Ace High Designs

Having been designing websites for the last eight years, it has certainly been a trip. With most things I do, I get pretty bored of them really quickly. However, with web-design it is extremely different. Right out at the start, it was easy staying motivated to do webdesign. It was fresh information in my head, and I was learning the basics and it was really interesting. Now, however, I have to resort to different motivating factors to keep me doing it. These can be found below:

Every project feels new. There is never a new project that I get that doesn't have something different about it. Whether it be the actual reason for the website (online radio statio vs. a professional marketing company) the website is being created, or if its the differences that are made in its creation.

You get paid doing what you like to do. Personally, money is not the reason I do webdesign. I started my first few professional projects not charging anything for my services. Experience was reason enough to want to do the jobs they asked of me. However, after that phase was over, people starting telling me they had to pay me. It is certainly nice to get paid for what you like to do.

 Creativity at its finest. There is no other way to channel creativity than there is with webdesign. You are the master of your own design, and you choose what goes into each and every piece of work. Creativiteness is a value I certainly feel I have, and I think that one of the reasons I keep doing webdesign is because of how well I can channel my creativity.

Your helping people reach their desired goals. In many cases, a webdesigner is the median between a company being good and a company being great. Websites workwonders for people, it makes their jobs easier, and it is fun seeing how people benefit just as much as you do from it. 

The effort you put into doing the work directly contributes to how the project turns out. There is no project that does not turn out how you expect. If you put a lot of effort into the job, than it is going to turn out great. I put a lot of effort into the things that I do, so this is a positive part of doing webdesign for me.

New jobs always come in. Something I have noticed about webdesign, is that after the first initial websites you do, the work really starts to find itself. A lot of the internet business is handled via word of mouth. If you have nothing but positive experiences with people, they will talk a lot about your service to other people, and get you business as a result. 

I do not see myself every quitting on webdesign, and think I will be doing this for a long time, even though its not my career path. I think the skills your learn and the positive things that come out of it are too good to give up.

Please comment on my blog about your experiences too, I'd love to hear them!

I know that when I say today's economy is on a fast decline, I do not speak for myself. Everyone, everywhere, is feeling the effects of this poor economy today, and really the only thing we can do is wait it out until the economy begins getting better. Every few decades we go through different levels of "depression", and whether or not you are directly related to its cause, you are certainly going to feel the downfall through its chain of effects.

 There is one thing that I can say, though, and that is this depression is being helped by webdesigner's like us. If you haven't taken notice, over 75% of all recruiting happens over the web now. It is called E-Recruiting, and  it is truly helping the cause rather than hurting it.

 

Take for example, some of the following websites:

 

 http://www.e-recruiting.com/

 

http://www.monster.com/

 

http://www.hotjobs.com/

 

Without these websites, people could still be jobless, both young people and old. A few decades ago, you would have to hire a recruiter to go out and look for jobs for you. However, these days, you do not go to the recruiter, the recruiter comes to you. The "recruiter" is a website designed specifically for people who loose their jobs or are looking for a new one. 

As webdesigners, we understand how to relay information, such as simple things like job postings. It amazes me in my experience webdesigning how some of the most simple things (to us webdesigners) are seen as some of the most complex to others. We all need to value ourselves and what we do on a regular basis.

 Another positive part about designing websites is that the recession has minimal impact on us. The world will never run out of reasons for needing a webdesigner. Simply put, we know how to work with some of the most important information to translate it into the most complex ideas. Infroamtion is something the wor.ld has to value. I recently posted a video in my blog that helped me to spark the idea for this article, it can be found below:

 

 

 

This video is inspirational because it shows the importance of information systems and technoilogy, which is definitely the area webdesigners would fit under. If we stop valuaing information, none of this stuff in the video could be tracked and we would be left clueless and without much promise for the future.

 It's a good day to be a webdesigner!

Something that most people know about me is that I love to surf the web. Most of my day I am somehow connected to the internet and doing a lot of various things. One of my beliefs is that eventually this entire world is going to work its way to being entirely hooked into the internet. We are already on our way to having most everything internet based.

 Taking websites from a webdesign perspective, I do not choose just the most liked or used websites... if I am going to use a website it has to fit my standards. Now, if one of these websites seems popular, please note that it is not the reason why I chose them to be my favorite. There is a reason why these websites are so popular, and its because they are in accordance with the needs of many people. Some other websites, however, may not be as popular.

 The List:

• www.facebook.com -- Yes, of course everyone knows about this website. However, what people don't take the time to notice is  that Facebook actually is working to improve itself constantly. Most websites you see stick to a common format and design, and just continuously update that information. However, Facebook takes an entirely different approach to design. They constantly change the look, function, and design of their website on a regular basis. In fact, something I just heard the other day willl prove this fact. Facebook is actually becoming an open source project so that people can design add-ons and change the site to their liking. They are actually the first website to become open source. It should be interesting to see where it heads.
• www.hulu.com -- I am going to have to say that this website is not that popular. The reason I say this is because I did not even know it existed until recently when a friend told me about it. Basically, I like this website because it is innovative in its function. It posts episode's of TV in high-definition and quick!
• www.pandora.com -- Basically, it is an online radio station that hosts every song you could imagine. The difference is that it not only tracks the single artist and song you choose, but it matches the type of music you listen to and matches other music that would compare to your most liked artists to play next on your station. You can choose to skip the song, but usually it matches your likes so much that you don't want to.
• www.gmail.com -- Has basically gone out of its way to make your e-mail experience the bet possible. I have used Gmail for over 5 years and I started out with only a single gigbyte of space. They have basically made your e-mail able to host an unlimited amount of space, which is just awesome. I have never had to deal with spam, which is the even better part of this website.
• www.google.com -- I spend more time on Google than I think I do any other website. It has truly gone above and beyond the standards for a search engine. It doesn't matter what I am trying to find on the web, Google intelligently figures out what I am searching for and then heads me in the right direction. I really don't know where I would be without Google.

You can probably see that the websites I listed are not very surprising, but really, these website have impressed me so much that there is a reason why they are the most popular out there. More websites like these will cause this world a great amount of success, and will get us places we could have never imagined.

Being in a business fraternity it still amazes me thenumber of people that do not take thieir writing seriously. I provided an announcement system for our members to go and post information about their upcoming events, and a lot of them do not take the system seriously.

Plain and simple, everything that you write online is a reflection yourself and your professionalism. An ounce of effort lost could be the difference between closing the deal and landing it. Below are simple guideliens to how you can improve your professionalism and credibility online:

 

 Punctuation and spelling is important!

Text messaging changed the world of online grammar and punctuation. A website is not a text message! You want to be sure that everything you do follows along with how you would write an A paper in school. You want there to be proper punctutation and spelling

Starting out a message with "Hey" is probably not professional. You should have attention getter's and make what you are saying as interesting as possible.

 

Give yourself time to do the work!

If you don't give yourself enough time to get the work done, chances are you won't finish like you want. Dedicate enought ime to make sure you do a good job on the work. Not giving your all won't impress potential clients.

 

Free vs. Inexpensive

When deciding how much to invest in a project or your company, ask yourself, "how much is it really worth to you?" Websties like www.acehighdesigns.webs.com probably would not be the ideal domain address for a website such as this if it were a real business. If I decide to put this company on its feet I might choose to spend a little money on a domain name such as http://www.AceHighDesigns.com/ or something similar.

 

Advertisements vs. Ad-Free

Advertisements are not always proper! You need to make sure advertisements are right for your compaies website to utilize. Sometimes advertisements can distract a person from the content that the site has to offer. If I wanted to get as cvustomer's business, I probably wouldn't include them.

 

As you can probably tell, I have only included a few guidelines to how you can improve your professionalism online. However, you need to know that how yourepresent yourself online is always being monitored by everyone. It is bad because you are not standing in front of the person like you are in person. Instead, you have to use your way with words to impress the potential ciet and represent your professionalism.
 
Use your best judgement!

 

 

 

I use many programs to keep my websites looking the best they can. It is important to stay on top of technology, because the more advanced technology gets, the easier, and quicker it will be to get the job done. Below, you can find a list of all the programs I use to make my webpages successful. I also encourage you to make comments on my blog about any other programs you might use too!

 

 Adobe Photoshop --- www.adobe.com

Adobe Photoshop is one of the cutting edge graphic design programs in existence today. Without the use of this program, many websites would not look nearly as graphically led as they do. A person using Photoshop is able to make their imagination come alive by using it. They are able to create shapes, and add real textures to them. They are able to draw computerized graphics that often look better than the real thing.

 Photoshop also has created a feature called "slicing" which you can use to convert your graphic from a Photoshop file to a ready-to-go website. I often use this feature to make the layout of my website look the best it can.

 

Adobe ImageReady ---www.adobe.com

Much like Photoshop creates graphics, you can convert those graphics from still images to images in motion. I create all my animated graphics through this program and it comes in handy all the time!

Many times, banner advertisements need to attract the audience, this program makes that possible.

 

Adobe Acrobat Professional --- www.adobe.com

Adobe Acrobat creates files called PDF's that show word documents as a read-only file that can't be edited by the user. Almost all my websites that contain important documens I use tis program for. Many times, companies want to pos contract or packets online that explain importasnt information, that if edited, could cause ptential problems.

This program prevents anyone from causing problems for the company in regards to pieces of data and information. You can also password protect documents too!

 

Macromedia Dreamweaver --- www.adobe.com

Some tasks when creating websites are just easier when you have a program like Dreamweaver to do it for you. Dreamweaver uses some of the simplist technologies to get the job done. However, Dreamweaver has its limitations, so I only use it for the most basic features! However, it truly is a time saver.

 

Macromedia Flash FX --- www.adobe.com

ImageReady gets a lot of the basic graphics animations done, however, a more advanced program to use is Flash. With Flash you are able to make "movie-like" images and create animations that really make websites move to its highest potential. You really need to take an interest in this kiond of work to use thios program often but there is always ways I can use Flash to improve my websites.

 

NotePad

More times than not, I find that manual typing is actually more efficient and quicker than having a program doing the work for me. I use simple Notepad to edit a lot of my coding, and it works great! Learning what you use programs to do for you is ther best way to approach the situation first.

 

CuteFTP Pro

 A Fie Transfer Protocol (FTP) program that allows me to upload all of my contentto the web. There are many variations to this program, and some are better than others. It is really a personal choice in the end, though.

 

As you can see from this list of programs, there is a lot of potential applications out there to help you get your job done as quick as possible. Take advantage of these programs and keep them up to date. Even though the boundaries are slower to develop with webdesign, the speed at which you can create pages for your clients continues to improve every year.

 

 

 

 

It's in my opinion that there is a mistake in the process of the transaction in creating a website that many people make which gets the project off on the wrong foot. Below, you can find a list of steps and guidelines to take when conducting business with a client when creating a website.

1. Always be welcoming to the potential client

 You never want to be unpleasant when a potential client asks you about your services. They may ask a lot of questions, so do not rush them into making a decision. Even if you can not perform the services being asked of you, wait until the customer finishes and then tell them what you can do for them. Sometimes the customer does not know exactly what they want, and it is best to be honest with them about your qualifications.

2. Give them a "quote" on how much the project will cost them up front.

Evaluate how much your time is worth to create a website for someone ahead of time. You can not do more work than asked of you and then decide to charge them whatever you please. You should give them an idea about what to expect for this project. Always go more than what you think the project will cost because it is a lot harder to explain an increase in funding than a decrease.

3. Explain to the client exactly what work is being performed and what they are paying for it.

You should make a list of the different components of the project to the client and let them know what they are getting for their money. This keeps your end of the bargain honest, and the customer is always informed on what to expect.

4. Always check ahead of time whether the customer wants your business or not.

You don't want to start business for a customer until you know that they are interested. The only other option is having preformed templates for the generic area of business aready designed. However, finishing all the work and then finding out they were never interested in the first place will be a huge waste of your time.

5. Keep the customer up to date with what you are doing along the way.

Always keep the customer informed about what you are doing to keep the project on foot. If you continue letting the customer know what you have accomplished it will go much easier when problems arise (such as needing more time). They will understand because they know about all you have accomplished already.

 6. Figure out how you are going to get paid ahead of time!

Make sure to come clean with the client how you are going to get paid. The customer almost always wants to pay you for your services, but don't make it uncomfortable for them to do so, make it so you are both level on how it is going to go down.

It is important to get your steps down to the business transaction you are conducting. Make sure you client is in the loop, and everything will go well.

If you found this information helpful make sure you implement it into your daily routine, but also, make sure your process works for you. Every situation is different, and many obstacles are able to get in the way, make sure you overcome those obstacles by planning ahead.

Many people start out doing webdesign through a class when they are older. However, my story is a lot different, and I was much younger when I first got myself influence in the art of webdesign.

At the time I started doing websites, the internet was just starting to become popular, and used by a lot of families. I was 13 years old and using American Online to talk to my friends and family across the nation. Not much was known to a lot of people about webdesign and it was still in its basic stages of becoming an ongoing trend. However, American Online provided its users the ability to create websites using what they called Home@AOL. It was a lot like www.freewebs.com but yet, a lot more complicated in that it was not as user-friendly. You really had to do your research to understand how it worked. Also, the design on the pages was not as good looking. After discovering that some of my friends had used this Home@AOL program to create a personal webpage, where they could put information about themselves and keep blogs, etc. I decided I would go ahead and try as well.

 After that point, my interest in webdesign was growing at a pretty rapid pace. I liked the fact that what I was seeing through the computer could actually be duplicated. The way that I first learned webdesign was probably not the most ethical way, but still yet, it was not harmful to anyone. I began viewing the source codes of the many websites that I enjoyed looking at. I copied that source code and pasted it into a new webpage to see how it was shown to me. Of course, there is hidden source code that wasn't shown because of the way the code worked, but I had the opportunity to see where those flaws took place. I then modified the source code to see what code did what function. To me, this was my way of learning (through experimentation).

 After I realized that what I was doing was probably not the most efficient way to learn the language, I began to search for websites that taught webdesign. I stumbled into many sites that explained the details of the coding language, and I began to see for the first time that there was methods that one took to create a webpage.

I took a break for an extended period of time, and like any other 14 year old does, I began getting involved in video games. Specifically, I played Counter-Strike, where much of the game had to do with becoming part of a "clan" that played together against other clans in matches. A lot of these clans had websites and the one I was in at the time did not have one to show ourselves on. I ended up researching and creating a pretty successful website for us, which eventaully led me to doing this for quite some time.

After some time I came into contact with someone who hosted the servers of the clans that I was in, and his company needed a website. This was the first time I was getting paid to create a website! Later on, this guy got me hooked in with his primary job, which was working for the lightning on the stages of the Alvin Alley Dance Theatre in New York City. He was friends with most all the dancers there, and I had the honor of designing the websites for the company branches of the Alvin Alley Dance Theatre, and personal websites for many of their dancers.

 Many other odd jobs came my way from this, and I was really enjoying what I was doing. After some time, through the grapevine of my family, people began to realize that I knew how to design websites in my local area. I was confronted by our school's soccer team and was asked to create the calendar and flyers for all the games. Also, I was approached by several companies to design websites for them.

 I put my webdesign at rest for awhile in my senior year of high school and then entering college I joined a business fraternity where I was promoted to the Vice-President of Communications, where I basically run their website and handle the branding of the Chapter's inner workings. It has been a really great experience. A large factor of getting my internship was because of this position in my Chapter.

 Even if webdesign isn't going to be my career path, there is still so many benefits that came out of it as well. I encourage everyone to find their hobby and do everything you can to support it!

 

 

Networking online. It is probably one of the best skills to have as a web-designer, and still one of the least practiced. Do you design websites, and expect business to come to you? Is this working, and are you getting the business you desire from following this strategy? If this is not the case, then I recommend that you read the following article. If this is the case, I would like you to comment on my blog, and tell me your story and how you made it work!

 

In my personal experience, I have always practiced web-design on a personal level. I knew I was very interested in what I was doing but I never considered making money (actual, real money!) doing what I love to do. To give you a bit of background about what I liked to do when I was younger… I loved video games. Specifically, Counter-Strike and first-person shooter games were probably my personal favorite. I used to like playing these multi-player online games so much, that I joined online organizations, called “clans”, that required a lot of organization and management. This would include scheduling and communicating scrimmage times and dates. Also, it would require that the latest news was given to clan members to ensure everyone was on the same page. To cut things a bit short, I was the guy that made all of this possible. I was not so much interested in running a clan, and looking back I never did, but for some reason I was very curious about doing the best job possible on my clan’s website to make it the best environment possible.

 

Clan websites were really the first websites that I was able to apply my basic web-design knowledge to real, live situations. This caught the attention of a few people in the gaming industry, which really introduced me to many opportunities. Clan “servers” were ran by server companies. I was approached by server companies that ran our servers that were impressed by my work. After talking with him for awhile, he asked me to create a website for him. For the next 4 years I would be maintaining the website for Gladiator Arena Server’s.

 

The networking of opportunity did not stop here. What I demonstrated earlier was an example of business coming to you. What I practice today is myself going to the business! In the previous case, I knew that I had something valuable to offer the server company. This mutual need really made a name for me in the web-design industry. It just so happened that after getting to know the owner for a longer period of time, he had a lot of connections with the dancing industry in New York City. Dancing companies, dancers, and technicians! This was not my cup of tea, and I really had no knowledge or interest in the dancing industry. The more important fact, though, was that this was going to open other windows of opportunity. These websites made me money, and added real examples that I was able to display in my portfolio.

 

It is simply amazing how being successful is based on who you know! Networking is about getting your name out there, and meeting as many new people as you can. When you know them well enough, you are able to utilize their resources, and they can utilize yours. It is a win/win situation.

 

Not all networking comes from becoming a part of organizations. You are able to network yourself through on-line forums or message boards, or even become involved in chat rooms.

 

How I go about this is I join message boards that I could see myself reading on a periodic basis, and meet as many people as I can. I let them know what I do outside of what the priority topic is on the forum, and it becomes a great way to express my skills and what I can offer them.

 

My suggestion to those that let business come to them is to network even if it is working for you! Networking is, and always will be the best way to go about making your experience web-designing as resourceful as it could be.

 

Have you ever created a brilliant website that contains close to perfect content, and a great approach to a new idea? Is this content so perfect that you find you really do not need to update it very often? Believe it or not, no matter how perfect your content is, if it goes unchanged for a long period of time, your audience will get bored and stop visiting your website! Read the following article and find out my techniques and experiences with getting your target market to continue reading your website and increase the number of hits your website gets in a day.

 

The way that I used to do web-design is entirely different from how I go about it today. The way I used to create websites was by creating a website as perfect as it could be, and then finding that there really is not much more to edit.

 

This is what I found:

 

• The content became stale/boring. Even I was bored with my content over a period of time, it was rotting and there was no new added value that it brought.
• The number of hits on my website was decreasing on a daily basis. Less and less people were checking back on my website, and even I stopped coming back because I knew what to expect.

 

News flash! There is never a time in a websites existence where there is nothing new to post. There is always new material someone can post on their website that will increase the traffic, and number of hits per day.

 

Here are some recommendations to fix your problem:

 

• Create a news system, or an announcement page. Whether it be a report that you wrote in high-school that you wanted to share with the rest of the world, or the organization that you are a part of, people want to hear what is new, or what you have heard after you wrote this article that may spark new ideas or interest. People want to make sure your content is fresh and constantly being reflected on. It will increase credibility and value.
• Get user feedback. I find that putting my ideas out on the web is never enough; I want to hear the feedback on my ideas that are generated by other people. I like my opinion to never be the last word; I am open to other arguments and definitely take into consideration these ideas. The best way to go about this is to create a comment system, if you are running a blog or article database of some kind. If this is not the case, forums are another excellent recommendation. Forums allow many users to communicate with each other about content, even if it is beyond your own! This definitely gets people coming back because they will post their questions or ideas and can get feedback on others, as well as post their opinions to possibly influence others.
• Create a calendar. I have always found there are many events that are hard to manage, especially in an organization type setting. There are many resources, such as EasyPHPCalendar (http://www.easyphpcalendar.com/) that offer great solutions to quickly implement a live calendar to your website to get users coming back. Another resource is the Google calendar, found at http://www.calendar.google.com/. User’s are curious about upcoming events too, and they will always want to check up on if a date is still being enforced or if it has been cancelled.

 

To say the least, making your content so that it does not just sit there is the best way to improving your web traffic. Get your community involved, and they will return with more interest in your website.

 

 

Personally, the internet over the last few years has changed drastically. Going from basic to more advanced, I really never was expecting the internet to get so complex. In this article you will find personal experiences that I have seen change over the last few years.

 

Technology is constantly adapting. This will be one of the more general bullet points I list, but it seems like the current trend is to steer away from old technology and implement more efficient and better technology to replace it.  For me, this has been an experience to remember. It takes a person a long period of time to learn the material required to build websites. To say the least, it is impossible for someone to learn everything available to build a perfect website. No one person actually knows everything that is out there.

 

From basics to programming. When I first started web-design, I always wondered how people were as efficient as to keep a hundred pages up to date all the time. There was so much “living” content; I always thought that the basic coding knowledge would not cut it. It was a mystery to me how this happened, until I entered college. First learning Java programming in college really opened my eyes to new things. I finally had the opportunity to see how the back-end of websites and its inner workings were operating.

 

From programming to database integration. The innovation did not stop there. I learned that automated programming only did half of the work that was actually involved in web-design. To make programming valuable and more user-friendly, programs were integrated with databases to store real data and use that data to modify the front-end program. Databases have become a real primary interest, and enjoy experimenting with MySQL, one of the most popular database tools.

 

Size does matter. We can see just by looking at the oldest computer in our history the difference between technology in the present and technology of the past. Technology is getting smaller, and people really look at finding the smallest and most efficient ways of conducting their daily processes possible.

 

From size to mobility. Not only is technology becoming smaller, but it is also going mobile! People hate being constrained to their household to access their most important information. Computer’s are getting smaller and more mobile (wireless) and people have really stressed that they would like to be able to access their data from anywhere. This means new languages to learn, and more adaptability skills web-designers will need for the future.

 

From mobility to convenience. Mobility does not even cut it. People want to have condensed and mobile technology, as well as get a hold of the most convenient technology possible. Something people would see as insignificant as the buttons you click to find out information years ago, are now becoming the deciding factor between one technology and the next. People are choosing the most mobile, condensed, and convenient technology out there.

 

What does this mean for us web developers? This means that we need to be able to keep up with the pace of new technology. New technology means new opportunity, and falling behind could cost us a job. Do everything possible to keep up!