My Design Notes

Website For My New Classic Ford Cars Restoration Business

rd66st — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 17:57:20 +0000

I started the new year with my new business. I have been restoring classic Fords for over 18 years, and always wanted to start my own business. Before doing so, I thought of different ways I could combine my love for cars and web design. I learned that web design is very competitive today, and the pay is not all that great. I thought of combining these two skill to make myself more marketable when finding a job. It has worked up to a point. It was the moment they said “we want to give you the job, and this is how much we can pay you. ” I thought to myself, “yeah that would be great if I was 18 years old with no family and a mortgage.” Then I found a niche that has not been really tapped. Mobile Classic Car Restorations! There are plenty of mobile mechanics, but not doing what I do on a mobile basis. Also, I know what it takes, and the costs involved for a solid web presence, and online media advertising. Now, I can use all of my skills, and promote myself with very little out of pocket costs. I can make changes, and I have total control. Not saying that no else is capable. There are more capable web professionals than me, but I know enough that I can do this on my own. I always keep updated on the latest trends, so I can keep my online efforts in sync. I have a website that is also mobile, a WordPress blog, a Facebook and Twitter pages, and a YouTube page. I’m fully digital. I also have print media. My Business is called Classic Resto Garage that serves San Diego, California.

Javascript Thumbnail Images Not Rendering Good In IE

rd66st — Mon, 07 Mar 2011 19:16:12 +0000

I’m using transparent png images with shadows for the thumbnails. Images render as designed in Firefox, Safari and Google Chrome, but not in Internet Explorer. I made adjustments in the style sheet, but did not help. I made alpha transparency adjustments in the .js file, but did not make the changes I wanted.

Update:

Switched from Thumbnail Viewer to Facebox (www.dynamicdrive.com).
Facebox has png support configured. Also, liked the custom “Close X” button options.

Designing New Website For Portfolio – Part 2

rd66st — Mon, 07 Feb 2011 05:58:00 +0000

My new website has left the Photoshop phase, and is now a working layout. I ‘ve become good at z-indexing for layering my graphics. One of the my other challenges is making the load time faster without loosing the quality of my graphics either.

http://www.david-toth.com

Check List

Header graphic hot spot Done
Change 2 small left content graphics Done
Add text content Done
Change color and headings of slider menu Done
Add slider contentDone
Form – fonts size/bold fix z-index Done
Footer text Done
Add pages Done
Cross browser test Done
Submit Done
Transfer blog Done
Update layout of blog

>Designing New Website For Portfolio

rd66st — Wed, 12 Jan 2011 05:33:00 +0000

>My current portfolio website was my first time using a tableless css layout. The site is 3 years old, and it’s time for a total make over. I’ve learned a lot since then from always challenging myself. I need to take it to the next level with each new website. The old site was http://www.dmtportal.net/. The new site will be www.david-toth.com.

This is the photoshop mock-up.

>Final Checklist for Ar-Jay’s Upholstery

rd66st — Thu, 09 Sep 2010 06:19:00 +0000

Validate XHTML – Done
Validate CSS – Done
Convert to PHP with includes files – Done
Design photo gallery -
Design contact forum and test – Done
Map – Done
Create pages – About, Services, Work, Contact – Done
Blog – Done
Site map – Done
Submit – Done

Site Update

http://www.arjaysupholstery.com/

>Arjay's Upholstery Working Layout

rd66st — Thu, 19 Aug 2010 07:43:00 +0000

>After a few learning curves, I’ve completed the first working web layout. I still have some more styling to do, but I’m happy with the results so far. I’ve been experimenting with optimized graphic, and combining style sheets for faster load time. I’m going on a short 4 day vacation, so I will not be working on the site during that time. It will give me a fresh perspective when I come back.

1st working layout:

Updated php version as of 9-10-10

Old link inactive

>I Challenge Myself – ArJay’s Upholstery Website

rd66st — Wed, 21 Jul 2010 16:38:00 +0000

>With every new web project I like to challenge myself with something new. ArJay’s website has a lot of png graphic overlays and textures. The footer area will be the most fun. I will become good at positioning and z-indexing. Also, with the amount of graphics, I will have to speed up the load time with some good image optimization.

>ArJay’s Website PSD Layout For Final Approval

rd66st — Wed, 23 Jun 2010 06:46:00 +0000

Here is the final photoshop mock-up. Next, I need to go over with customer for final approval. Also, need to go over detials before slicing the image. Need stock pictures of upholstery work of airplanes, boats, and late model cars before creating service pages. Here is the layout.

>AR-Jays Website Coming Together – 2nd Revsion

rd66st — Tue, 25 May 2010 15:21:00 +0000

>This project was put on hold while waiting for stock photos from customer. It gave me time to work on and finish some other web projects. I also became good at fixing Malware issues. A couple of week ago, GoDaddy server was hacked, and one of my php sites was attacked. I had to go through all my files, and clean them out 3 times. At first, I thought it was an RSS problem, but later discovered it was coming form the server. Afterwards, I apologized to the creater of SimplePie. It was a little stressful. It would pop-up a fake virus scan, and would try to trick you into taking action.

Here is the latest Ar-Jays Photoshop Mock-up.

>New Web Design Project – AR Jays Upholstery

rd66st — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 05:23:00 +0000

>I just began my latest web design for AR Jay’s Upholstery located in San Diego, California. Its actualy a re-design of an exsisting website. The website will have an upholstery shop look and feel. I’ll be using large background graphics, and PNG graphics to give it realistic depth. The new website will include a WordPress blog. Let the fun begin.

Quick Mock Up

Beginning PSD Design