Whether you are just starting out or you have been in the business for awhile, you are always finding yourself in new situations.  Here are some general tips that you may or may not use.

• Always set a project timeline, that you can actually stick with, and give a copy to your client to keep you both in check.  Make sure to include things the client needs to do such as emailing pictures or text.
• When making time for projects always keep your first priorities first.  If you have a lot to do cut down on other tasks you may find yourself doing during the day.  Procrastination is a huge no no.
• Set clear goals for projects when are starting out.  What do you want your site to accomplish when it is completed?
• Make sure you check back with previous clients.  A  phone call every few months to check up on your client will never hurt you.
• When buying domains put them in your calendar and set it for a week earlier than when payment is due to renew the domain, this way you won’t run into renewal issues later on.
• Have a back up plan if something goes wrong.  What if your computer crashes?  What about backups?  Being sick? Planning never hurt anyone.
• Make sure clients know what is going on, never leave them in the dark for weeks at a time.

These are just a few tips I have learned over the years.  What are some things you do?

I am going to be taking a break for the holidays and that means more times for web design!  I service pretty much anywhere but I prefer no farther than the following cities:

• Greenville, South Carolina
• Gaffney, South Carolina
• Spartanburg, South Carolina
• Charlotte, North Carolina
• Columbia, South Carolina
• Hendersonville, North Carolina
• Asheville, North Carolina

These are cities that aren’t too far from me and I like to have a personal feel when doing web design projects with clients.   My rates start at  $400 USD  for the very, very basics.  A mid-grade site will usually run between $500 and $600 USD.  No surprise costs or hidden fees.   It takes up to two months for work to be complete.

If you are interested all you have to do is contact me with your business information,  what you want in a web site, and anything else I might need to know.  Then I will provide a free mock up and if you approve of the design we will sign a contract and your work will guaranteed to be done in 2 months or less.*

You provide the content for each page unless you need content creation.

*Unless some major catastrophe happens.

For the holidays I will only take 5 web sites so call now!

I believe it was a good idea of me to start this in high school.  Being a web designer as a 16 year old may seem odd to seem and I may get picked on occasionally being the geek but the more I think about it the better it becomes.  I have done a few sites and have enjoyed learning the process and the requirements very much.  I have not done much in the past couple of months just because lack of business however here recently I have 3 projects on my to do list for the holidays.  All three of these projects came from totally different avenues i’ll go over those briefly and why they are important.

One being an insurance company that was recommended by another insurance company (http://pcins.org) which I did a site for.  This goes to show that doing quality work for a client can often bring referrals later on as with this case.  It has been a few months since I did the Peoples Choice web site but now I got a call I wasn’t expecting from someone who liked my work and had a good report from one of my clients.  Always treat clients with your top priority and always be up front with them because it will pay off in the future.

Two,  I was sitting at a fast food joint enjoying free Wi-Fi when someone came up to me and asked me about my computer (which is a Mac ) and I was telling him about it and what I did (being a web designer).  He said he was in the art business and needed some web site work so we swapped each others information.  Well actually he gave me his card and I emailed him my information.  Good thing this was a nice guy and I got to talk to him for a good bit or else without a business card handy I could have lost a client or resorted to writing on a napkin.  Moral of this incident:  Always carry a business card with you.  Anyway, we talked over a price and he wants me to do a site for him as soon as I get done with end of the semester stuff for school.  You never know when you will meet a prospective client so always be on the lookout.

And third but not least,  family members.  We all have family members that have a business or has someone close that does.  Although you’re probably thinking yes, been there done that, it’s actually not a bad way to build your portfolio and have more happy clients.  Even though it’s family,  still treat them like you would a client and be careful not to run into harsh situations.

In every way, designing another web site cannot hurt you.  You will always learn something new and have a new experience with each and every site and that’s what makes web design so much fun.  You will always encounter new challenges you just have to work through and having a learning experience AND adding to your portfolio can never be a bad thing.  So take these option into consideration when someone comes to you wanting a web site.

I am getting ready to design a new site.  I think this one is getting old for me to look at and I want something that uses more modern techniques and colors.  Keep looking out for more and I will be sure to publish Wordpress tutorials through my journey, maybe even screen casts for the whole way through.

So I have been hired by a newspaper to do a website and graphic design work! I get free advertising in the paper plus a little cash on the side. I will put the site on here as soon as its ready to go. Here is my first ad I did:

I don’t think its that bad for my first ad. I will get better in time though. So look out for more!

Well folks, I have decided that there needs to be a website for fresh new web designers to go and learn the very basics of web design and on to learn HTML and CSS without having to prowl around Google for hours on end gluing and molding different pieces of information together. I have come up with a site called Level One. It has a very colorful design theme and in my opinion looks awesome. It is still ‘in the shop’ so to speak getting tweaked just right and hopefully getting some content in there. If you would like to help out with anything, I mainly need someone who is talented in Wordpress I can go to for help and advice. If you’re good at graphics or you want to write tutorials and get advertising I would greatly appreciate the help. I don’t want to release the link just yet for the preview for several reasons but it is getting there. Contact me at josh@joshmlewis.com if you’re interested or leave a comment below and I’ll get back just as quick.
Thanks,
Josh Lewis
josh@joshmlewis.com

The world’s leading blogging software used by thousands of people across the globe, WordPress is the best blogging software out there. In 2003, with a few scripts and few users, WordPress began its journey on a mission to make a difference in how we relay information over the internet.  And they achieved it by a landslide. Tripling growth from 2006 to 2007, WordPress rapidly grew to the top of blogging software; they are easy to use, flexible, and best of all, free.

A lot of people shy away from WordPress for different reasons. Perhaps the biggest is because they think its difficult to learn and code. It  can be a bit tricky at first, but if you’re serious about it and are willing to learn, then spending a few days in the WordPress codex will help you tremendously in making your own themes and editing templates.  A good knowledge of HTML/XHTML and CSS styling and layouts will help you a lot.  Also, knowing PHP will greatly help you.  The difference between WordPress and a regular static HTML page is WordPress pages are split up for ease of use and editing.  When you normally style a website, you have the: branding, navigation, content, sidebar, and footer.  In WordPress you have the the same things, but they are split up into different PHP files that all link together in the index page.  So instead of having all your divs in one index.html page with your static site, WordPress uses each section of your site (i.e. header, navigation, content, etc.) and uses PHP to combine them all into one page.

Now, WordPress has two different websites with two very different ways of doing things.  So which is better, you may ask? Let’s take a look.

The first is wordpress.com. WordPress.com allows you to easily sign up and let WordPress host your own site for you.  And of course, its free.  This is really a way for non-serious bloggers or non-technical people to do a blog if they do not have hosting and a domain name.

The drawbacks:

• You don’t get your own domain. What you do get it is  yourname.wordpress.com.
• You can’t install any other themes other than the ones in the WordPress directory (if you can, I haven’t been able to find it.)

Those two things may not seem like much, but it makes a huge difference as far as flexibility and the difference between looking professional and looking unprofessional.  Having your own domain name is one of the key things that make your site look professional.  When you have a free domain there are  usually ads and you don’t get that professional yourname.com feel to it.

Not being able to add your own themes or add themes from other places is a bite to the dust. Yes, WordPress has some good themes built in, but not a whole whole lot to choose from.  This really puts a strangle on your possibilities.

If you’re the occasional blogger that just wants a place to put their thoughts and ideas, then WordPress.com is the place for you. You can still pick a theme and edit the CSS like you can with wordpress.org and you basically have your own ad-free site.

WordPress.org is another story.  It has all the features that wordpress.com offers, and then a lot more.  Since you have control of the files and the source, the possibilities are endless.  You can upload your own themes and plugins and have full control of what you want WordPress to do.

The good things about this:

• You can have your own domain name and let WordPress work for you.
• You can upload your own themes.
• You can upload your own plugins.
• You can use WordPress as a CMS and a blog, which allows you to edit and add pages as you wish just like a regular website.
• Your website now looks proffesional beacuse you have your own domain name and your own content and theme.  This really makes a difference to potential readers.

The list could go on, but you get the idea: self-hosting your WordPress site really helps you stand out among the vast crowd of people that you are competing with.

So pay that low cost per year, get your domain and hosting plan, and get started.  Depending on your host and your situation, you may have to manually install WordpPess.  It isn’t that difficult, and there are a lot of tutorials out on the net.  Basically, all you have to do is:

• Setup a database with your host and get the information necesary to link to it.
• Open a .php file and add your database information (very detailed instructions will help you do this easily).
• Upload the files to your server.
• Go to the set up page (i.e. yourdomain.com/config.php) and let WordPress install itself.
• Enjoy your own flexible Wordpress site.

I recommend finding a good host that installs packages such as Wordpress for you. I use Site5 hosting and it works great with  WordPress. It only took a few clicks and ten minutes and WordPress was up and running.

If you are going to get into WordPress, read the large codex they have availible for you.  It will greatly help you and answer a lot of your questions.

I also recomend The Web Squeeze for support with any web design/development needs you may have.

Thanks,

Josh Lewis

Josh Lewis, a 15 year old with a passion for web design, started dabbling in the web design field when he was 12. Since then he has created several websites and has become profecient in HTML/CSS knowledge and spends most of his free time experimenting and working on websites. He also enjoys his Mustang, playing basketball, and hanging out with friends. His blog and portfolio can be found at http://joshmlewis.com.

Today, in a world where the internet is getting to be a daily part of nearly everyone’s lives, we have to choose what browser we use.  If you have a PC with Windows, it comes straight out of the box with Internet Explorer.   I used Internet Explorer until this past year, when I ventured into Firefox, and just a few weeks ago into Google Chrome. I can’t say I miss Internet Explorer.   Whether you’re a geek or just a daily user, you probably are wondering what the big deal is about it. This is part one of the Browser Face-off  Series.

Chrome is a new browser recently put out by Google, in it’s hopes to redefine the way browsers work. They started from scratch and built a browser that was clean, simple, powerful, and had a rendering engine different than most browsers today.

If you were using Internet Explorer and you were on a website that had a big dynamic flash app or a complex javascript app, and it had a memory leak or got out of control, it would more than likely stall, causing the whole browser to come to a standstill and then shut down. Chrome was made different. No longer are all the tabs and pages intertwined so they rely on each other. Instead they are independent, each to themselves, and if one messes up you can easily close it without messing up the whole browser and sending your computer into a frenzy.  This is genius design.

When you go to a web page, and it starts the webpage process and renders it and any embedded code it uses that much memory.  And if you close that tab, the tab closes but the memory is supposed to go away to make way for new tabs and processes.  But when you start closing and opening tabs a lot, memory doesn’t get all the way erased just fragments.  So this doesn’t completely get rid of the last tabs processes and the memory it used.  Since you’re off of that page you don’t need its code anymore so it makes sense to close the tab and get rid of the old and bring and the new.  But if it doesn’t remove all the memory for the old, then it’s more space you’re still taking up- wasted space. Your browser will begin to max out its memory and cause more strain on your computer. Chrome is setup where each page you go to has its own memory file, not just tab, and when you close it or go to a different page it is recycled so new memory can be used.  Chrome is a lot more efficient when it comes to rendering and memory.

These are the two main things that make Google Chrome a good browser, not to mention the good support of CSS and HTML, unlike Internet Explorer.

Google Chrome is now in Beta 2. You can download it and learn more about it at http://www.google.com/chrome.

Josh Lewis

Do you dream of one day owning a Mac, but the cost is just too much? Well, if you like the Mac look, butare stuck on XP or Vista, give this a try. Below are two of my favorite programs/themes that transform XP and Vista computers into Mac look-a-likes.  If you tweak it just right you can fool anyone except the die hard Mac user. I have Windows XP on the computer I installed it on and here is what it looks like:

Not a bad look-a-like right? It was all free and took around 10 minutes to install. Click here for the FlyakiteOSX program. I don’t think this is the actual program website, but it gives an easy download link toward the bottom.

Click on the image below for the image.

Leopard Background

For Vista I suggest VistaOSX found at vistaosx.net. This is another all-in-one Vista-to-Mac theme I recommend. You can have fun playing with the settings, tweaking it just right. If you have a custom Mac theme and want to share, leave a comment below.

I spent hours looking and testing for a simple, easy to use, rounded corners effect for WordPress.  With very little luck, I was feeling hopeless. I was discussing this with a friend and he suggested I use a pure CSS way of rounding the corners.  Given that they weren’t going to be anti-aliased and perfectly round, it was worth a shot.  He gave me this code:

-moz-border-radius-topleft: 6px;

-khtml-border-top-left-radius: 6px;

-webkit-border-top-left-radius: 6px;

border-top-left-radius: 6px;

-moz-border-radius-topright: 6px;

-khtml-border-top-right-radius: 6px;

-webkit-border-top-right-radius: 6px;

-moz-border-radius-bottomleft: 6px;

-khtml-border-bottom-left-radius: 6px;

-webkit-border-bottom-left-radius: 6px;

border-bottom-left-radius: 6px;

-moz-border-radius-bottomright: 6px;

-khtml-border-bottom-right-radius: 6px;

-webkit-border-bottom-right-radius: 6px;

This seems very like a very confusing and jumbled mess, but if you look closely its really not all that complicated.  It is telling each browser different things, that’s why it looks like it is all repeated.  It is specifying which corner to round, and then how big to make the radius.  I was thinking what you probably are probably are right now; feeling confused and unbelieving.  But despite my unbelief, sure enough, when I copied and pasted the code, it worked.  What a relief after all those long hours researching and Googling!

This method does not validate with W3C. This is one time I will let that slide.  If its something fixable in CSS and I don’t have the knowledge to fix it then I will not let it slide but I will fix it. But this is just one of those things that it doesn’t like.  But the effect remains the same: rounded corners.  And that is what our end goal was.

Thanks for reading! This is my first tutorial.

Please link back to this site if you use this method.