1.First of all you need a web presence so you think on a strong name for your business and a domain name. I advice you present as an individual because when dealing with a company it is obvious the price will go higher. Also find some cheap hosting package for your domain. I suggest hostgator plan because there you can host unlimited domains. If you don’t have enough money for the domain and hosting do some cheap work on forums and freelance website and invest the money. Meanwhile try to do some nice work so you could add to your portfolio. I suggest you also join contest websites and submit your ideas. If you don’t win, don’t worry it is an experience gained and you could use all the designs in your portfolio.

2.Second you need skills my friend, and experience. Join web design communities and forums and see what’s trendy learn some tips and tricks. Join torrent websites like thepiratebay or mininova and search for webdesign tutorials. My biggest disadvantage – I don’t know too much xhtml/css coding so I’m unable to export my designs so I must hire a coder. I suggest you try learning coding your own designs, it is a big plus, you will finish your projects faster and easier.

3.Make strong connections – join the communities over the internet and start making some friends ( php , mysql, flash etc ). Maybe someone will ask for a complete website and you could need their help. Allways the complete websites will be paied more. How much could you earn from a page designed ? I think max. 100$, 200$ BUT if they give you full website you could reach 500$ to 1,000$. This is a very important aspect and you should consider it every time.

4.Learn how to deal with your clients. Speak fluent English as much as you can, be polite always and don’t ask money in advance. Try using escrow service instead. I will tell you more in future posts.

The question that has risen lately regarding the importance of using a browser safe palette is completely justified. Keep in mind one thing though: the web safe color palette was created years back when most monitors only supported 256 colors. What this translates into is that if you use a color that’s not browser safe it could end up looking very ugly on the monitor it’s displayed on.
If you don’t know who is viewing your site, you won’t know they will look for the people reading them so eliminate the risks and use browser safe colors.

The only thing you need to remember is that browser safe or not, ultimately it’s your choice.

The first thing you should sort put is the architecture of your site, also known as taxonomy. In order to do a good job you should have a clear picture in your head about the way your site should be structured like.
Here are a couple of structural elements find on corporate or personal Web sites:
For corporate or business pages:
- Products – it’s important that people can get a good idea about what you are all

- About – contains specific information about your company
- Investor relations – contains in information existent or future investors may find
interesting;
- Help and support – provides help for your customers

For personal pages:
- About me – an introduction about yourself that you think might interest
people;
- Favorite links – links that you like or consider interesting
- Friends and family – this one I think it’s self-explanatory

After you’ve decided how your site will be structured like you can move on to the next step which is organizing it. A good way to achieve great results at this particular point is by thinking like your customers. Try putting yourself in their shoes: imagine how they would like to navigate through your page and what information they would expect to find in different locations. Flow charts and storyboards can help you create a great map through which you encourage visitors to use the site in a particular way.

OK! Now it’s time to get busy. Your navigation design is the most important aspect of your Web page. What’s the point of having a great page filled with interesting information if nobody can navigate through it? In order for you to avoid that here are a couple of things worth knowing:
Access – In order to keep it simple and friendly don’t use Flash, Java or JavaScript as your only navigation method.
Meaning – Keep things simple and serious. Inside jokes aren’t the way to go. If
someone visits your Web page for the first time they should know immediately where a specific link will take so keep the links simple and explicit.
Understanding – if you want to use pictures for your navigation, make sure that there is some text associated to them.
Presence – it’s no use having great navigation if it’s not present on every single page of your Web site. The only changes you should make in the way you navigate are those that are used to indicate the page’s position in relation with hierarchy of the site.

Finally, after you’ve designed your navigation start using it. If you have a change of heart in the middle of the construction, don’t be stupid and start modifying everything. Finish the job and then wait for a week or two. After this if you still want to make the changes go ahead but make sure that they fit the overall taxonomy of the site and your original idea.

Images and pictures

Images are the heart and soul of a Web page. But in order for people to be able to watch them, try and keep the image size smaller than 12Kb. If you must go bigger use thumbnails. In other words present your viewers with a smaller version of the picture that will act as link for the real-size picture that’s placed on a different page. One word of advice regarding the thumbnails: resize them using a paint program and not the browser.
One common problem related to images are the image links. Mae sure that they are clearly marked as links and also image maps are not a bad idea.
The quality of the images you use should be dictated by their purpose on the page. If they have a specific use, such as emphasizing a certain concept described in the content, then the quality should be high, otherwise don’t worry too much about it.
One more thing: make sure that your image tags contain all the necessary HTML.

Links
They are a big help but also a big annoyance as because most of the times people don’t know where they are going next. Instead of using the same old “click here” go with text links that offer some sort of information about the location that is being linked. Also try describing your links because if a page is good enough to be linked it probably deserves an explanation too.
The overall quality of your links is very important. Use validators to help with checking if your links work or not.

General issues

The best way to know what your readers want from your page is by asking them directly and see what they respond. Inserting a feedback form is a great way to keep in touch with the people that view your page. If you try to hide your identity you will lose credibility and chances are that the spammers will find you anyway.
The date of the last update is equally important because it helps readers to determine if they can find any new information on the site since their last visit without them having to scan the homepage. This small detail will save them time and earn you respect.
We’ve been talking about all the things you should do in order to make your page better but all of this is useless unless you use correct HTML. The standard tags aren’t mandatory but before you use browser specific tags make the adjustments needed because of the differences found on different platforms.
Last but not least correct grammar and spelling is a must. Correct any mistakes you make in this department because small things like a typos can destroy the credibility your page.

Use colors that are located next to each other in the color wheel better known as analogous colors. They can be used to create relaxing color schemes which are relaxing and pleasing to the eye. By manipulating the hues and the saturation you can achieve incredible results using only the same two or three colors. Try starting with combination such as green, yellow-green, yellow or red, red-orange and orange.

As we all know every single thing or concept has an opposite. The same is true for color. There are called complementary colors and are situated on different end of the color wheel diameter. If you want to catch someone’s eye this is the way to go. Creating great contrast, these combinations are brighter and more vivid. You can start by using red and green or blue and orange and then take it from there.

If you still found you find yourself faced with a conundrum then turn to nature. As is the case with most things, Mother Nature holds the patent. The natural colors that surround us are usually harmonious and pleasing, even though they don’t always respect the color theory. For more information look up Judy Litt’s library of color combinations for the Web.

Before you go and try something like that on your Web page there are a couple of aspects you need to be aware of.
First of all you should think really hard before modifying the size of your font. Is the news really that important, or it’s just something that breaks the normal routine of day to day life. A 30% discount on a certain type of products is great news for some customers but others have no interest in it so I see no reason in stressing them with unbearably huge headlines.
Secondly, determine what the standard font size for your page is and then go from there. Don’t make changes that more than double the size of the font, especially if your current size is something like 8px.
Thirdly, put togheter a plan that takes into consideration the kinds of situations that require drastic changes in font size. In this way you can avoid getting ahead of yourself if something suddenly pops-up on your agenda.
Changing the font size is a great and simple way to get attention but you can also play with things like family, color and style or weight. Serif fonts, reds and making a text bold or italic are small changes that make all the difference.
Besides font modification there are other kinds of changes you can make in other to attract attention.
Images are a great tool. The aphorism “a picture is worth a thousand words” is very true. Google for instance uses pictures to emphasize different holidays or special events.
Modifying your layout is a big surprise for regular customers so is sure bet in the struggle for attention. Animation is guaranteed to attract attention, especially if placed in a in area where normally you would have flat images.
As attractive as these methods may be careful not to get carried away. Making every single line on your pages red or bold or italic will defeat the original purpose of attracting attention and your customers will come to ignore you or even worse move to other pages.

One more important aspect of Web Layout is represented by the monitor resolution. The days of 640×480 are long gone and you need to be aware of that. You should kick yourself upside the head if you lose customers because the only thing they can see on their monitor is a logo.
Here is an easy way to make your Web page look like it’s resizing for different browser windows. This is how you do it: define the spaces by using colors. What this means is that by centering the page on the browser and adding a background of a different color, the page will display nicely both on large browsers, which will display more background color, as well as on smaller browsers which will have little or no background color at all.

Images and Graphics
One of the Top 10 killers of Web Layout are images. Slap an image at random on your page and that will be the end of it. The img tag followed by text will get you an image and a line of text to it’s right. Try using instead the align attribute which will help you with you’re layout. Also keep mind that you need to maintain a balance between graphics and text. Don’t get carried away and use lots of images as this will make your page extremely difficult to read. What you need to remember is that images are a major part of the design so choose your layout carefully.

Text
In this part I would like to say a couple of things about the so called “scan length”. This refers to the number of words that people can read at a comfortable level on a single line. Most browsers respond best at a scan length to 7 to 11 words per line. Anything higher than that leads to a text that is hard to read, anything less means a text distracting. In conclusion make sure that the main text area displays the text in readable width.

Centering isn’t something that you want to undertake because is very difficult to do well and is hard to read.

Most Web designers have well formed color opinions that are dictated mainly by the interests of their client. So as this is the case what should you do when creating a site that considers women as the main body of customers? Well, whatever you decide, don’t go into a pink mania. Just don’t do it! Pink is a strong color, and although it has long been associated with women, it doesn’t mean that all women adore it: some love it but some can’t stand it. The best way to proceed is by doing some research and use colors that represent you best as a logo, brand or company.

A recent study has shown that men and women have different favorite colors. When asked what their favorite color was, men chose blue in a proportion of 57% while women opted for the same color only in a percentage of 35%. This fact raises interesting questions because in general web designers default to blue. In case you are a company that means business and imposes respect, this isn’t a problem. The problem is represented by what this color conveys to different genders.