Need your advice new web designer

[Dskillz]

Just recently I've been really motivated to actually put some of my talent and spare time to use. I've been offered to make site for an upcoming business and wanted to know some info from you veterans out there.

1.What are some really good sites that help withe web design questions?

2.PHP or CGI ? (Used for memeber databases(similar to ng) and shopping cart)

3.Flash, HTML, Both? When and how should i use these? I know both.

4.Whats the trick to making it look professional? How do you make crisp clean sites? What do you do to give it that "Professional" look?

5.Do you think people will take a 16 year old seriously?
yeah im 16..but regardless of age I think im ready for the task.

Any opinions, advice, comments, MOTIVATION will be greatly appreciated...thank you much.

[kornp]

Good webdesign sites...this one for anything flash related, http://www.webmonkey.com is good, it tends to give introductions to many different topics.

PHP or cgi? I guess it really depends on your preference, I personally prefer PHP, in my opinion it easier and well, it's damn cool.

Flash or HTML? It depends, I know this is a kinda vague answer, but it really depends on who you think will be viewing the site. Not all computers can even run flash (okay, by now they almost all can) but on slower computers it can be a pain in the @$$. It also depends what kind of image the company wants to portray I guess.

Professional look, from my experience, if you take time on the site and pay a lot of attention to detail it will look good and professional.

being 16, don't worry about it, if you good it doesn't matter how old you are. I'm 16 too . I would suggest starting a portfolio, if they see what your capable of, i don't think most people will care about your age THAT much. And even if you do have trouble with people not taking you seriously, you can always wait till your older and more experienced, enjoy your youth

[bainivanua]

do design and art subjects at school ... complement this by going to uni.

it takes more than technical knowhow, or even proficiency to make a good designer. and i don't think a designer (a good one) ever stops learning. some of us just make a head start by studying it. formal study teaches u the principles, and how to learn basicly .. where to look, and who to look at .. and of course puts u in direct contact w. other young designers/artists/etc

[mmarkin]

Hey, man.

This is really becoming an 'age' thread, but I am also 16 and trying to get up and running in web design. I have a site, and a couple of things in my portfolio, but most of them have been volunteering gigs so far (Im done my diploma-required volunteering hours, though). I am still struggling to get a real project (as unfortunate as this is, it is not because of my age that I am not getting work; I am not that bad either).
Going back to the age matter, I was thinking that if you actually register your company (even a single-person one) people wouldn't have problems with your age, since they will rely on the fact that you have been responsible enough to register yourself with the government and that they can catch you if you decide to jump ship in the middle of a project (with their downpayment; lol).

Anyway, thats some stuff you might want to think about.

Good luck.

Mikhail

[Enterfaze]

In many US states, I believe you have to be 18 to be listed as an Incorporator. This is because any signature from a person under 18 does not consitute something being legally "signed" - your signature is, unfortunately, worthless on contracts, documents, etc. Stupid rule I know, but...

[Dskillz]

yeah, im working fir my dad's new company..the site..so hes in charge of my money anyway. Yea but I camt take art classes at school due to the fact that my electives are all booked..unluess i drop one( ACAD drafting, AP computer science, and Spanish III) i might drop spanish..but they say NC unviersities want to see atleast 2 years of language and those 2 must be in the last 2 years of high school..im a sophmore...so i dont really have much that i can do..i can skip lunch but then....

I think my skills have progressed well on my own...I just think I have to learn some thoeries of design and concepts on my own at a library or somehting..thanks alot.

[rafiki55]

Originally posted by Enterfaze
In many US states, I believe you have to be 18 to be listed as an Incorporator. This is because any signature from a person under 18 does not consitute something being legally "signed" - your signature is, unfortunately, worthless on contracts, documents, etc. Stupid rule I know, but...

i'm not 100% sure but pretty sure that in Canada, you can sign to be a "sole proprietor" of a company at any age. This allows you to put your income from your company just as any other regular income. And you don't have to pay taxes untill you make over 30K or something like that. (I think) Someone correct me if i'm wrong.

[zero_degrees]

Originally posted by Dskillz

2.PHP or CGI ? (Used for memeber databases(similar to ng) and shopping cart)

PHP, definitely, its easy and dynamic...and its kool too.

3.Flash, HTML, Both? When and how should i use these? I know both.

Depends on what your customer wants actually, if the customer just need a normal looking HTML site, do that, if they need a fancy flash site.......you get what i mean..

4.Whats the trick to making it look professional? How do you make crisp clean sites? What do you do to give it that "Professional" look?

One good way to learn to make professional looking sites is to first look at those sites, and from there you gather info about what is a "professional" site.

5.Do you think people will take a 16 year old seriously?
yeah im 16..but regardless of age I think im ready for the task.

16 or 66 who cares? just as long as you can do your job. A black cat or a white cat, as long as the cat can catch mouse, its a good cat.....

[mmarkin]

Originally posted by rafiki55

Originally posted by Enterfaze
In many US states, I believe you have to be 18 to be listed as an Incorporator. This is because any signature from a person under 18 does not consitute something being legally "signed" - your signature is, unfortunately, worthless on contracts, documents, etc. Stupid rule I know, but...

i'm not 100% sure but pretty sure that in Canada, you can sign to be a "sole proprietor" of a company at any age. This allows you to put your income from your company just as any other regular income. And you don't have to pay taxes untill you make over 30K or something like that. (I think) Someone correct me if i'm wrong.

You're right. You can (at least in Ontario) register as a sole proprietor at pretty much any age (they might limit you to 16+). About the income, you don't have to pay taxes (and/or submit a tax return) until you go over something like $6500 Cdn or $7000 per year. You can also simply earn that money without the business and still not pay anything.

...just my two cents (this info is correct, though)

Mikhail

[Grifter730]

Really, age makes no difference when it comes to delivering the goods for websites. The problem is, there are too many 16 years old who feel that they can't do it, and the brutal truth is that they can't. I've met one 16 year old in the 2 years that I've worked with Flash who can deliver what he says he can. We were looking for a hardcore coder, and this kid can do it all. He came from a hacking background, turned legit, go figure.

[EYE-YAD]

WOW, i wish i can do Flash when i was 16 (i learned how to use computer when i was 18!!!!!).
these guys r so lucky to be so young. If u continue and u become "lets say" 23, you guys will be in the "Show business"
[Edited by EYE-YAD on 04-24-2002 at 03:18 PM]

[steveguberman]

yea, I wish I were that young too, but oh-well.

I have to realy agree with Bainivanua (nice site BTW). It isnt all about technical know how... a good designer I believe, no matter the age, understands the principles of design, understands how to be an artist first, then utilize any tools necessary to accomplish the task at hand.

As for the original post, I dont know PHP from MSG so I can't answer that. I can tell you though that a professional site is clean, not cluttered all jamed up with hoarsey graphics and images. A suggestion I was given a decade ago that I live by is this:
Don't even go anywhere near a computer until you have a layout DRAWN out, a storyboard approved, and a few samples to show your client (or Dad).
It is too easy to get lost in all of the nuances fo flash or photoshop or fireworks or dreamweaver or anything else...

good luck and use the hell out of Flashkit, it rocks!

[Dskillz]

well yeah i wanted to lear hwo to hack at first...so i took computer programming...then i wanted to make games...so i learned graphics..then i wanted to make sites...so i found software like flash..then i wnet legit and practiced art and voila...

My bestfriend Jaime(16) is a very talented guy(draws for teamxobox)

http://www.cicinimoart.com

And Im 16 also..here's what i got for my dad's site so far:

http://thedjbooth.topcities.com

tell me what u think...

[Enterfaze]

Originally posted by Dskillz
tell me what u think...

A couple of your links should have hit-frames but do not. Good DJ site! Should work very well for a DJ, but be careful not to design a corporate site quite so loud and colorful.

[SJT]

Don't even go anywhere near a computer until you have a layout DRAWN out, a storyboard approved, and a few samples to show your client (or Dad).

You definitely should sketch out first, do it in black and white and if it looks ok, then sketch in colour schemes.

Design principles you should research:

• The Golden/Magic Rule/Rectangle
(it's got several names, but it's all about where the eye looks first on a page naturally, and order of areas of the page the eye goes to etc, v. important)

• Colour and complimentary colour (or color if you're American...)

• Gestalt Principle in design

• Typography and use of type to communicate

• Usability
Jakob Nielsen, Don Norman are famous usability researchers... also apple ( http://www.apple.com/ ) did a vast amount of research and work into Human-Computer Interaction (some examples: http://www.quinn.echidna.id.au/Quinn...ies/index.html )

It's this sort of stuff that is what makes good sites look good, fundamental design.

[rugbystud]

Best piece of advice: Study for something else!