ID:275602
 Jun 18 2004, 4:39 pm
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I am attempting to go into business as a part time (after school/summer) web designer. My current idea is to create a home page/template, with basic graphics, for local businesses and say "This is a basic layout, and is a sample of what I can do. Would you like me to build you a website?" and see what they say. Has anyone done this or have some tips/ideas/constructive criticism?
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Yes, poor sites is right! My local pharmacy has a horendes sight that I'm redoing.... I have a question about the banner, I'll post it later, I have to go.
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Crispy wrote:
There's no point limiting yourself to local businesses I dunno. I once did some HTML work for a (small) local business and for a while I couldn't get the other local businesses off my back. Word of mouth can be extremely useful as long as you do a good job. | |
www.freewebs.com/basskickin
This what I have so far, and I think I need to get rid of one of the VP&G 's. They seem to like using the square, 4 lined one. They have both on their current website. I think the font is a bit creepy, I may change it. I'm planning on putting a blue bar for the menu (I'm not ripping BYOND, our town colors are blue and white). | |
Oh, sure, word of mouth is a great tool, I'm not saying it isn't. I'm just pointing out that you don't need to stop there if you don't want to. =)
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Eh. That really doesn't appeal to me. You really need to scrap the design and start again from scratch. Nothing lines up properly, the colour scheme is pretty boring, and the sidebar is a bit uninspired.
I'd be interested to see what it looked like before. By the way, are you using an HTML editor? | |
Not really. I'm editing it on two comps., one a PC using notepad, the other a Mac using Creatext, which is nothing more than Notepad with auto generating <HTML> tags
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By sidebar, do you mean the navigation bar? I think it's a bit oversized. I did most of the graphics in Paint and online, but my friend has PSP, so I did some of the work their. BTW, I'm not sure if you've seen it the new, slightly improved way, without the shadow. Anyway, which of the two Banners should I get rid of? The stacked one, or the 3D one?
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I've got the template done now, and I just have to clean up the code. Then I'm on my way to show the Pharmacy! It's not great, but it's worth showing. If the don't like it, I'll start over and try one for the bakery (Doesn't hurt that my friend's dad owns the bakery...). I have quick question. Do you think it was a good idea to pre-make the template. A couple of people have said it's creepy, but I think it shows that I have a good work ethic. I plan on saying "Hi, I am an aspiring web designer, and I made a template for your business. The address is "www.blablabla.com" and I would like to know what you think. If you like it, I can make the rest of the site for you."
Old site: http://www.vpgiftshop.com My mock-hompage: http://www.freewebs.com/basskickin [EDIT] I've finally got the final template up, and I'm going to show it to the Pharmacy sometime this week. | |
Its a marked improvement, although im not the best judge in the world. It also appears that a talented 5 year old could have made that original page.
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I still think the best way to come up with a site design is to browse around for a good-looking site that has a similar amount of content (since menu designs vary depending on how much content there is) and rebuild a site that's layed out in a similar fashion, but with your new theme in mind.
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I tried looking at anther pharmacy website, and (like everyone else these days) they seem to be using a left menu, and then a curve into a top menu. I may do that for my next site. I can't seem to get the curve right. I don't know what tool to use! Ugh!
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Ok, here's a copy of the letter I sent. I tried to make it sound professional, but still like I was a real person. I was gonna save it and ask for an opinion, but I accidentally hit the send button, oh well.
"Dear VP&G, I have built a mock-up home page in a template that may work for your website. It can be viewed a http://www.freewebs.com/basskickin I would like to discuss the possibility of me being the webmaster for your website. Please tell me what you thought of the template at [email protected] - David Bacsik Designs" | |
Not too bad, but could be cleaned up a bit:
"Dear VP&G, I have built a mock-up home page in a template that may work for your website. It can be viewed at* http://www.freewebs.com/basskickin If the design interests you, feel free to contact me to discuss the layout in further detail. I would be happy to complete the website to your specifications. Any feedback is welcome. - David (*add last name*) Bacsik Designs (add telephone number) [email protected] " ------------------- before sending this though, i'd suggest a few changes to your design: - if the blue color scheme is not what the pharmacy currently uses, you would attract their attention more by adhereing to what they use on their letter-head (including any logo they use), or the color scheme present in the store-front itself. these things are usually part of the shops 'identity' and should work consistently with their online presence. - use a map with the directions to the shop. people are generally lazy when reading directions- they respond much better to visual/graphical help. be careful about maps though! there have been several lawsuits about using maps without permission. best to create your own may by 'tracing over' an original and providing the important bits (highway exits, visual markers (like parks, fountains, etc.), nearby parking services, etc.). - don't center *all* the text - just important headlines. and since people are also lazy about scrolling, you might consider breaking up the text into two columns to the right of the menu, and reducing the font size by one size all around to improve readability. | |
Our town colors are blue, and I'm afraid I already sent the email (I'm just too used to hitting the send button, ugh!). I attemtped using a map, and either the image was way too big, or you couldn't see it. I guess that I could replace the text with an image, but then I think it wouldn't be as clear on how to get there. I originally had the store hours under the navigation menu, but the text size varied greatly from browser to browser, so I couldn't do that. Also, I ran into to table problems and got frustrated, so I gave up.
They don't really have a graphic, other than the stacked Village Pharmacy & Gifts I guess they use green, but that's just the store front banner. The text is usually blue on white in their pamphlets... Maybe I could use a white, or off white (I really don't like using white as a background for my sites). I'll see what they say, and if they don't like it, I'll offer to make a new scheme. | |
There's no point limiting yourself to local businesses, though; the internet is global, after all. =) You can see some pretty woeful examples of website design around the place; I was going to link you to my local bus service's website as a prime example, but I see they've just redesigned the site. Damn. =P