Good Morning,
I have been building my Web-design service in recent months, and finally have some work to show! My favorite way to build sites these days is to start with Zen Default and rework the CSS.

Below is a site that is mostly done, currently under review by the client. I'm still looking to add a bit more, so I'd be happy to hear suggestions from fellow JB members.

Client:
Alexis Design

Template:
Zen Default

Extensions:
JB Bamboo Box (for "Portfolio" pages)
JB Type (for various text elements)
YoTheme YooCarousel (for tabs on home page)
RSJoomla RSFormPro (for contact form)
JCE Editor (for articles and image pop-ups inside the articles)
NoNumber ModulesAnywhere

Current URL:
www.schenkerstudio.com/Development/AlexisDesignStudio

Thanks,
Matthew

Matthew,

I love it when you guys use ZenGrid as a design tool. Gives the rest of us some incentive to give it a go! Before going live with the site, get someone to proof read all of the content... saw a few typos that really should get corrected.


Nice job!
Ed

Yep great work Matthew

Good Evening,
Thanks Ed for the feedback, and thanks Anthony for the encouraging words.

I should say that this project is in the middle phase. The client is reviewing the design and still needs to provide me with more details and more images of her projects (you can see I still have a bunch of lorem ipsum text in there).

At the moment, I'm using the JCE Editor popup function for images in articles, but I may switch to Minimoo or other JB gallery extension if my client provides enough images.

OK ADVICE please!

On the home page, I need an elegant way to add a bit more graphics to the "Portfolio" tab so it's not just a list of text links.

Any suggestions?

Thanks again,
Matthew

Matthew,

You can add a background image/effect to the yooCarousel module your using. Edit the following file and add a background image/effect that you want. I've given you a brief example using the tree image your using in the theme.

/modules/mod_yoo_carousel/mod_yoo_carousel.css.php

div.basic div.yoo-carousel .article {
background: url("www.schenkerstudio.com/AlexisDesignStudio/templates/zendefault/images/transtree.png") no-repeat scroll right 1px #F2F2F2;
font-size: 100%;
line-height: 145%;
padding: 10px;
}

Ed

Hey Ed,
Thanks again for jumping in.

Yes, I know how to do those kinds of backgrounds. Then again, I hadn't thought of putting the "tree" image as a background for the tabs instead of as a "Grid1" background. So that's a god suggestion.

I'm trying to get the first page to be a little less "texty," while maintaining a minimal look. I was thinking of creating some kind of graphical element to present each of the "portfolio" names, but nothing is satisfying.

Your suggestion may be the answer! I'll give it a try.

I'm open to any suggestions or criticisms.

Thanks again to Joomlabamboo for such great templates and such a great group.

Matthew