My Portfolio

[Psy 350]

I'm currently working on a personal website, which will basically be a portfolio of all of the websites and other things I've created and/or worked on over the years. The only problem I'm having is I'm not a graphic designer and I'm not really that creative when it comes to designing things that stand out. I'm great at coding and great at building things that work on the web, but I'm struggling to come up with something that looks good but is also functional at displaying a list of my work.

I've got some ideas which I'm working on and got some specifications I'm working towards, but if you guys have any ideas or examples of portfolios (particularly web development rather than web design), post them here and I'll see if I get inspiration. The only problem with web design portfolios is the authors are usually graphic designers and they can come up with all sorts of sexy graphics that I have no chance with. I just need something with a basic background that looks nice, a cool logo and then some good content with images of my projects.

Also does anyone know where I can find some good seamless textures which will tile both horizontally and vertically?

[ConQueSteD 552]

I'm currently working on a personal website, which will basically be a portfolio of all of the websites and other things I've created and/or worked on over the years. The only problem I'm having is I'm not a graphic designer and I'm not really that creative when it comes to designing things that stand out. I'm great at coding and great at building things that work on the web, but I'm struggling to come up with something that looks good but is also functional at displaying a list of my work.

I've got some ideas which I'm working on and got some specifications I'm working towards, but if you guys have any ideas or examples of portfolios (particularly web development rather than web design), post them here and I'll see if I get inspiration. The only problem with web design portfolios is the authors are usually graphic designers and they can come up with all sorts of sexy graphics that I have no chance with. I just need something with a basic background that looks nice, a cool logo and then some good content with images of my projects.

Also does anyone know where I can find some good seamless textures which will tile both horizontally and vertically?

DeviantArt has some textures that some people allow for open use (normally as long as credited), I'd check there.

[Psy 350]

Cheers. I'll have a look. Would prefer just a zip of various textures I can test out as backgrounds rather than needing to find something specific.

But if anyone knows of any dumps or whatever, I'm particularly looking for seamless textures of the following:

- Wood

- Paper

- Bricks

But anything else might inspire me too, such as grass, roads, water etc

[Qdeathstar 1763]

http://www.smashingm...tfolio-website/

if you scroll down 1/3 theres 50 examples of portfolios. As far as developement, i don't know what your looking for because people like to look at sexy things not lines of code. Maybe start a script site simular to EP-Dev or something.

?

http://seamlesstextures.org/

[Psy 350]

What Do You Think?

Still need to tweak a few things (such as redesigning the banner) and I need to create content to go in the pop-up boxes when you click on any of my "projects", but other than that it's mostly finished.

Feedback?

[TreeFitty 2631]

The project transitions look nice.

[JustAn808 130]

^That.

And I like how the layout is nice and simple because it makes it easier to take in everything on the page. Forgive my ignorance, coming from a guy who took one web design class in college but why not just bold the things you want to stick out in the portfolio blurb instead of changing the font and size?

[Psy 350]

The idea is they are the important points and they stand out. Most people (such as potential employers) probably won't read the full intro paragraph, so my thinking is if the important keywords stand out to them when they scan the text, that'll help get their attention. I'm yet to decide if I'm going to keep it like that, but I think it's definitely better than just regular bold which doesn't stand out too well if you scan the text with your eyes.

[Guest Marney1]

"I'm just a guy who enjoys the web and loves creating my own part of it. I'm self taught and have spent thousands of hours perfecting my programming and design skills. I'm qualified and have plenty of experience, both personal and commercial."

You need to clarify because that could cause confusion.

[Psy 350]

Self taught but have a degree (which was a piece of piss because I already taught myself everything)?

[Qdeathstar 1763]

I don't think i would put up that i was self tought, it could make people think your code is sloppy. (like mine is, for example). If you have a Degree, i'd put the degree title there instead, or say "i'm self taught, and i also have a bachelor of arts in being a QD, "..

But besides that i don't like the bold/caps/whatever thing you got going on with the landing page and your name under the PsyWare logo is blury. Also, i think you told me when we were designing a GTA 4 trailer that a wood background was something people did in the 90s

[Psy 350]

Still need to redesign the logo, I mentioned that before.

Removed the bit about being self taught since you're all so confused over the meaning.

Removed the large fonts in the intro text because nearly everyone I've asked has mentioned it and doesn't seem to comprehend why it was designed like that.

Still need to decide what I'm doing about displaying more info in the "projects" bit.

[JustAn808 130]

Definitely not knocking the large font bit. I was just curious. It ties in all together really well anyway due to the fact that the larger font used for the 'stand-out terms' matches the title headings' fonts.

[Psy 350]

Looks alright with just regular bold so I'll keep it like that. Hoping to have the rest of the stuff tweaked and fixed tonight so it could go live tomorrow maybe.

[selpy 5]

Its simple, it's clean, but importantly, its definitely YOU, Simon.

That content has you written all over it, a great thing, because you're putting this together to show off yourself, and that includes your attitude as well as your developer talents. Branding yourself quite nicely.

I like that its all one page, streamlined, nice. I like that your top tabs link to the subsequent area of the page, and I know that you can just scroll back up to the top, but is there anyway to incorporate some sort of a "back" functionality? I have no clue if there is I'm just putting that out there, I've never been good at building sites.

Anyway to justify alignment of the "my sites" content table so the dates dont look so bunched up? (Being picky.)

Last quick thing, orange text for "simon elliot // web developer" on woodgrain bg seems a little blurry because of the color similarity but might just be me or my display?

*EDIT: I see you have mentioned the logo before, sorry for rehashing it.

Edited May 3, 2012 by selpy

[Psy 350]

Cheers selpy, useful feedback and I'll definitely tweak the site based on your ideas

[selpy 5]

Yea, *that* looks much better on "my sites".

[Psy 350]

Decided the best way to display enough information about my projects was to have them on separate pages, so I'm currently working through creating a page about each website. I'm going to have an image scroller showing 4 or 5 screenshots from the various features on the site, but you can see an example of what it'll look like (only 1 image so far) at:

http://www.psyware.net/igta5.php

[Psy 350]

http://www.psyware.net

All done (as far as I'm aware). Any final feedback or tweaks needed? Otherwise I'm gonna start advertising it.

[Guest Marney1]

Advertise it.

[JustAn808 130]

Advertise it.