Please Critique these things for me...

Ok, The basic concept and design of my site I am doing comes from the NEOfrog ( http://www.neofrog.com/tutorials.html ) web site. I in no way meant to recreate his web site as my own...that is just how the ending them of it came to be.... So I add a few things I created my self... (NOTE: All graphics on my site have been created by me, none of them were ripped from anyones web site.) The reason I looked elsewhere for inspiration on build this site is that I have several soon to be clients (Doing Graphics and web design for them.) I will be doing work for and I need something professional looking. so please tell me what you think of the graphics and layout.

CENTRAL INDIANA WEB OPTIONS (NOTE: UNDRCONSTRUCTION STILL....)
www.ciwo.8m.com


I also have done a couple of wall paper collogue for the game Xenogears... check it out and please give me feed back.

http://www.ciwo.8m.com/gallery/xenospace.jpg
and
http://www.ciwo.8m.com/gallery/bg_xeno.jpg

(NOTE: Clicking the link to access the image does not work with my host. you muct copy and past it in the URL address bar and then hit enter in order to access the image.)

Much thanks....

.....Nevermind.......

ohh comeon man its almost idenical try to change the hue or something

If you were a newbie to web design/photoshop, and this was your first web site, that would be bearable. If this was just for fun and practice and learning and no one would ever see it, that would be bearable.

But the fact is, you are selling yourself as I assume a 'professional web designer' who has clients, and is charging people money to make them a web site.

That is unbearable.

If you can't even come up with a unique design for your own web site, or even any unique graphics or techniques, how can you charge your client money? They could make it themselves by following the same tutorials you did.

Yes, your graphics are 'original' meaning that you created them on your computer, but they are not original in that you had a creative thought to make them yours.

I'm not one to jump all over people every time I see something like this, because most of the time it's just a kid who is learning the basics, and experimenting/learning by imitating his 'heroes'. But if you are charging someone to make them a web site, then you need to know what you're doing.

And if you are just hacking together a web site that looks 'professional' to impress a client, what the hell are you going to do to their site? You seem to me like the kind of person that will slap together some graphics, copy/paste any info they give you, put it on Geocities, not include meta tags or any marketing, and then grab the cash and start looking for the next sucker to pay you to do the same thing.

Anyway. Keep in mind that my problem is that you are charging people money to do this 'design work'. If you were just experimenting, that's one thing. But when you charge people to make a web site, and don't even know how to do it. That's crossing the line.

i agree 1000% with deker.

i did a site for a client back in february and they were so cautious and paranoid because the previous two designers ended up delivering work of the worst quality that was incomplete and not at all useable. the worst part is that both times the designers took half the money upfront and ran off with it.

my point is that this web design business is so easy to get into that anyone can call himself a designer, print out a handfull of business cards, throw a website up and set up shop. to make matters worse, most of the people out there looking to hire a web designer have no idea what they want or how it should be done.

a designer's site is usually the first impression a potential client gets and if you don't put time into it to make it your own then anyone with half a brain will realize that the designer of the site is clueless and a poor choice for their project.

most people would not recognize that this site rips off that other site (i didn't...i've never seen the other site). but besides that, this site is poorly organized, too dark, and visually unappealing.

all i am saying is there are a lot of bad designers out there that call themselves professionals.

I've had similar experiences as you Charm.

In fact, I'd say 40% of all of the work I get is redesigns of existing sites. So maybe we shouldn't be complaining, Charm, it's bringing in more business for us! Just kidding... It actually sucks because it makes it more difficult for us because everyone is afraid of getting burned by designers like that.

I recently got a referral from a business associate for a guy that sells pool tables. All of his suppliers have been on his case to get a web site up, so they could communicate or refer people there to buy the products of whatever, and the owner of the store has *no* comprehension of the web at all. He doesn't even think he needs a web site. But because of everyone telling him he needs one, he paid a couple of girls to do a web site for him for $500 (!). That was 6 months ago. It's not even an original site. They just use a template, paste in the content, paste in a picture of a pool table and all of the manufacturers logos, and that's the web site. It's taken them six months to do that, and it's still not complete. So anyway, we called the guy, and he wants to give them some more time to finish it. He still doesn't know anything about the web, still doesn't care about the site, and is still losing money because of it.

In my opinion, it's better to have no web site than a crappy one. I mean the guy has building his reputation in the area for like 40 years, but the people that have never been to the store but see the site will think he's just a complete amateur, and will probably never come in because they think he doesn't know what he's doing, and it's just some mom and pop run place.

Bah.... Anyway. That's just one example.

I have been desinging web site for 2.5 years now... I can do origional.... NeoFrog's web site was more an imperasion than anything... it has such a great look to it... I have decided not to use this site to show off my capabilities to my clients. And yes I use meta tags. just have not put them in yet but will soon. I agree with everything that was said... I guess I did this site to see how closely I could actuality get to recreating someone elses design and learn new stuff at the same time... I have not shown this web site to any of my clients as of yet... but since I got so much helpful feedback on this forum, I think I do as was stated and go origional... I did not mean to offend anyone with my post I just wanted to see what people would think of it....
Well thanks for the help... I will repost the link once I have redone the site.

By the way: No one likes my efforts I put into it? even though 95% of it was made without following any tuts...

Even if I had never seen NeoFrog's site before, I would still not think you should be charging people.

The whole site seems disjointed. Nothing really flows together.

There is a bunch of dirt looking stuff, then some metal. Then a cigarette, some random wires... some random circles of color.

That metal bar doesn't even extend to the edges of the page if you are on 1024.

It's all very dark. Not very interesting to look at.

Absolute positioning a bunch of layers isn't the best way to do a page like that. Especially with them all overlapping like that. I would suggest using tables for your layout. Yes, it's more limiting, but it works in more browsers.

Anyway, that's a few of my thoughts.

I think it is ok to copy people images if you try and make them on you own account and just use them for personal reference and not for a website or to sell, but to just cut them off their website and stick on yours is well....

i just read all of the replies for this topic, i clicked the link for your website, and immidiatly closed it. I didn't even want to go through it to find out what you have to offer and how to navigate myself through it. Im not trying to flame you or anything, im just letting you know how i felt about your website, and about your images, they do look good, but like they said, dont try to sell someone elses work.

Yes, you put a lot of work and time into those pictures maybe, but its still someone else's techniques is what matters.

Now, if you took those techniques, changed them around, found a new way of doing it, or just did it in your own way all together, that would be cool..

Like i said, im not trying to flame or hassle you, just giving you critique like you asked ttyl