I learned HTML by myself about 10 years ago. My drive was simple; I wanted to impress a friend in my class. Which I did, I think. Then it went 8 more years before I rediscovered HTML, and starting building websites again. I’ve never been very interested in computers in general, actually. I have no idea what BIOS is, and I have huge problems with the most simplest tasks on a computer.
A good example; a few weeks ago I threw a perfectly fine USB Memory Stick right in the trash, because I couldn’t get it to work. I later found out that I just had deleted items on it the wrong way. Don’t even ask..
My interest on the web is basically HTML, CSS, webdesign and webdevelopment. Nothing more. I’m not that talented either, but I like building websites - and I’m very glad I can do it for a living. There is nothing like working on things you like doing. And even earn money on it.
And I’ve learned a lot these past couple of years. It’s actually embarrasing to look back to projects I worked on just a year ago, but it’s fun at the same time - to see how much I’ve learned and how much better websites I make today.
Here is my journey of learning:
Peterandrej01:
My first theme for WP, build in april/may 2006! It’s really, really, really, really bad. Look at the picture below, and you’ll understand what I mean:
See that everything looks “wrong”? Yes, I wasn’t any good at CSS and making things look “right” in all browsers. I worked in Firefox, and the screenshot above was shot in IE by The Wordpress theme viewer. The lesson was: Even if it looks OK in Firefox, it may not look the same in other browsers.
FJORDS04:
Not long after that I started my Fjords-series, with Fjords04 as the most popular. It is even included in Wordpress.com, which is nice to think of. You can see that I’ve progressed much as a designer compared with Peterandrej01, now with better use of images and coding.
Of all my themes for WP this is perhaps my best work. It’s so clean and simple. I like it a lot.
Wiiiiiiii!
Another theme for WP. I can see that by now I had learned to make round edges with images, and even styled links and lists. This was my first theme which got sponsored by a company. I got $100 for making it, which was a lot of money for me - remember that it was only a hobby to make themes back then.
Autohuset AS:
February 2007 I got my first “real” assignment making a complete website. The client was a local car dealer, and I got the job mainly because a friend of mine work there. I made the best site I could possibly do, and spent a huge number of hours making it as good as possible. I think it looks OK, even today. You could see it at: www.autohuset.no.
Turf.no:
This project was completed not long ago. I did the coding on it. By now, I had learned a lot about how WP works and I had even become much much better on CSS. I wouldn’t have been near managing to code this site together just half a year ago. Not even close.
I got the project mainly because I had been well-known in Norway as an “expert” on Wordpress, thanks to my many free themes. Really funny, I’m not near being an expert. I could easily name hundred designers and coders with lot more talent then me.
Maybe thats my ultimate strength: I’m good at selling. In fact, I’m probably a much better seller then coder. And design; don’t get me started.. I see sites every day which I’m honestly nowhere near being able to build myself.
Anyway, payment from Turf was good, they got their site, and everyone was happy.
eMonetized.com:
Suddenly I landed a project from Unique Blog Designs. Designing and coding eMonetized.com. A fantastic assignment for me, and I’m still very happy to get the chance to work with Nate Whitehill.
And the site for eMonetized became very nice in the end. By now I had learned a lot more about WP, plug-ins, CSS and php. I even learned how to use Photoshop during the process. Yes, it is true: I didn’t use Photoshop before this fall.. Nate even teached me how to make images for Websites with the function “Save for Web”, which makes images much smaller in bitsize then normal. I’m not kidding, I didn’t know that before Nate told me.
See that I had become somewhat better on building and designing compared to Peterandrej01??
Agurkposten.no
My latest project. A norwegian funblog with celebs, funny articles, beautiful women and stuff like that. Not finished yet, but it’s close. Need to make some finishing touches here and there to make it look like a professional wordpress designer have made it.
I wanted this site to look more like a newspaper or a magazine then a weblog, but still include the elements which make blogs more readable and easier to navigate around then typical newspapers or magazines. I solved this with use of a huge number of loops in the front page, making the different articles display with huge images above titles and making them display differently.
The site is optimalized for ads for Norwegian companies. In fact, Norwegian companies just make ads in a few number of sizes, so I had to make the a site which could include them without any fuzz. In general, the site is 768px wide and the content area is 468px wide, making it possible to include the most typical norwegian banners - which are either 768×150px or 478×60px.
Not sure what I should do with the sidebar and footer, but I’m working on it. Just have to write some content first… Its of course much easier to make navgation elements when you have content to link to. Makes sense.
See the site at: www.agurkposten.no:
Well, this is perhaps the best I could do today. This is my level of expertise. I don’t think I could make anything better then agurkposten.no today. This is where I’m at. This is my highest level. Good enough? No, of course not. I build new sites every day, and learning a lot from them all.
Where will I be a year from now?
It will be funny to look back on this post a year from now, and see how much I’ve learned. Hopefully I’m able to make much much better sites by then. Hopefully. I don’t think you could ever reach a point where you can’t progress further in terms of talent.
My best advice for people who want to learn webdesigning and development is simple: Build, build, build. You’re first work will be awful (just look at my first theme!!) - but in time you’ll get much better. Learn something from each project, and try to constantly improve your work.
Just my 2 cents..
Categories:
Links:
Archives:
Meta:
Search: