Designing S. Reilly Constructions
When I was asked to design the website for S. Reilly Constructions I was a little hesitant. I hadn't done a full website design since I did this site and hadn't done any commissioned work since the Red Vibe Photography flash fun.
I read somewhere that the first design you ever mock up should just be thrown away. I'm not sure what thats from. But they are wise words indeed. This is the first mockup I put together:
Hideous isn't it? Except I didn't throw it away. I actually submitted it. It took a few months before they got back to me but they did ask if I was still interested in building the site. I said sure but I'd want to redo the mockup as I wasn't happy with how it turned out. I've never heard anybody so relieved.
My second go was a lot better:
Gone is the pink header and footer. With the images off the main page the information is a bit more centralised too. I still didn't like the header though. So I spent a bit more time shifting things around until I got the third and final mockup finalised. The client was happy with that so I set about putting the site together in HTML.
The content was provided by the client, but needed a lot of editing.
For the gallery I sourced a flash-based application called SimpleViwer that allowed me to easily and quickly update the gallery when new pictures came in. This was a must after the quiet hell that was the Red Vibe Photography experience.
This is what you'll find at the S. Reilly Constructions website now. It's not the final, final design though. There's still a bit more I want to do, both behind the scenes and design-wise before I claim it as a sucess:
- Make the code standards compliant
- Make the menu items change on hover
- Change the font to something better than Verdana
- Redesign the footer and include a wood motif across the bottom of the page or in the background
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