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General Discussion

Posted by Jafet Solorio
Jafet Solorio
2,060 Points

Website project?

I've been wondering? i'm doing the web designer journey but i was wondering if there is a project i have to do where my skills are challenged? Cause i sometimes try to do something myself but i don't really come up with anything?

2 Answers

Spen Taylor
Spen Taylor
13,027 Points
Spen Taylor
Spen Taylor
13,027 Points

Hi Jafet,

I'm currently building myself a an online clothing shop which will eventually be selling my own designs. I started this project as a way to practice what I learn.

It seems like a good project as it utilizes a lot of the material covered here in the TreeHouse tutorials (and at the end, once launched, I'll hopefully be able to sell some tees and things!)

I know that you probably don't design tee-shirts but still it could be worth a try as you'll be using html, css and javascript/Jquery for how the website looks and then PhP or Ruby on Rails (I think, I haven't gotten this far myself yet) for the payments/ automated email system. It also allows you to get used to integrating Google maps and PayPal into the site.

All in all, it seems to be good fun practice, so I'd recommend something similar!

James Barnett
James Barnett
39,199 Points
James Barnett
James Barnett
39,199 Points

My advice is that now that you've covered the basics of webdesign it's time to focus in on the most important part ...

I had my first ah-ha moment with CSS when I figured out how to do this using floats. No absolute positioning, that would be cheating. Piet Mondrian - Composition II in Red, Blue, and Yellow - 1930

Source: Piet Mondrian Composition II

After you've brushed up on your positioning skills as I suggested in my previous post. You're ready to make your first website.

My suggestion is to use Cloud9 and make yourself a simple "business card" site. Who you are, what you do, other info you want others to know.

Something like this template ...

about me template

For building your first site I recommend the following process...

  • Make a wireframe using an online wireframing tool, something like Cacoo
  • Write the semantic HTML, don't worry about the CSS yet
  • Build a fixed width site
  • Keep it simple to start with, don't try to solve problems you don't have yet
  • Add in some small CSS3 if the design calls for it, maybe border-radius or box-shadow
  • If you need a form add in some HTML5

  • Try to stay away from a lot of Javascript for now

  • Once you've got the first version fully working post it here and get some critiques on your design

Then it's time for version 2

  • Make it responsive
  • Check it out using the responsinator
  • Then post it here to get some feedback on the responsive version

Time for version 3

  • If you are sick of cutting and pasting your header and footer on every page
  • It's time to add in some templating using PHP.
    Very basic PHP is all you need, it makes it easier to not repeat yourself (see also: DRY).
  • Post it here to get some feedback on the responsive version