Does this website a friend made for me look professional enough?

Triston & Gaby wrote:

Mine's pretty simple, I want people to contact me about work, so I have a short blurb about my wife and I, and a contact button.

Animal_Soul wrote:

Hi ZeHgS,

I'm new here and am exploring the page in general and the forum, so I feel bad about giving a negative opinion, though of course it's done as constructive criticism.

I've just clicked on the last link you've posted, and to be perfectly honest, my first impression is... well... confusion! It's not clear, there are too many elements there, each one in a different style, and a bit all over the place. Really sorry to say so, but it doesn't look attractive or professional. Consistency is very important.

In my humble opinion, there should be one style you stick to for everything, or you simply don't know where to look. The colours are not too attractive either, not very inviting; lighter colours would look more appealing. Also, the handwritten-style font looks childish, and perhaps the word Translations should be more prominent than your name, which at the moment, it isn't. I'd get rid of the clip art as well, and use royalty-free photos instead.

Oh dear, I do feel bad, but I'm sure you're looking for brutally honest opinions, right?

[Edited at 2014-10-19 22:20 GMT]

Tomás Cano Binder, CT wrote:

Just my personal opinion here. If you want to operate in a quality translation market with reasonable rates, you want to convey the idea that you are a trusted professional. This means a different approach to fonts, letter sizes, colours, images...

Also, if I was to look for a professional for a long-term relationship, the first things I would like to see very clearly are qualifications, experience, location, and a picture which can give me a quick first impression of the type of person I am dealing with. Engaging in business in the "3 quick steps" feels far to direct and kind of commoditised, i.e. it would have a certain appeal for those who want to have something translated quickly at a very low cost.

Personally I would invest in having my website done professionally. It will absolutely pay in the middle run. In my case I entrusted my two more recent websites to an actual professional artist who is familiar with web technology (as opposed to a web designer who has notions about art), and the result has been amazing in both cases.

[Edited at 2014-10-27 07:44 GMT]

Diana Coada, PGDip DPSI NRPSI wrote:

Please listen to what we're saying and visit these websites to see what a professional's website should look like:

http://www.mastermindtranslations.co.uk/
http://legalspaintrans.com/about-rob-lunn-the-legal-translator/
http://lingocode.com/
http://translatewrite.com/
http://wantwords.co.uk/school/about-me/work-with-me/

Your website looks like a teenager's experiment back from the 90s and you're just going round in circles.

Nguyen Dieu wrote:

I also have my own website. It is rather simple through.

http://asiatranslation.net/

[Edited at 2014-10-30 08:48 GMT]

Stanislav Pokorny wrote:

I am generally against using Photoshop templates: websites need to be flexible in layout (image size, font size, width, height etc.) and this is easier said than done with sites based on Photoshop templates.

I'd install a CMS (Wordpress, Joomla etc.) and then select and buy a dynamic, flexible template: there are hundreds of thousands of them out there, with professional design and reasonably priced (e.g. here). Also, adding and removing of content is a breeze in a CMS, compared to editing a website manually.

[Upraveno: 2014-10-30 12:03 GMT]

Stanislav Pokorny wrote:

I am generally against using Photoshop templates: websites need to be flexible in layout (image size, font size, width, height etc.) and this is easier said than done with sites based on Photoshop templates.

I'd install a CMS (Wordpress, Joomla etc.) and then select and buy a dynamic, flexible template: there are hundreds of thousands of them out there, with professional design and reasonably priced (e.g. here). Also, adding and removing of content is a breeze in a CMS, compared to editing a website manually.

[Upraveno: 2014-10-30 12:03 GMT]

Triston Goodwin wrote:

Are you referring to a responsive layout - like one that resizes itself for mobile phones? it can still be done, but you can't do it all in Photoshop, you need something like Dreamweaver to make it work. I agree, though, a CMS does make things a lot easier. That doesn't necessarily mean that a photoshop based site won't work, only that it's a lot more difficult to make changes to it.

I think that when you have a new designer or developer, they feel this need to add all the bells and whistles that they can fit on the screen. It makes the page far more complex than it needs to be and what's worse, the content gets lost in a sea of gradients. I had mentioned this earlier, but what we typically do is write out all of the content and text first, then we design the user interface based on that information. It helps keep everyone focused. I'm about to redo my site again this coming week. I'll try and write something about the steps that I'm taking and see if they can be of any help to you and your friend.