Webforumz Newsletter – February 2008
WOTM Interview
WOTM Winner
Congratulations to Krazytim and his website www.timsilvia.com on winning the Website of the Month competition for February.
What does it take to create that winning formula? We spoke to this months winner, krazytim, to find out what went into designing and developing his site.
What was your inspiration for the design?
I have always made graphically heavy designs, and for the sake of having a clean, easy to use portfolio, I decided to go with big blue boxes on a soft blue background. Over time the colors evolved here and there, and I needed some contrast, so I made the light tan boxes which were perfect for the design. It was really an experiment gone right.
Which section was trickiest to code?
I integrated the design into wordpress and it was my first wordpress skin, this part of the site has not yet been released though.
What was the brief for this project?
There really wasn't one, I went through changes in all aspects.
How long did the development process take?
Considering how many changed I went through, I would say a few days straight of working out the details. I am fairly new to CSS as the core of my designs, so it was also a learning experience.
How did you decide which technologies to use for this site?
I used a lot of php, javascript, and the mod_rewrite trick to develop the site. I used a lot of prior experience an knowledge with it as well. I learned some new methods this time around as well.
How long have you been designing websites?
Almost 4 years now. But I was using tables for a very long time, so I consider myself new to the modern methods of designing and developing.
What programs do you use?
Photoshop, Dreamweaver, Flash and Fireworks.
How do you see websites evolving over the next 10 years?
Larger hosting sizes, less limitations, and eventually no limitations. It is moving so fast right now that it is impossible to predict what will happen next. Youtube and the video phenomenon is still thriving right now.
What are the next steps for this site?
I am building a blog, a store/shop for PSD files and such, and I eventually plan to buy a new domain and move my business aspects over there while maintaining my current domain for a personal place. But who knows how long that will all take.
What is your favourite element of the site?
The dark yet professional flow. I have always been fascinated with dark colors and light colors and how they influence out brain, thoughts and emotions. So I tried to include those elements in my site to attend to those very primitive emotions.
Where do you get your inspiration?
I have a bookmark folder with SOO many sites saved that I can't ever look through them all. I also have an extensive image folder for all my inspirational designs. I terms of real life, everything inspires me. I have two lava lamps that I absolutely love to look at and watch.
What is your top tip for developing a website?
Plan and organize the structure! There are way too many sloppy sites out there, make sure you know where all the files go so you can save them later if you ever need to. Many people will disagree with me on that one, but I stand by it.
What have you got planned for the future?
Everything :) I am still very young, only 19. I will be moving out of my parent's house and going to college this fall, so I will probably do this work as a job more and I will be way more busy and hopefully I can pump out a lot more work than I do now.
krazytim site can be found at: http://www.k9logic.com.au.
Do you have the winning formula?
Why not enter your own site for Website of the Month, and next month we could be featuring you and your site!
