The clients I’ve had for years probably already know my history of how I became a web designer, my love of all things artistic, that I’m a mom of 3 kids and have been married for over 10 years (together for 15, can you believe that?). What most of my clients and blog readers don’t know, is that I have a personal site that I also use as a sort of “cover-it-all” business card so to speak.

Just recently I decided that it needed a face lift. I designed the site back when I was in school for design, so it was a bit dated. As the story with most designers, we do everyone else’s sites first and often neglect our own! I decided that I needed to just jump in and do it and stop procrastinating!

Well, the new site is ready for everyone to see! I decided that if I was going to do it, I wanted to do it different! I broke every rule that I have for web design and decided to stop thinking rationally with this one. I told myself I’d never create a horizontal site; well I guess its true, you can never say never. When you visit the site, you’ll see what I mean. Most will either love it or hate it, and my feelings will not be hurt if its just not your style. Check it out for yourself and let me know what you think!

I’ve been designing web sites for small businesses and work at home moms for nearly 5 years, during that time I’ve seen a lot of bad web site designs. I created a list of my own Do’s and Don’t s when it comes to web design. This is not a complete list, but one that I try to follow when I’m creating sites for clients. If you’re unsure about how to go about creating an effective web site, read on to get some ideas about what can make or break your web site.

Don’t: Use FrontPage or other WSYING editors, or graphical editors. These editors usually create messy HTML code that is not as easily read by all web browsers. They are also more likely to create both visible errors and other errors that may prevent your visitors from navigating your site effectively.
Do: Use clean HTML and CSS to design in a way that is W3C compatible. Using clean coding ensures that your site is usable by more users and accessible by those with disabilities as well. Dreamweaver or hand coding are your best options. Clean coding techniques also promote great SEO results! Read More…