00. How long have you been designing sites?Well I made my first html layout six months after budging my way into the online world (that's not bad), so that would beee about October 2004. I basically taught myself html and css. So that means I've been designing sites for five years now. Good lord. :wub:
01. What was your first website?Espo Girl's Shrine which was opened on May 29th 2004. Haha uncreative :lol:. It was first built on freewebs page builder until I started using html pre-made layouts later on in the year, and then eventually started making my own layouts for it. It was basically a shrine with some (bad bad bad bad) graphics and some random blather about mostly CLAMP manga and Tokyo Mew Mew.
02. Wanna show us one of your earliest layouts?I shiver when I see them. They look so horrific. But in a way it makes me proud in the sense that I actually managed to do it and it's actually rather scary, in a way, when you first plunge into making a layout and at first have no idea how things go, but you actually come out with something useable.
And er, well, I was browsing round the interwebs a few weeks ago and stumbled across
this, which is either the second or third layout for ye-old blog, which would probably be in my first five layouts ever. AHAHAHA IT'S SHOCKING. SHOCKING. /shivers
03. ..and one of your latest layouts!Riiko is the latest.
04. Do you think you have some sort of "style"? If yes, details pls!I don't think I do. I'd say I like using divs too much for my own good, though. :lol: When I was younger I used to be in love with iframes, now, it's divs. As for layouts and layout designing, not really. I tend to just try and create things. Though lately I've been overusing a checkers brush in my layouts, but that's only because it looks nice. :x
05. Any webtrends you really like?Umm.. a while back when we all went through the trend of naming networks (ie, The Lonely Princess Network), or whatever.
Manga colouring, too, I'm guilty of following this one, but it's so fun and rather cool when things come out well - I've been doing it on and off for probably a year and a bit when I have the opportunity.
06. Others you dislike?As some have said, music players on sites that start up automatically and have no turn off button so you have to listen to it. Gahhhh.
07. Some of the elements you generally like using/seeing in layouts!Manga colouring! As for anything else... lol, idk, as long as a layout turns out nice, I'm not really fussed. I can like a really complex, complicated, javascript and everything layout and also some very simple ones equally at the same time.
08. Your favorite color to work with?Brown. Or, well, my head tells me that, since I went through a period of brown/earthy/chocolate brown/light brown layouts and I loved them all. Basically I can always make something with a brown layout. Tends to be the same for dark purples and possibly some other colours as well. Sometimes I try and make things in colours like, say, green, which can be either a disaster or not.
09. Something you need to improve on?Ehhhh... making my layouts less empty. Simple is good but sometimes it's
too simple. :/
10. When it comes down to it... do you prefer making the layout or coding it?.... neither has a preference. It depends on what layout. Sometimes I have the most ulmighty block that will not go away and I'm literally pulling my hair out. But sometimes coding is daunting, too. So I'm on the fence for this one.
11. Name us some of your inspirations when designing!Probably music. I like listening to music when I make layouts, especially if the song relates to the subject I'm designing for. For example, for Megumi, I was listening to
Miracle by Paramore, since it really does relate to him and that inspired me. Most of the time when it comes to making a layout though, I just let my mind roll over it until it eventually comes up with something and then I start trying to design.
12. How long does it usually take you to design a layout?Depends. I can make something in a couple of days or it can take weeks, when I just come back and change opacity of certain layers every other day. I've also gotten into the habit lately of making something, not looking at it for a few hours, then coming back to it to see if I still like it. That's an important factor, imo.
13. What browser and screen resolution do you use?Firefox, with Flock in reserve (it is amazing for uploading icons, hence why I have it), and IE when times call for it. My laptop's resolution is 1366x768, which seems to be an uncommon size at any rate. Up until a few months ago I was still on 1024x768 and didn't want to budge, haha. I still design for best use in probably 800x600-1024x768, though.
14. Have you ever thought of going into the Webdesign branch job-wise?Yes, then abandoned it. I was thinking about it in high school and went on work experience in a web design company. I was treated rather bad, since they didn't get the fact a fifteen year old would really know nothing about the industry, so put me off web design for a few years.
It wasn't only that, but the fact you have to adjust your designs to appeal to a customer. I like designing what I like and what I think looks good, not having to adjust it to make it look horrific just because that's how the customer wants it.. so it's not really for me. I guess I kind of am still aiming for a career in something similar, though, as I want to go into the media industry, possibly as an editor, scriptwriter, etc.
15. Other graphics you enjoy making? (i.E. icons, wallpapers etc)OMIGOD, I LOVE ICONS. I cannot express how much I love making icons. It mainly started out as a small, side hobby but I actually think it's helped improve my layout making skills (though hindered them for a while since, er, icons have restrictions on how big, whereas the layout takes up the whole screen, so sometimes it caused problems...), in making things brighter and more appealing and such.
