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Adam Sackfield
Courses Plus Student 19,663 PointsDesigning a Portfolio(If your not a designer)
Hello, In the process of making my portfolio. Now as someone who aims to become a web developer and not a designer, what do you suggest is best way to design your portfolio. Is it ok to steal ideas from other sites, or do i pay a designer(which i can't afford to do). As my design skills are poor but still want a site that will show of my coding skills and pleasing to the eye. Any advice would be greatly received.
2 Answers

James Barnett
39,199 PointsI'd recommend you buy a theme from some place like Theme Forest, they cost the same amount as a month on Treehouse so very affordable.
Something like this ... http://themeforest.net/item/synergy-responsive-interactive-html-portfolio/3054099?WT.ac=category_item&WT.seg_1=category_item&WT.z_author=mediacreed

agreatdaytocode
24,757 PointsHi Adam. I was in the same boat a few months back. I decided to use a theme from http://themeforest.net I made what changes I could/wanted to the theme. More importantly it had a very nice portfolio layout that I could use to show off some of my iOS apps. I'v always been a fan of WordPress because it's so easy to use. In the future I plan on creating a website from scratch, but currently it's not a priority for me.

agreatdaytocode
24,757 PointsAlso I recommend going with asmallorange.com for hosting. Great customer support and low prices.

James Barnett
39,199 Points+1 for a small orange

Adam Sackfield
Courses Plus Student 19,663 PointsThanks for the advice Aaron Ackerman. Will look at the smallorange now.
Adam Sackfield
Courses Plus Student 19,663 PointsAdam Sackfield
Courses Plus Student 19,663 PointsThanks for response. Isn't that a bit of a cop out though. My thinking is that if I plan to become a web developer, the least i should do is code my own site, and from looking at theme forest it seems they do all the coding for you. Although the link you posted is a wicked site. Do you know of any good places to just buy a layout then i can code it. Or is it not necessary to code your portfolio as long as i show off what i can do.
James Barnett
39,199 PointsJames Barnett
39,199 PointsOne of the things you are buying is layered PSDs, so that gives you the design. You can code it yourself and customize the design as you need to, in order to fit your content. Also since there's a Live Preview you can check out the interaction design, for all of the things you can do on a website but can't show on a PSD.
If you were to take a PSD that the designer had never turned into a working site, the PSD is basically a fiction, something they hope will work as a website but is probably designed to be printed.