1. where do you get ideas for your site designs?

i used to get them from rave flyers, mostly. i love the techno look they have. looking at other pages helps, too, but i'd never swipe a whole design.

2. what programs do you use?

i use adobe photoshop 7.0 for creating/editing graphics, thumbsplus to browse my graphics and art, editpad for the html(yes, i type it all up myself), WS_FTP or smartFTP to upload files, and firefox to test and browse.

3. where did you learn HTML and photoshop?

around 1997, i learned HTML from resource pages online.
i taught photoshop to myself when i got ver. 4.03 back in 1997 by playing with all its options and tools. i had also been using adobe photodeluxe for a while before that, so i was kind of used to how the program worked (the two are similar, but photoshop can do much more and is much more professional...photodeluxe is made for individuals wanting to do things like greeting cards, calendars, etc.) over the years, i've gotten a little better with practice and experimentation.

4. how do you design a site?

first, i get an idea for it in my head, inspired from whatever...then i sketch it all out on a piece of paper. when i decide on a design i like, i open up photoshop and make the graphics, and then type up the HTML for it. if it's organized, interesting, will look okay with most resolutions and browsers, and doesn't take forever to load, then i'll probably use it. i go through a lot of designs before i come up with a final one, though...i'm picky.

5. do you have any tips on creating a good site?

your front page is important, because it leaves a first impression, and if it's boring (or too busy) or takes too long to load, people may not want to look at the rest of your site. try to keep graphics to a minimum, so they don't take too long to load. stay away from using too many flashy things like blinking text, gif animations, java applets, etc...too many moving, flashy things can look tacky and increase loading times. things like javascript popup alerts and scrolling status bar messages are often useless and annoying as well. keep your content organized and easy to find, so people can jump right to whatever they're interested in. try to design something that'll look good on all resolutions (from 640x480 to 1600x1200 pixels)...design separate narrowband and broadband pages, if necessary. if your menu is in macromedia flash, you should provide text links or a separate no-flash page for anyone who can't use flash (or anyone with a slow connection).

6. can i add a link to your site on my own site?

certainly! check out my link me page for some buttons and banners you can use, if you like. however, please only link to my main page (www.barachan.com), and not to any other parts of the site. thank you!

7. will you link to my site on yours?

i'm sorry, but i'm currently not taking any link exchanges, as i don't have the time to keep up with them...

8. what are those numbers you always put into your image filenames?

the date on which the picture was completed, in YYMMDD format.