My new website! :)

[Tomasz Lisiecki]

Hi guys,

Just bringing to you exciting news (well at least for me :P).

Finally, under the pressure from clients and sacrificing all my evenings in the week I managed to release version 1.0 of my freelance business website :) Tried my best to make it RWD, W3C compliant and also to use font-icons, svgs and whatever is the most modern in the web world nowadays. I love to push the web forward and build for the future so here it is.

http://nerdcow.co.uk/

And no, this is not the advertisement of my business. I just really want to show you my work, cos I put all my heart and skills into this one. I know you are awesome community that could maybe drop some ideas or w/e for the further releases.

Known bugs: Firefox blocks external requests for some files, but my hosting doesn’t allow to force it with .htaccess as of yet. Hence my CDN resources don’t work very well (font icons and google web fonts). I have raised the ticket with my hosting company to enable it for me.

Thanks for looking! :)

[Tomasz Lisiecki]

Hi @Melindrea,

Thanks for your comments. I really do appreciate it.

I am gonna replace three dots with what you suggested. Didn’t really think about it :)

Re numbers after my skills:

Numbers right after the skill name is the ranking I got on Smarterer amongst all people that undertaken these tests.
Numbers at the end are what I’ve scored on Smarterer for each field. 800 is being considered as the maximum. Their logo links to my Smarterer profile.

Kind wishes, Tomasz

[Paulie_D]

It’s just me but the text-sizing is VERY “in your face”.

I wear glasses and my first instinct was to try an zoom out.

[Tomasz Lisiecki]

@Paulie_D I know the font is big, but for some reason I felt like doing right thing making it bigger.

To be honest I hate when websites have graphics and all that fancy stuff, but they keep the font size 12px … The text basically gets lost in that jungle of images. I wear glasses too and I find myself losing a track of the line that I am reading when the font is too small. I may consider lowering it down by a few pixels. I will have a look how it looks like in the evening when I get home.

Thanks for looking at it :)

[__]

Serious nitpicking: Use … rather than three dots.

Serious nitpicking: use … rather than …

: )

… The padding on the [Get in Touch] and [Submit] buttons is way off-center (unless you meant to do that…? I guess it’s on all the buttons).

… I would seriously consider getting rid of the Smarterer link+scores. The site manages a friendly, competent, professional (with-cows) impression, and the scores “stick out” and undermine that a bit. Sure, list your skills, but in a “these are things I love to do” way, not an “I scored 82% on x at this random third-party testing site!”

[Alen]

+1 @traq.

@tomlis20, I think it looks great. I like big type, but do consider limiting the width for line of text as @Melindrea mentioned.

I would however make your overall message cleaner. Talk to your customers and about the problems they have. Saying things like this:

Our passion and commitment to web allows us to stay up-to-date

Isn’t this a given. Including the nerd part.

You can imagine that we say a big “no-no” to old browsers. We support only the latest releases of modern browsers.

Does your potential customer care about this, or is it about other developers that get their panties in a bunch when talking about support? Many, most of, your customers just want their site to work. Talk to your customers, not down at them. Essentially the tone I get from reading what you provide is all about me, me, me… but you don’t communicate your value preposition. What can you do for the customer? How will you better their business? How will you raise their bottom line? This is the type of lingo business owners like to hear. Remember people don’t read, they skim looking for things that will answer the questions they have.

So what kind of questions are your customers asking? (target market)

But all in due time. Since you’re just starting out. Bang out couple projects and hire content specialist. It will most likely be the best money you ever spent.

I know I need to do the same thing. We want our craft to be appreciated by others, but we have to do the same when it comes to content.

Hope that helps,
-Alen

[Tomasz Lisiecki]

Guys,

Thank you so so much for your comments. I didn’t expect such awesome feedback!

I will probably roll out the version 1.1 where I re-build skillset bit and limit the width for line of text (and also change three dots :P).

@Alen fair points, I think the “all about me” bits are just an expression of my frustration about the current employer (a digital agency) that I work for till the end of this month. I am kinda emotional person and I get irritated easily ^^ I am sick of them using archaic solutions and doing everything in rush, not really telling client about possibilities of the modern Web etc. (hence me leaving them and starting my own business – they hunt for quantity, i prefer quality). I will calm myself down and I will write up some more appropriate paragraphs. Hiring a content writer is not that bad idea.

I am really really grateful for all your inputs.

Tomasz

[Alen]

I am sick of them using archaic solutions and doing everything in rush

I know how you feel brother. I left web world to start my own photography business after being on a design committee consisting of development researcher and a writer. They were more concerned with getting things out the door instead of producing quality product that doesn’t need much future maintenance, but hey… don’t get me started… lol

On some level I can understand getting things out as fast as possible. But there should be compromise.

I will calm myself down and I will write up some more appropriate paragraphs.

You don’t come off as insulting. Just make your message clear. Our clients want us to build websites to better their situation, if you come from it from that perspective your message will be much easier to deliver.

[Johannes]

Nerdcow.
Udderly Awesome Websites.

Enough Said!

Love the overall concept and with a little tweaking I think you’ve got a great overall site!

The only main “issue” I had while testing was with the mobile-nav, I don’t like the way it stays open once you click on an item as it’s rather large. Maybe have it take you to the anchor, then fade out, or slideUp? Just a thought.

I won’t reiterate everyone elses previous suggestions, you’ve got some great feedback to work with.

[Author]

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