About three months ago I shifted my focus from pure design to more of design implementation. I find it more challenging from a technical perspective to look at a flat mock-up and try to see how it will be implemented as valid CSS/XHTML.
I don't know, I kind of enjoy it more than designing itself. Technical over Creative for me, I guess. I view a mock-up and place imaginary boundaries between page elements, separating the header, any sidebars, main content area, footers, and any other logical sections. Then I replace those elements with text in my head, and place XHTML tags around those pieces of text according to their semantic function.
At this point I begin to write the code snippets in my head into a web page. Adding each section in until I have all parts complete. Then the styling begins. I go back to the design and try to analyze which combination of styles would be the best set for the site, and apply them. This goes on until the site comes out looking like the original design, in a way.
The next part is tweaking the sections until they are pixel-perfect in comparison to the mock-up, while maintaining validity of the code and CSS. This also includes making considerations so that incompatible browsers are supplied with propers styles to display the page as the designer intended. I guess this is where the bulk of CSS/XHTML work lies, which is a sad fact, all because some browsers choose to implement their own "standards." I mean, why bother calling them standards if there are so many?
When all the coding is done, I upload to a test server and ask for client approval, and hopefully, payment.
One last step. And perhaps the most important one: after payment has been made, always go to your favorite coffee shop and spend some of your earnings on a cup or two of your favorite brew.
Thursday, March 27, 2008
Monday, March 10, 2008
the wonderful world of freelancing
If you have been wondering where I've been since my last post on this blog, worry not: SO HAVE I.
I've been here, in front of my computer, busily creating designs for websites and website elements. I've also been spending time studying several web technologies, one of which is the CMS, short for Content Management System. I don't want to explain what that is, not in this post anyway, since it would probably turn this post into a wiki. Yes, the topic IS that wide.
I also have to make a confession. I've been cheating on you all. I've started a new blog where I post my freelance updates, as well as non-freelance tidbits of my life. It's on
http://h3adrush.wordpress.com
Don't cry too much though, maybe just a tear or three, since I won't be abandoning this blog.
Anyway, what I really wanted to share with you guys is my experience in the last five months I spent as a freelancer. I found this freelance organization on the internet, called www.oDesk.com, that just blows away all the competition. At the risk of sounding like a testimonial, I am telling you that I have never had a single client in my 1 1/2 years as a freelance provider on other sites. But on odesk, I never had to keep telling myself that "my chance will come," because, the chances(plural) just came. And they still keep on coming, at a rate of three interview invitations to bid per day.
Imagine waking up to the tune of "You have been invited for an interview for job #..." every single morning. That should make your day. I know, it makes mine every single time.
I've been here, in front of my computer, busily creating designs for websites and website elements. I've also been spending time studying several web technologies, one of which is the CMS, short for Content Management System. I don't want to explain what that is, not in this post anyway, since it would probably turn this post into a wiki. Yes, the topic IS that wide.
I also have to make a confession. I've been cheating on you all. I've started a new blog where I post my freelance updates, as well as non-freelance tidbits of my life. It's on
http://h3adrush.wordpress.com
Don't cry too much though, maybe just a tear or three, since I won't be abandoning this blog.
Anyway, what I really wanted to share with you guys is my experience in the last five months I spent as a freelancer. I found this freelance organization on the internet, called www.oDesk.com, that just blows away all the competition. At the risk of sounding like a testimonial, I am telling you that I have never had a single client in my 1 1/2 years as a freelance provider on other sites. But on odesk, I never had to keep telling myself that "my chance will come," because, the chances(plural) just came. And they still keep on coming, at a rate of three interview invitations to bid per day.
Imagine waking up to the tune of "You have been invited for an interview for job #..." every single morning. That should make your day. I know, it makes mine every single time.
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