
2,596 PointsWow! Your site is amazing!
I have an awkward question to ask... but did you make it yourself? The only reason I am asking is that I have around 2000 points on Treehouse like you do, but I could never make a website like that just yet!
Are you using resources other than Treehouse for your web design knowledge?
Jonny Strange
6,412 PointsYes, Naima I did make my website myself. I did a bit of web design in college and uni.
Stuart, your site is very good and it's a sort out style that I'm looking to achieve. Yea thanx, I probably will email you at some point to discuss techiques/methods etc and I also want to build some contacts up, as I haven't got any being a newbie!
Unsubscribed User
5,512 PointsThanks, Naima and Jonny!
Although I did code the site from scratch, I have to give credit to this template for design, layout and typography. This project of researching the HTML/CSS, trying to understand the code, and attempting to rebuild it from scratch REALLY opened up the door in many aspects of my coding. It shed light on many things I had never thought of before such as creating CSS table of contents, writing good comments, using semantic CSS classes and ids... the list goes on and on. I highly recommend using this tactic of studying other developer's workflows and methods, especially whose projects you find to be most interesting. Oh, but there is so much to learn! By the way, I am in the process of rebuilding my site (soon to be powered by WordPress), so I have since taken my site down for the time being. That being said, I am always willing to help and give out helpful resources, so hesitate to email me if you have any questions!
Keep coding as much as you can, ask for help when you need it, and never give up!
Stuart stuartpbw@gmail.com
Jonny Strange
6,412 PointsStuart, it's Jonny here - remember me?? I've been researching all of the sites that I've looking at are now using cover images, simple and one page sites. I probably go down that route, I'll wireframe it first and do Low and High Fidelity as well.
Joseph Szoke
15,087 PointsJonny,
Claire made some good points! I am on redesign #3 of my site and I am sure it will never end with the more I learn.
I have a list of websites I will frequently visit because I like their design or functionality. If you google "website inspiration" you will find enough sites to start getting ideas from. Also behance.net is a good place to see other designer's creativity.
I would keep up with the video's or complete a track or two here at Treehouse too. The more video's I watch the more creative I become!
Also, there are a couple of free templates out there to give you a starting point, just make sure they're licensed for personal use (which most are).
Good Luck.. Joe
Naima Arif
2,596 PointsI find this is a great source to get inspiration from:
I particularly like this one: http://www.awwwards.com/best-websites/noah-glushien/
Also you might want to look at the latest web design trends for ideas on color, and how to set up your page. It will show your future clients that you are in the know.
Joseph Szoke
15,087 PointsJonny,
Check out this template from Black Tie..
http://www.blacktie.co/demo/shield/
This might give you some ideas. It also uses a popular framework called Bootstrap.
Joe