Website Review and Suggestions

**silverglade** · 03-26-2009, 04:06 PM

hi, i spent two long days revamping my pages to be more "designhousy" but it came out a little dark. the header theme is "fire" water "earth" and air. i had too much white space so i filled it with black which kind of came out murky. but i still think its an ok site. it will be my site to try to get customers off of craigslist to do sites for them. any feedback would be great. thank you. derek

here is the site.

http://derekvanderven.com

**Kane Hill** · 03-26-2009, 09:37 PM

ok at best, I'm no designer. I pay for art work. If your looking to get customers from this site I would try again.

my 2 cents

**hartofalyon** · 10:38 PM

your website as well as your portfolio looks very dated. it screams amateur. i really don't believe that any suggestions i give will improve your site, short of telling you to redesign the whole thing. actually, learn how to use photoshop first as well as write proper markup. based on your website, it's clear you don't know photoshop very well and judging your markup, if you're not doing it right even if you're writing by hand, it's really no different than using dreamweaver to write the markup for you.

EDIT: i also wanted to add something on the business side of things. throughout my experience, i have never had someone pay me the full amount before even talking to me either on the phone or in person. in your "prices" section, you expect someone to pay you via paypal for the website, AND THEN email you to discuss ideas? it's the other way around. i'm not sure how that method has worked out for you, but that's generally not the way it's done.

**NewBreed** · 03-26-2009, 10:45 PM

KISS:
Keep It Simple Stupid.
Or my version:
Keep It Simply Stupid.

The GFX on the banner, buttons and footer makes you look amateur.
You don't have to be great at photoshop to produce a good looking site.
It actually is a pretty small percentage of building a website.
Make simple formats and don't over power it with random gfx you make.

It's like making a meal, you don't want to put all the ingredients you like in one bowl, just keep it simple and tasty.

**SunnyDay** · 03-27-2009, 04:11 AM

I try it!
I open with Firefox, I think your web site that shown in Firefox is not fit.
I have to scroll down to see all.

about graphic I like cubic picture.

**silverglade** · 08:34 AM

ok, thank you. pretty much all of you are right i have to admit. my portfolio is exactly that, im an amateur, but i cant explain to you why i need to start charging this early, its a very personal issue... but for redoing the site. you are right. it doesnt look professional. you are also right about the business side of it. i will ask to talk to them before making any payment; im not charging a lot, so i think my skills match my prices. i see web designers charging a lot more out there. anyway, thank you for the honest feedback. i will look at some more professional looking sites and try to learn from them. then i will redo my site. im constantly coming here to learn CSS and i read tutorials on photoshop, but i am still beginning. again. i cant say why exactly why i want to start charging, but mainly it has to do with my current job situation. thank you. derek

EDIT-I just took off my index page immediately to save myself some embarrassment, and its now back to my regular art page.

**silverglade** · 03-27-2009, 08:49 AM

I looked up "good web design examples" on google and here are some tips i found.

simple layout
centered orientation
3d effects used sparingly
soft,neutral background colors
strong color used sparingly
cute icons, used sparingly
plenty of whitespace, doesnt have to be always white
nice big text for important parts
reflections and fades used, dropshadows used sparingly

thats about all i learned from that page. derek

**NewBreed** · 03-27-2009, 01:31 PM

Very good. Follow that, it doesn't hurt to look at other professional's websites and gain ideas from. Don't be discouraged by our comments, none of us were trying to attack you personally. Use our advice as motivation and get better with the things you read.

You've shown initiative that you are willing to learn and do the work, which is more than a lot of people. Stick with it. Feel free to PM me if you have any questions.
Good luck to you!

**sbiggs** · 03-27-2009, 02:42 PM

I agree with the rest of the guys. Learn actual DESIGN. I see you're an artist so you are almost there. You can have all of the software in the world but it does not make you a DESIGNER. Just like if I had all the paint in the world it does'nt make me a painter.

Take some time out at Barnes and Noble, and I promise you'll amaze yourself.

**silverglade** · 03-27-2009, 10:43 PM

thank you very much for helping me, especially newbreed. thank you. derek

**jesi** · 03-29-2009, 09:59 AM

Lovely website full of your experience of art, i love it