I'm one who prefers to design their own website...

But I'm looking at some of the web designs around here thinking "How the hell would you make that?". I wonder if some of those who actually do the web designs here (using Photoshop on its own, most of the time; so just concept work in actuality) ever sit there and try to make them work. One page in Photoshop is not a website. It's an idea, that can perhaps be developed and moulded into a website.

Unless you have drop dead excellent website designers (I nod my hat to some people on my watch list) it's practically impossible to replicate a Photoshop design into an actual website. Some things won't be possible. Others will have to be tweaked until they work, which may not suit the original designer's idea.

Also, where are the annotations? I enjoy looking at websites, I love looking at how they work (I was doing research on Soft Play centres at work, clicked the link on who made the website for them, had a look at their portfolio and one of their sites triggered an idea for my portfolio site... a while ago, admittedly) and trying to replicate the effect so I can use it in future. But without annotations, notes on what a button does when you roll over it, if there will be dynamic menus or static and other rubbish that makes me sound intelligent in front of my boss, it's just a pretty picture you did to make yourself feel you can make a website.

I am not a good website designer, so I'm not inserting my status as that. I just do what I do from both the designer point of view and the person who has to make it. What you see is what you get programmes can mostly (note the mostly) do what you design on Photoshop, but not always. And in the end they end up quite image heavy (I speak from experience in that one).

So, why don't people start from the basics of what they can do, then fill in the frills and snazzy images later? Do a basic bones of a website, with blocks for where text will go, a big red cross for images and something that explains that when you hover over it with your cursor it turns into a Dancing Lemming. Yes, put in a pretty background, it's not hard to replicate that in a website at least. Include a logo that'll be on the page somewhere, give it a couple of page titles.

I doubt I will ever wholly be on the end of developer of websites; I'm a designer at heart and a developer out of sitting there going "Damn, I need someone to do this for me... ah, stuff it, I'll do it myself". And because of that I make things easy for myself in terms of writing the website stuff out. I only know CSS and HTML; I borrow Javascript from internet resources, along with the occasional snazzy CSS piece. This means my websites are basic. Basic as a piece of bread on a stick. But with a few bits of code combined, often borrowed mixed with my own, that piece of bread can become a piece of toast. Then some interesting image elements, nothing massive, a couple of kB in PNG format is the jam, or butter, your preference.

And in the end, simplistic, quick to load, easy to navigate websites (when pulled off well) are most people's favourite. You don't want to sit there for 5 minutes waiting for a website to load, just to get lost immediately in the atrocious menu structure. I am looking at you, designer of the Battle Storm original website.

I advocate looking at website designs done on Photoshop without the designer knowing at least a little bit about make the website itself.

I need a drink...

(EDIT: The basis for this is I have no idea what to do about my portfolio. I want a name change and a design change, but I've hit a brick wall. Help is needed, hint hint!)