Week 11
01/12/08
Space for yourself
This week I have been working on the website for our client, Clare Byrne.
Below is a link to my beta site for the client.
*update 10/12/08*
This is actually the finished version. I have overwritten the beta one by accident.
This is probably close enough to the finished product. There are a few things I want to sort out before the final deadline next week but apart from that I'm pretty much finished. I have used the techniques I talked about last week and they have all worked really well together. I know the site isn't a conventional style that you would maybe associate with a counselor but I think it refreshing to see something different.
Features Included
The site features the things I said I would include, the smooth scroll effect and the big background. When the user refreshes the page the background will change. There are 3 different images that can be displayed randomly. This is another little bit of javascript I put into the head of the page. There are 2 greyscale ones and a vibrant colour one to go with the colours used in the headings. A google map has been added and a contact form and sort out the validation.
Changes Needed
I spoke to Nick this week and he has suggested to either choose the grey backgrounds or the colour ones and not to mix the two. I like the fact that the background changes so I'm going to look for images that share the same vibrant colour schemes. I also need to get the php contact form working.
Self Promotion
Designing my new business cards
This week I took a look at Moocards. I remember when I was on placement they had the minicard style for their cards. I remember asking where they got them made but never got round to checking the site out. The value is amazing and the site is so easy to use. I haven't decided how my new portfolio site is going to look yet so cant really settle on a card design yet. I like the idea of having a various range of different styles and being able to design them all in one set of cards. It's a great site and can't wait to get a few designs printed and start giving them out.
Badges
I guess things like badges can be a good way of promoting yourself because people always collect junk. If I picked up a free badge somewhere I would probably never wear it but I would still take it because it was given to me for nothing. Subconsciously though you would remember where you got it and if it has that effect then it is surely will increase your target market. Two of the badge sites I had a look at were Prickie and Button Badges
Collectable items are great for self-promotion.
Hosting
I mentioned a few weeks back how I had been working on the branding for my portfolio site which I wanted to get off the ground. I finally got round to buying hosting from Dreamhost as recommended by Chris and a few of my classmates. I have to thank Tommy Gillespie for posting a promotional code on the IMD forum for Dreamhost. I got something like $90 off a years hosting plan which brought the price down to $22 I think. Amazing price for a whole years hosting. Cheers man!
Domain Transfer
As my domain name is hosted with GoDaddy I changed the DNS servers over to the Dreamhost ones this week. Now I need to get some sort of holding page set up for redheadstudio.co.uk. I'm expecting to be so busy with the major project proposal over xmas that I mightn't get something up for a while but I'll try.
What's with all the campness?
After never hearing about any of the things such as barcamp and opencoffee, I set about finding out what they were. I didn't relaise there were so many different types of these social gatherings. I went through the list of people who attended the last Creative Camp in Belfast and took a look at their work. some of it was pretty impressive. I'm guessing this networking malarky is worth getting into a bit more to put names to faces.
Major Project
After coming up with my idea last week I been thinking more about what I'm going to include in the site. I want the site to be current so I'm playing with the idea of incorporaing a Wordpress blog in the site to announce events that are happening in the town. I also want users to be able to register to the site.
To achieve this I've finally got round to buying PHP Solutions. So I'll be playing with login screens over xmas, great fun. I feel I've learnt a lot over this semester and feel confident in doing well in this project. I haven't been talking to anyone about the idea in the labs as I didn't come up with the idea till last week but I think it's a good site to do and it will develop my skills further.
Smooth scroll
I have added the smooth scroll effect that I used for the Clare Byrne site to my blog. It just gives a little more user interaction and is a nice touch.
Hit the 'top' link below to see what I mean.