It’s been almost 8 years since I designed and developed my first website in MS FrontPage 98. Yikes! Remember FrontPage!?! It was a site for a local film company a buddy and I started, boy was it…well… so ‘98!  Before I became passionate about pixel perfect web design and proper CSS, I was much more interested in film.  I was actually completely sold on the idea of going to Southern California for film school, but as it turns out my curiousity for web development and design over took my passion for film by a long shot.  When I look back now at that dramatic change of interest in my life, I have to say  that I am so glad I made the switch, and that I truly love what I am able to do for a living. (So is my bank account, as film school was far more expensive!)

It wasn’t until about three years ago though that I actually designed and developed my first portfolio site.  That design is now long gone ( thank goodness), along with the other half a dozen or so that I’ve rolled through in the past three years.  This site has seen many face lifts but has been a wonderful and powerful tool for showcasing my freelance  and corporate portfolio.  For those of you that may be just getting started in web design, I highly recommend creating a personal portfolio to help you showcase your work.  It can be a very valuable tool, as mine has really helped strengthen my career and land opportunities that may have been out of reach without one.  The reach and power that a solid online portfolio can have is far beyond anything I had imagined when I first began developing my own.  Another plus to having a personal site is that is can be a playground for learning new things in web development, as  no one can tell you what you can and can’t do on your own site.  You are your own client and that can be a good and a bad thing!

Since it’s original conception I have added quite a few things to help strengthen my site, including a blog.  This has been a great little space for me to let out my often incoherent ramblings.  Over time my reader base has grown and for those of you that have read or posted comments on my articles, I want say thank you. I have learned so much from many of you.  I also really appreciate all of the sites who have featured my work and for all of their great comments and emails.  These sites have really helped increase the amount of RSS subscribers, twitter followers and visits in general to my site.

Whether you are just starting out in the web design field or you are looking for a little boost in your traffic/readers, a first stop would be to submit your site to some of the web design galleries out there. Sometimes it can take a while for your site to be approved, as many of them are very particular in what sites they showcase, but once you are featured on one or two you will notice that your site will begin to trickle through the rest of the community without you even having to submit them.   It’s always fun to spot your work somewhere isn’t it?  This has always been really exciting to me, where I might be studding my analytics and notice that from the 2 or 3 sites that I submitted a link to, there are 30 more that are now showcasing and sharing my work.

I am grateful for the chance I have to share my passion for design, below are a few of the sites that have featured my personal portfolio over the past 3 years.  If you are looking for a place to start, all of these are great resources to help get your work out there.

Special thanks to these sites: