My (Embarrassing) First Website Design - By Leisha Farrell - 12 Mar 2010
In Sept 2007, I was honorably discharged from the United States Air Force. Within two months of my discharge, I decided I wanted to start my own pet sitting business. I was low on funds, though, and needed a way to advertise my new service for as cheap as possible. My husband, (well, he was my boyfriend back then), told me he knew how to build a website, so I went to work "designing" how I wanted my website to look.
I find myself chuckling as I recall that crazy process. I knew nothing about web design. I only knew what information I needed to convey. For ideas, I started looking at competitor sites, most of which were simple and fairly unattractive. I jotted down some ideas and then when I thought I was ready to begin, I opened up *gasp* Microsoft Power Point! While in the Air Force, I had used Power Point practically on a daily basis and knew it throughout. I imported photographs of my pets (and some of my long-deceased childhood furry friends) and put together what I now believe was a positively ugly website mockup. But I didn't know any better.
My initial design broke every rule of modern web design. Every page featured a different background of an animal (and a different color). My vertical navigation featured simulated 3-D buttons made in Power Point, in bright colors and probably, (I can't remember for sure), with shadows. And then there were my "custom graphics." By manipulating basic shapes in Power Point, I had created cats, dogs, a rabbit, a turtle and a bird. I marveled at my work.
Wanting to look really "hi-tech," I even opened up my old photo editing software, Paint Shop Pro, and created an animated .GIF of my cat's head! (Jordan did the programming behind the animated .GIF, though.) When I released it, one week before Thanksgiving in 2007, I thought my new website was quite lovely. But don't we all feel proud of what we have created? The best part is that, despite the fact that my initial design might earn a place in todays "most outdated websites" Hall of Fame, it still received praise by people other than myself and it attracted our first web design clients. (It also attracted pet sitting clients, as intended.)
Within a couple of months, particularly after exploring the internet more regularly, I realized how juvenile my website probably appeared to outsiders. That realization started a chain of regular revisions that lasted a year. When Jordan found out he had orders to Germany, I stopped placing priority on my pet sitting business because I knew I could not bring it with me. I kept my current client base, but shifted all my off-duty attention to learning more about web design.
I no longer use Microsoft Power Point or Paint Shop Pro, but my website, Leisha's Pet Services, still exists as a reminder of how far I have come and how much I have learned. Although it is not in use, except as a gallery, it still features a design conceptualized in Power Point (though it is not the initial 2007 design). You might take a peek and have a little laugh, particularly at the "custom graphics" on the bottom of the gallery page. Despite it's outdated design, it still holds a special place in my heart.
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MOM (Mon, 15 Mar 2010 13:20:56)
OMG! I almost cried. I am so very proud of you both. Adore the photo!!