HEY EVERYBODY WELCOME 2 MY NEW WEB SIGHT
Enjpoy ur stay ;D 
D
Well, I hope you enjoyed my little April Fools prank 
Have a good Easter weekend!
Archive for the ‘Web Design and Development’ Category
My new website
Thursday, April 1st, 2010My Worst Client
Friday, January 15th, 2010It’s been a strange year, and a lot has happened. I’ve had many clients, some of which disappeared off the face of the Earth before I could get any money off them for the design mockups I sent them. But those ones paled in comparison to one client I (nearly) had early on.
Back then, the business was fresh and exciting. I didn’t know I was in over my head at that stage. I received a phone call from a startup company that wished me to create a website for them. It would be a website based on placing working holidaymakers from Australia in jobs in London.
Sounded fine, I thought. I went and saw them and discussed it. They were pretty nice people. They said they would pay me a little to start off ($250 I think it was) and that I would make a percentage of the profits. 
They complimented the Illawarra Directory, and said that they wanted their website to look similar to that. I was pleased, and went home feeling good about the project. So good that I made a design that day, because they wanted something for the next day – I did consider that somewhat demanding of them, considering I had other clients to work on as well, but I brushed it off and did it anyway. It was a good design. I was proud of it.
The next day they called me and asked me to come around again. They were close by, only in Shellharbour Village, so I obliged.
This time I wasn’t alone. There was another graphic designer there. She was really friendly, and I can only hope that she cut her own ties with this ridiculous company like I did.
Here’s where things began to go downhill.
They didn’t like my design. Apparently, they had decided that they wanted a “grungey” design instead of the sleek design I had given them, modelled off the Illawarra Directory. Okay, I thought, that’s fine. No dramas. I’ll use that design in some other way.
One of the ladies decided that she wanted Photoshop. She actually had me take her laptop home and install Photoshop onto it, and return it to her. Once I got back, the woman decided I needed to stick around for a while and help her use Photoshop. She’d never touched it before, but she wanted to participate in the website design for some bizarre reason.
Finally, I made an excuse that I was meeting another client that afternoon and had to leave.
The next business day, I received another phone call from the Photoshop n00b. She needed me to tell her how to do something. I think it was something to do with erasing a background from a photo. I did my best to explain to her how I achieved that, and then continued to work on another client once the phone call ended. The phone started to ring again. I answered, and the idiot had some other question that I answered, and hung up.
Then, she called again. I pressed “busy” on my phone. Then I switched off my phone.
When the day had ended I turned it back on, and I had two voicemail messages from her.
One of them was something along the lines of “Hi Natalie, I really need your help with Photoshop. I thought it would be easy to do things, but I’m having so much trouble. Can you call me ASAP?”
Yeah, she thought Photoshop was easy. Never mind that I learnt to use it through both trial and error and through my DIGITAL MEDIA CERTIFICATE IV course.
I sent her an email.
Hi,
I’m really sorry that I had to stop taking calls, but I’m really busy with three different websites and I work much better without distractions. I’d like to help you but honestly, I’m a terrible teacher and I’m only a web designer. I know how to do things, but it’s due to a lot of practice, classes and trial and error.If I had limitless time, and didn’t have to earn a living, I would happily teach it to you, but as it stands right now I just can’t afford to. If you want a website, I’ll make you a website, no problem. But I didn’t agree to be a Photoshop mentor as well. I’m sorry, but it’s just too much to handle.To help you out, here are some online tutorials for Photoshop that will easily do a better job than I could:
I’m really sorry that I had to stop taking calls, but I’m really busy with three different websites and I work much better without distractions. I’d like to help you but honestly, I’m a terrible teacher and I’m only a web designer. I know how to do things, but it’s due to a lot of practice, classes and trial and error.If I had limitless time, and didn’t have to earn a living, I would happily teach it to you, but as it stands right now I just can’t afford to. If you want a website, I’ll make you a website, no problem. But I didn’t agree to be a Photoshop mentor as well. I’m sorry, but it’s just too much to handle.To help you out, here are some online tutorials for Photoshop that will easily do a better job than I could:
- http://www.we-r-here.com/ps/tutorials/index.htm
- http://www.pegaweb.com/tutorials/beginners-guide-adobe-photoshop/
- http://www.photoshopcstutorial.com/beginner-photoshop-tutorials/index.php
- http://draykenobi.wordpress.com/2007/08/23/photoshop-tutorial-cutting-out-images/
- http://www.tip-kit.com/tips/view/34
- http://best-photoshop-tutorials.blogspot.com/2008/09/3d-photo-effect.html
- http://psd.tutsplus.com/interface-tutorials/how-to-create-a-grunge-web-design-in-photoshop/
- http://designinn-sg.blogspot.com/2009/01/realistic-duct-tape.html
Regards,
Natalie
As you can see, I really thought it out. I even went to the trouble of seeking out tutorials for her.
Her response? (Red text is my comments)
I’m very sorry you have misunderstood our aim with requesting some help with Photoshop. We wanted to provide you with our ideas so that you could successfully design the website quickly to bring in the sales, which we would all proffer[sic] from.
We respect that you are busy with your other clients’ projects but our aim is to facilitate a team approach as we will be working partners for some time, and quite frankly we may need to teach one another skills from time to time to optimize the business. (What? Not for $250 upfront and a measly 2% profits, thank you bitch – you’re lucky I even gave you the time of day) I think it is best if we detract our partnership at this point as we are looking for someone who has the time for this project. (You mean someone who actually doesn’t object to being part of your little sweatshop operation?)
Thank you for the time that you have given so far and we both wish you well in your future business.
Best Regards
I simply replied “Good luck finding someone.”
They’d need it. Anyone that would do that for them would have to be someone completely unemployed and desperate for work.
I hope those girls’ business fails miserably. They don’t deserve anybody’s money if they think that’s a good way to treat well-meaning but naive people.
101 Things in 1001 Days
Friday, January 8th, 2010Yeah, I’m a sucker for these things.
Also on Skippy’s blog was a reference to 101 things in 1001 days, a long-term goals project focusing on doing a set list of things in the ensuing 1001 days precisely. For me, the end date is going to be Friday, 5 October 2012 (calculated using this tool). That’s shortly before the Mayan apocalypse, right?
Anyway, I have finished my list and here it is! I’ll be 
ticking them off as I go.
- Get a full-time job that I don’t hate
- Read the Hitchhiker’s Guide series
- Make one new local offline friend
- Quit Woolworths (in conjunction with #1)
- If I can’t buy a house yet, at least save up $10,000+
- Get down to 85kg or lighter, and keep it that way
- Get the matching tattoos my sister and I have been planning since we were in England
- Actually edit a NaNoWriMo novel
- Try to get novel published
- Hold the “plank” exercise for 60 seconds or more
- Go to the gym twice in one day
- Go to the gym every day from Monday-Saturday (it’s closed Sundays) for at least one week
- See a psychiatrist about my anxiety
- Have my gonadectomy
- Release the first issue of Ather & Earth
- Visit New Zealand
- Go on a road trip
- Go to the beach and go in the water (you’d think this would be an easy one, considering I live right by a beach… but I just never go)
- Get up early enough to watch the sun rise over the lake
- Pay off my Barter Card balance and close my account
- Learn to use a Javascript library
- Own a smart phone, preferably a Google one
- Visit the Blue Mountains
- Find out if I’m allergic to any food
- Have a shift at Woolworths where I do not want to scream in frustration
- Go one day without coffee
- Go two days without using a computer or video game of any kind
- Go one month where I work on Ather & Earth every single day.
- Go a month without buying anything made of chocolate or chocolate flavoured or containing chocolate
- Settle into a smooth weekly routine
- Drink 2 litres of water in one day
- Earn over $40k in one year
- Radically change my hair
- Spend a night out without having a panic attack
- Cook a gourmet meal on my own
- Connect my computer to my TV to become a Media Centre
- Buy better wheels for my rollerskates
- Quit playing Bejeweled
- Visit 24 hour K-Mart between 1am and 4am, just ’cause
- Visit Jamberoo Action Park
- Buy a DSLR camera
- Move to a bigger house
- Be complimented on my home by a visitor
- Drink a large Boost Juice
- Catch and eat a fish
- Get a perfect score on Rhythm Kung Fu (Advanced) in Wii Fit Plus
- Refrain from eating anything sugary on Christmas Day
- Buy that Beatles collection on the USB flash drive in the green apple
- Make delicious cocktails at home
- Roast green coffee beans in a popcorn maker
- Watch all Tom Baker Doctor Who episodes
- Buy a block of chocolate and eat it over the space of a week rather than all at once
- Win something. Anything.
- Finish at least the first draft of at least two novels
- Get my car’s headlights fixed
- Build a new shoe rack
- Learn how to use the washer-dryer properly
- Go one month without seeing an insect or arachnid in the house
- Go on a waterslide
- Get a kitten
- Meet three people in person that I met online
- Clean up my Gmail and keep up with all the emails instead of just looking at them all, sighing, and closing the tab
- Visit Uluru
- Get revenge on someone
- Bake fresh bread
- Go to bed at 9:30pm
- Spend a full day exclusively in bed except for using the bathroom
- Make a really horribly designed website for fun
- Live in the Greater Wollongong area
- Eat a taco
- Brew stout beer
- Make tiramisu
- Find a cake wreck and submit it to Cake Wrecks
- Make steak and stout pot pies
- Consider myself a responsible adult
- See Melbourne when it’s sunny
- Finish Final Fantasy V
- Feel financially secure
- Skate backwards for three laps at the skating rink
- Make scouse
- Make Irish soda bread
- Make soda bread ice cream
- Go to Bowral
- Borrow a book from the local library
- Make real buttermilk pancakes topped with sliced strawberries and pure maple syrup
- See the New Years fireworks in Sydney Harbour
- Have a picnic on the grass
- Wander the Haywards Bay home display village
- Take my parents out to dinner
- Learn how to take care of my car properly
- Make a sand sculpture
- Visit Caringbah Shopping Village for the first time since 2007
- Eat at Outback Steakhouse
- Buy a deck of Uno cards
- Visit the Southern Gateway Centre
- Walk on the Sea Cliff Bridge
- Stay awake for 35 hours straight, and see if I start hallucinating
- Get some new bedroom décor
- Make an animated short
- Eat at the Nan Tien Temple
- Go hang-gliding
Project 52
Thursday, January 7th, 2010
Today, I was challenged by my English friend Skippy to participate in Project 52. The concept is to make at least one blog post per week for the entire 2010. Knowing that I need challenges such as this to actually be motivated, I accepted. I have never been able to get into writing a blog- maybe this will help me?
Given that today is the 7th of January, the week is nearly up so I’m getting in right away!
You might also have notice I still have not updated some of the pages on this site… I really need to get that done but first, I have to finish off some client websites. I was told off by one client for taking time off during the holidays. Heaven forbid I get a break in my work schedule.
Yeah, you might be able to tell I am having a lot of troubles with my business. I didn’t realise people could be as fussy as they are, and I never realised just how hard it could be to communicate. But that’s not the worst part. I am just not cut out to work for myself. I haven’t got enough of a work ethic to pull it off. I can work for a boss, but I am a terrible boss of myself. Does that make sense to anyone else?
Moving The Site
Saturday, December 12th, 2009Hey all.
If you haven’t been following me on Twitter, you probably do not know that I am currently transferring this domain name over to my reseller account on Flexihostings. As I do so, I will be fully updating and refreshing the website to look a little like this, all built together in WordPress.
This means that the site will be down for a bit. I’m not sure how long. In fact I figured it would have already been transferred by now, but it apparently takes far longer to do so than I thought.
Anyway, just letting you know so that if you come along one day and get an error or something, there’s a reason.
In other news, I was in That’s Life! magazine a while back. I meant to post about it then, but you know how I am. Here is a link to the article on their website.
Back and Blogging Again!
Sunday, September 13th, 2009Hey people! I gave up on my blog when it was all weird with bizarre symbols. But I was going through my email spambox when I found a comment on one of my entries. So I popped on over here and like magic, it was as though nothing had ever happened. Sweet.
Well, I don’t have much time right now as I have to get ready for work soon, but suffice to say that there is A LOT to catch up on!
- The largest change has been my change of address. I now live with my sister in a 2 bedroom villa. It’s not that large but it’s cosy and a good size for just the two of us. I have a queen size bed now which is awesome.
- Business is still chugging along, though it stalled for a while there. Not making much money at this point, but what the hey. I’m making a little. Just working out kinks in my process. Working on four sites currently.
- Comic has been on hold since Script Frenzy. Haven’t felt like it but I plan to start drawing at that moment of inspiration. It will come eventually. :-/
- I skimmed Drawing the Line a couple of months ago, and decided that it sucked beyond repair. I consider it my practice novel and nothing more. The plot is just too pathetic.
- Next month I’ve booked a trip for my sis and I to go to Melbourne. I paid for it all since I owe her money.
- I own a laptop again. Brand new from Catch of the Day. I made sure it had a dual core processor so I wouldn’t get frustrated with how long it took to do ANYTHING such as even load a browser, unlike the Compaq Presario I bought off Dad for $150.
- I am a member of Contours gym. It was really tough for the first few weeks. I got so sore all the time. Now I don’t get sore but do get muscular fatigue for about 4 hours after I go, so I make sure I do it in the late afternoon so I can focus on working during the day. I’m seeing an improvement in my strength, but my weight hasn’t decreased at all. Hopefully it’s due to my big, heavy, bulging muscles.
So that’s a quick update on my life right now. Will try to fill it greater details when I have a bit more time
Later!
Clients!
Friday, May 1st, 2009I have two Website clients as we speak!
Sure they’re not getting me much money, but the more sites I do the more my name gets out there, and that can only be a good thing.
Dad signed me up for Barter Card a few days ago – and that’s what brought one of my clients to me. It’s not “real” money, but it doesn’t matter, so long as I find things to buy with my BC credits, and others see my little icon at the bottom of every website I build so that cash customers find me.
Not only that, but the more clients I get, the better it will be for my whole system. I’ll learn the ins and outs much quicker since I’m a Barter Card member and attracting more jobs. Barter Card isn’t for everyone but I think it can certainly benefit me in those ways.
So… I’m pretty happy with business right now. Never mind my lack of actual money form the business. That’s what NEIS is for anyway.
Site Flight Website: Almost Ready
Tuesday, March 3rd, 2009Hey everyone! Yesterday I submitted my Business Plan to the folks at the Illawarra ITeC. Today I completed most of what I need to do on Site Flight. Now, I need to create the templates needed for the Emerald package (I’ll need a minimum of 4, I think) and work out some contracts and agreements. I also need to make a Google Sitemap for it, and try and get some keywords woven through it, maybe, so it’ll have a higher Google exposure.
In the meantime you may have a peek at the website. Constructive critique and comments welcome.
Hard Work
Thursday, February 19th, 2009Yikes, it’s been a while since my last blog. That is mainly due to my being unbelievably busy with NEIS work, website building (3 websites, mind you) and working at Woolworths on the weekends.
Site Flight has come in leaps and bounds since my last blog post, but I also spent a lot of time working on a website I don’t think I’ve mentioned here. It’s called the Illawarra Directory, and it’s something of a marketing gimmick that doubles as a useful free tool. Everybody wins! Except, perhaps, my competitors. It will be a business directory. I have a development area with the site as it is, but it’s currently password protected so you won’t be able to view it at the moment.
So anyway, if you want to see how Site Flight is coming along, just click here. So far I’ve created a number of pages, all of which I am pretty proud of. It’s absolutely the most aesthetically pleasing site I’ve ever made, and also the least reliant on tables. I don’t fully understand what’s so terrible about table-based design (I listen to the arguments against them, but it still doesn’t click), but it’s admonished by a lot of website designers, so what the hey. Gotta keep with the current standards and all that.
As for NEIS, phew! For a two-days-a-week course, it’s incredibly hectic. The problems lie in what we have to do when we’re not there.
Oh, and it doesn’t help that on Tuesday next week we’re each meant to spend 10 minutes in front of the class… doing something. What we do is apparently up to us. WHAT THE…?! How am I supposed to think of something? Seriously, that’s lame. Why can’t we be given SOMETHING to work off. Free reign is great, but for this sort of thing? Gah!
First Design
Wednesday, February 4th, 2009Obviously, my website will be the greatest asset in my business. So naturally I’ve spent loads of time getting the design just the way I want it. But, it’s only the design so far and it’s not complete yet (link styles are undefined, for example).
Click the thumbnail to have a sneak peek.
Edit 4/2/09: I have changed it a bit. Turns out the style for the .lightbg div was lacking the capability of expanding with my left and right main columns. This is an experimental fix. I have Firefox 3, IE7 and Opera 9 and it works on all of them. I need to find out, however, if it works on other browsers. Can anybody help me out?
The main reason I ask is because it made Dreamweaver 8 go a bit bonkers. What I did was changed the float property of .lightbg to “left”. I couldn’t find any other way of fixing it.
