Portfolio website help.

[Allenph9]

All right, it's a little terrible that I need to ask for help on my PORTFOLIO. I have always been moderately good at coding, but design is not my strong suit. My websites ALWAYS come out looking terrible and amateur. I'm confident I'm plenty good enough to get some work done for ma' and pa' businesses done, but I still want to improve. No matter what I try, I cannot be satisfied aesthetically with my website. (HundleyDeveloping.com) I think I know what is bugging me, but not how to fix it. First of all, I think I may need to change the headers? Perhaps they are too styled? Second, I cannot get the layout of the text right. It just does not look right two columned like that, but on the other hand I don't think it would look good single columned either, because my content area is too wide. I could solve that problem by adding a sidebar, but I simply have nothing to put there. Lastly, the lack of graphics seems to bug me too. But, where the heck am I going to get graphics? 

 

Again the site is HundleyDeveloping.com

Thanks in advanced guys, I really appreciate any help given. 

 

[BorysSokolov]

I think the layout looks fine; the bigger issue seems to be the background - it looks too sharp in comparison to the actual content.

 

Also, if you're concerned about aesthetics, use a shadow instead of a border around the page?

[Strider64]

In your HundlelyDeveloping Title, I would suggest losing the brown drop shadow for it doesn't look right. I think you can get by with just the reflection. I would also make your paragraph's font size a little smaller (1.2em / 16 px (I believe)). Since this is a portfolio website, move your work that you want to showcase to the home page. That is your very best work and if you have other work that is very good, then put that on a separate html page. You want to showcase your work and people have a tendency to have very short attention spans, so when they land on your home page then that will be the very first thing they see. This is my suggestion when it comes to a background, make it as bland as possible (meaning a dull as possible) that way people's eyes will be focused on the main part. One last suggestion never put under construction on your website, either leave it blank or don't go live with it. Like I said it's only a suggestion. Don't be afraid of white space or thinking outside the box for a few things, with the exception when it comes to having a visible navigation menu. Always have a visible menu, you want people to be able to navigate to other areas of you website. I have seen to many portfolio websites that try to be cute by hiding the navigational menu, in my opinion that drives people away.

Edited July 14, 2013 by Strider64