Web design help?

[pmailley]

Good day all, I have a problem, I would love to build a nice web page, something that I could add pictures and such to, problem is I have no idea of what to do 1st, so I was wondering if anyone out there that can do this kind of work could PM me so that we could talk about it.
Thank you so very much,
Taz

[GAtekwriter]

Easy... signup for a free account at sites.google.com - it'll give you a free website as well as a free wiki (just in case you ever want it).  The tool they provide for creating websites is really easy to use.  Good luck.

Jim

[extendedplayarcade]

The google.com site is a good start.  I know yahoo.com has something like this too.

They look like myspace pages but that seems to be the trend lately or at least people are tolerable of those kind of sites.

The posibilities are endless.  When you get really into it.  You might want to get a program called Dreamweaver.  It is a great professional tool to use.  There are also tutorials out there on DVD that can help with the transition.

I started my first website back in 1997.  Now I do them for a living along with being a video producer.  So you never know where it will take you but the google.com site might be your best start.

Brent
www.extendedplayarcade.com

[Paulson]

 Is this on a commission? 

 Just curious.

[rlehm]

The google.com site is a good start.  I know yahoo.com has something like this too.

They look like myspace pages but that seems to be the trend lately or at least people are tolerable of those kind of sites.

The posibilities are endless.  When you get really into it.  You might want to get a program called Dreamweaver.  It is a great professional tool to use.  There are also tutorials out there on DVD that can help with the transition.

I started my first website back in 1997.  Now I do them for a living along with being a video producer.  So you never know where it will take you but the google.com site might be your best start.

Brent
www.extendedplayarcade.com

if you really do websites "for a living" I'd love a PM telling me how you market yourself to make 40k or more a year doing so. When I hear "for a living" I assume a person pays for their mortgage, car, gas, food, etc etc and doesn't live in their mom's house. I'd say that most "web designers" I have ever met would starve if that ws their main source of income. I got really good at WD, even took classes on Flash. So I'd love to hear how you out market the billion chinese, korean, indian designers and free website template sites that help a person get up and running online for free, to pennies. Word of mouth? Examples of work? Come one man, I'd love to sit at home and make sites while watching TV or listening to the radio. Let me in on your secret.

[Franco B]

Easy tiger.

[extendedplayarcade]

The google.com site is a good start.  I know yahoo.com has something like this too.

They look like myspace pages but that seems to be the trend lately or at least people are tolerable of those kind of sites.

The posibilities are endless.  When you get really into it.  You might want to get a program called Dreamweaver.  It is a great professional tool to use.  There are also tutorials out there on DVD that can help with the transition.

I started my first website back in 1997.  Now I do them for a living along with being a video producer.  So you never know where it will take you but the google.com site might be your best start.

Brent
www.extendedplayarcade.com

if you really do websites "for a living" I'd love a PM telling me how you market yourself to make 40k or more a year doing so. When I hear "for a living" I assume a person pays for their mortgage, car, gas, food, etc etc and doesn't live in their mom's house. I'd say that most "web designers" I have ever met would starve if that ws their main source of income. I got really good at WD, even took classes on Flash. So I'd love to hear how you out market the billion chinese, korean, indian designers and free website template sites that help a person get up and running online for free, to pennies. Word of mouth? Examples of work? Come one man, I'd love to sit at home and make sites while watching TV or listening to the radio. Let me in on your secret.

I sent you this in a PM as well.

Well I been doing websites since 1997 and built up a pretty good resume.

 I don't sit at home and do web sites all day and it isn't as easy as most think. 

I work for a marketing company full time.  There I do websites, photography, produce videos, (like commercials, video for web, presentations for trade shows, etc.), also duplications, print work, audio recording, videography.   Every day is different and very dynamic.

I also was an IT (information technology) guy for 5 years for another company that I still do work for.

I also do freelance work as well (very limited now).  www.brentdolanmedia.com is my resume site.  I also own all my own equipment.  I do HD (high definition) and SD video.  I also won a handfull of awards for my web work and video work.

So I am a very busy person and it is a lot of work.  But it is work I love to do.  I use to turn a wrench for 13 years and a Manager of wrench turners as well.  Nothing wrong with that kind of work (it paid very well) but it wasn't challenging enough for me mentally.  And plus I kept getting hurt a lot and I have serious back issues because of sports I played when I was younger.  So I needed a job where I could still work when I was in pain and have it not effect my work out put.

I also have a wife and 2 children.  I own my own home, two cars and a bunch of fun toys.

There are still jobs out there to do web design, development, java, perl, etc.  Check out www.dice.com I never used them but a few friends I know have and are happy with the jobs they get.

But the way to make the big bucks is to be skilled and diversified in your field of work.

I hope this helps
Brent
www.extendedplayarcade.com

[wbassett]

Technically you could say I do websites for a living too, and no I don't live with my parents .  Probably not the type of sites you think about though... more like the sites your bank or insurance company, or other big company would have.

Most people think a website is html, some images, flash here and there to snazz things up, and there are a lot of sites out there like that.  Big companies though use a lot of high end programs in the background, like WebSphere, Vignette, Siteminder, not to mention massive SQL databases.  They still have images and snazzy flash objects too.   There also is a lot of networking stuff in there too, like Cisco routers, arrow points, firewalls...  a typical corporate site could have an internet facing set of multiple webservers behind a GSS, and then a firewall with backend webservers and application servers, then the database tier.  Some layouts don't even have a shred of content on the webserver itself, everything is done with Java on the application server and then 'presented' to the webserver for the end user.

I don't design the sites persay, I fix them when they break or end up fixing code issues. 

For personal sites I have made, I still use Front Page for some things, but I rarely use its templates.  It has a nice xml editor and it's very easy to see coding layout and bracketing issues.  PHP is something I started using a couple of years ago and it's pretty easy to learn and most hosting sites support it now.  You can use php as a shell, and then add custom html, flash- pretty much anything you want.   Plus there are tons of drop in 'modules' that are easy to customize and can give your site a very unique look and feel.  (This site uses php)

Do a search on php and check out some of the versions out there and look at the docs and modules.  Beware of the forums on some of the sites though, they can be prima donnas on some sites and tend to be uber geeks-  to the point if you don't understand something I've seen some people get downright nasty to others just because they aren't an 'expert' like some of the long time members have become.  I happen to like MDPro, and the people on that forum seem to be friendly and helpful, but still... read the docs and try to do a search of the forum for an answer before just asking any questions or they can bite too!

[Donkey_Kong]

The google.com site is a good start.  I know yahoo.com has something like this too.

They look like myspace pages but that seems to be the trend lately or at least people are tolerable of those kind of sites.

The posibilities are endless.  When you get really into it.  You might want to get a program called Dreamweaver.  It is a great professional tool to use.  There are also tutorials out there on DVD that can help with the transition.

I started my first website back in 1997.  Now I do them for a living along with being a video producer.  So you never know where it will take you but the google.com site might be your best start.

Brent
www.extendedplayarcade.com

if you really do websites "for a living" I'd love a PM telling me how you market yourself to make 40k or more a year doing so. When I hear "for a living" I assume a person pays for their mortgage, car, gas, food, etc etc and doesn't live in their mom's house. I'd say that most "web designers" I have ever met would starve if that ws their main source of income. I got really good at WD, even took classes on Flash. So I'd love to hear how you out market the billion chinese, korean, indian designers and free website template sites that help a person get up and running online for free, to pennies. Word of mouth? Examples of work? Come one man, I'd love to sit at home and make sites while watching TV or listening to the radio. Let me in on your secret.

I sent you this in a PM as well.

Well I been doing websites since 1997 and built up a pretty good resume.

 I don't sit at home and do web sites all day and it isn't as easy as most think. 

I work for a marketing company full time.  There I do websites, photography, produce videos, (like commercials, video for web, presentations for trade shows, etc.), also duplications, print work, audio recording, videography.   Every day is different and very dynamic.

I also was an IT (information technology) guy for 5 years for another company that I still do work for.

I also do freelance work as well (very limited now).  www.brentdolanmedia.com is my resume site.  I also own all my own equipment.  I do HD (high definition) and SD video.  I also won a handfull of awards for my web work and video work.

So I am a very busy person and it is a lot of work.  But it is work I love to do.  I use to turn a wrench for 13 years and a Manager of wrench turners as well.  Nothing wrong with that kind of work (it paid very well) but it wasn't challenging enough for me mentally.  And plus I kept getting hurt a lot and I have serious back issues because of sports I played when I was younger.  So I needed a job where I could still work when I was in pain and have it not effect my work out put.

I also have a wife and 2 children.  I own my own home, two cars and a bunch of fun toys.

There are still jobs out there to do web design, development, java, perl, etc.  Check out www.dice.com I never used them but a few friends I know have and are happy with the jobs they get.

But the way to make the big bucks is to be skilled and diversified in your field of work.

I hope this helps
Brent
www.extendedplayarcade.com

I'm impressed! Award winning surf and skate vids? wow.

Edit: You might appreciate a few of our shots kitesurfing the OBX...
Photo Slide

East Coast Baby!

[wbassett]

This is a bit off topic from the ops first post, but when it comes to the question of if you can do this for a living,  I know a gal that does just web design and she is making her mortgage payment and car payment from her business.

It's probably harder now to get into webdesign for a living than when she started.  Back then there weren't a lot of web people out there.  She got hooked up with the local Chamber of Commerce and even did their website for them, and then branched out to other local companies.

Back on topic,  Taz if you just want a picture hosting site, they are very easy to build and some of the free web hosting sites have decent layouts now that don't scream 'free web hosting site'.  Most will also allow you to add custom HTML and templates too, so you can start out with one of their canned layouts, and then spiff it up as you learn things, and html isn't hard to learn.  I'd do some searches and give it a shot yourself before having someone else do it for you that is most likely going to charge you.

[extendedplayarcade]

The google.com site is a good start.  I know yahoo.com has something like this too.

They look like myspace pages but that seems to be the trend lately or at least people are tolerable of those kind of sites.

The posibilities are endless.  When you get really into it.  You might want to get a program called Dreamweaver.  It is a great professional tool to use.  There are also tutorials out there on DVD that can help with the transition.

I started my first website back in 1997.  Now I do them for a living along with being a video producer.  So you never know where it will take you but the google.com site might be your best start.

Brent
www.extendedplayarcade.com

if you really do websites "for a living" I'd love a PM telling me how you market yourself to make 40k or more a year doing so. When I hear "for a living" I assume a person pays for their mortgage, car, gas, food, etc etc and doesn't live in their mom's house. I'd say that most "web designers" I have ever met would starve if that ws their main source of income. I got really good at WD, even took classes on Flash. So I'd love to hear how you out market the billion chinese, korean, indian designers and free website template sites that help a person get up and running online for free, to pennies. Word of mouth? Examples of work? Come one man, I'd love to sit at home and make sites while watching TV or listening to the radio. Let me in on your secret.

I sent you this in a PM as well.

Well I been doing websites since 1997 and built up a pretty good resume.

 I don't sit at home and do web sites all day and it isn't as easy as most think. 

I work for a marketing company full time.  There I do websites, photography, produce videos, (like commercials, video for web, presentations for trade shows, etc.), also duplications, print work, audio recording, videography.   Every day is different and very dynamic.

I also was an IT (information technology) guy for 5 years for another company that I still do work for.

I also do freelance work as well (very limited now).  www.brentdolanmedia.com is my resume site.  I also own all my own equipment.  I do HD (high definition) and SD video.  I also won a handfull of awards for my web work and video work.

So I am a very busy person and it is a lot of work.  But it is work I love to do.  I use to turn a wrench for 13 years and a Manager of wrench turners as well.  Nothing wrong with that kind of work (it paid very well) but it wasn't challenging enough for me mentally.  And plus I kept getting hurt a lot and I have serious back issues because of sports I played when I was younger.  So I needed a job where I could still work when I was in pain and have it not effect my work out put.

I also have a wife and 2 children.  I own my own home, two cars and a bunch of fun toys.

There are still jobs out there to do web design, development, java, perl, etc.  Check out www.dice.com I never used them but a few friends I know have and are happy with the jobs they get.

But the way to make the big bucks is to be skilled and diversified in your field of work.

I hope this helps
Brent
www.extendedplayarcade.com

I'm impressed! Award winning surf and skate vids? wow.

Edit: You might appreciate a few of our shots kitesurfing the OBX...
Photo Slide

East Coast Baby!

Those are some Great photos.  OBX is a great place.   We have some footage of OBX in my flicks. 

I always wanted to try kite boarding but with my two degenerated discs in my lower back I am afraid I might paralize myself. I still surf but I surf much more mellow now.

I saw one photo that looked like there was a video camera on a tripod in the middle of the water.  Looks like a really nice Sony video camera too.

Thanks for the compliment.  It all started with the surfing and skate videos.  Then I scored a job with Joe Piscopo doing his Demo DVD and it all worked out from there.

Funny you say "East Coast Baby!"  I been running www.eastcoastsurfer.com since 1997.  It is in need of a face lift but it gets a good amount of traffic.  It is my give back to what made me who i am.  Plus it is fun to keep up on it.

If you have a site on kite boarding I can give ya a link on www.eastcoastsurfer.com


Thanks again
Brent
www.extendedplayarcade.com

[pmailley]

Thank you, I will try to take a look at Yahoo.com, I was looking for something a bit nicer then I think I can design, but we will see.
Sorry I started a topic that went so off topic, That is great that folks are doing well with design, and making there living off of it.
Thanks to everyone,
Taz

[extendedplayarcade]

Thank you, I will try to take a look at Yahoo.com, I was looking for something a bit nicer then I think I can design, but we will see.
Sorry I started a topic that went so off topic, That is great that folks are doing well with design, and making there living off of it.
Thanks to everyone,
Taz

Glad to help anytime.

No need to be sorry. Your post striked up other interesting topics.  I think that is a sign of a good thread.

Brent
www.extendedplayarcade.com