Please tell us more about yourself

I love web standards. I love design with CSS! I am trying to bring web standards to Malaysia, create awareness to the public – let them know what the criteria of a good website are. It does not only depends on design, but it must have validation.

Hi all! Thank you so much to Kailoon for giving me this great opportunity to be featured in his website! My name is Hasrimy, the founder of hasrimy.com. My forte is more on the web design concept and creating ideas on how website can really benefits the user as well as to improve the business and also reach the targeted customer easily.

Currently, I am dedicating my entire time concentrating on web design and web application together with my partner (he is in charge more on the programming and coding side). The idea is to expand our services widely and provides a convenient environment to our customers by offering a one stop solution centre.

I have wide experiences in this field. I started from a small design house to a reputable GLC company. I also learned a lot when I lectured in a few colleges and private universities.

How long have you been in this field and why?

I have been involving in this field for more than 6 years. Why? Because I have a deep passion on it. It is part of me. It is all started as a hobby. I am very keen into arts since school and I have spent most of my time to draw each day without fail. I also look at it as a therapy for me – as escapism from all the stresses and pressures.

How did you market yourself in the beginning of your design career? How about now?

I started from small. At the very beginning – I have to chase people to be my client. Offer them my services (very cheap price!) and have to convince them that I can do a better job. Gradually, I started to create my portfolio. And now, I have a strong portfolio to sell myself!

After that – from word of mouth and client’s recommendations – then I’m getting more jobs in hand. From there I created “Hasrimy.com” – purposely to showcase my work to my clients and indirectly also as a reference website for my students to learn CSS! From there I got listed in CSS Mania (a second Malaysian who was listed there ; and people started to recognize my existence.

Every day I will improve my design – every morning before I started my work, I will make sure I updated my ideas with the latest design technique by surfing webcreme, css mania, computer love, netdiver and other related sites.

Now I received a lot of request everyday through my website – local and also international; from people who would like to hire me for their web design, web applications, logo, and printed materials and so on. My website is the best ‘marketing personnel’ that work for me 24/7, 365 days, without fail!

What is the common challenge when dealing with a project (web)? How you came over the challenge?

The most challenging part is to convince the client with your concept.

Of course idea is the most challenging part in any design. System is fixed, design is abstract.

No matter how good is the design, if the client does not like it – it’s a total failure!

So for me – understanding the client needs is the fundamental in developing ideas and concepts based on their requirements.

What your own define the “quality” or “complexity”?

Quality = satisfaction of work produced + client’s satisfactions
Complexity = strategy + dedication

How you see the freelance market in Malaysia?

I foresee that in the near future, there will be lots of Malaysian working from home aided with only small laptop and supported by Internet connection. That’s the reality and the trend is extending. Designers prefer to work on their own. They can earn more money and at the same time, gain more self- satisfaction.

For me, freelance market in Malaysia is getting bigger (from an online business view) and the world is getting smaller. Everything is within our fingertips. My business segmentation not only caters for local people but also I received a lot of request from UK, London, Taiwan, Singapore and Ireland. They are keen to approach our local market not mainly because our human resource is cheap, but the main factor that triggers their interest is our quality of work. It’s very hard to get a good web designer who really can design according to web standards…

Can you please briefly explain your workflow on a project?

My work flow is simple. First I will ask the client their requirements for the website. After that, I will proceed with some study and research. As a result of that, I will get back to my clients with my new propose ideas for them. If they are satisfied, then I will start with developing the whole website.

Any advice for someone who just starting out?

My advice is simple – no matter what you are doing, the most important thing is you must identified and develop your passion and interest first before proceed with what you are doing.

Check out Hasrimylatest works

• signatureprospect
• springlabdistribution

Winners

• John

  I run a freelancing business, and it’s quite difficult t keep track of everything, and keep organized. Let alone, guarantee my customers an honest price. If I could better track time, and be more productive, I would be more able to help serve my clients to the best of my ability. After all, in this economic downturn everyone needs to save money wherever possible.

• Matthew Craig

  As a freelance designer I would use the software to manage my time effectively, bill clients correctly and accordingly, and get feedback as to how I am doing during certain projects and what I can improve on.

• Sam

  For calculating time and amount to bill my clients.

  I have had a lots of difficulties cause of not calculating time for particular work. As the software itself says user friendly interface
  , flexible timer and able to produce invoices thats what I want on a time tracking and billing s/w application.

The winners will receive their prizes soon via email from the sponsor. Thank you everyone who participated.

This theme comes has 6 awesome colors ready for you to choose. You can also switch the sidebar position from right to left with only one single click. You also able to switch sidebar position from right to left or the other way round.

It also provide a highly demand user link feed to allow your reader to submit news, example http://psd.tutsplus.com/ and http://kailoon.com. My WordPress provide up to 9 ad slot for your needs. Include a leaderboard, 2 rectangle ad and 6 small (125px) ads.

Features:

• 6 Colors
• Feedburner Integration
• Powerful Theme Option Page
• User Link Feed Ready
• Able to switch sidebar position by a single click
• Auto image resizing
• Flickr Showcase
• Wp-navi and breadcrumb integrated
• Ad Management System
• Social Linking (Digg, StumbleUpon, etc.)
• Modern footer display
• Smooth tabbing system
• SuperFish for dropdown menu ( Both pages and Categories )
• Unique author and search result page
• Unique threaded comment styling
• Trackbacks and comment separated
• 2 Column Tabless (CSS Layout)
• Sidebar Widget Ready
• Gravatar ready
• Valid CSS and XHTML
• Browser compatibility: All Major Browsers
• Related Posts
• Popular Posts
• SEO Friendly
• Print Ready
• Many more!

The Idea

This is purely inspired by TUTs sites and CNET. I try to make it direct, simple, clean and effective. You can check out the demo too.

About the sponsor

Fanurio is a time tracking and billing software application, highly appreciated by freelancers for its intuitive interface, flexible timer and ability to produce detailed invoices.

Whether you need to round time, use multiple currencies or create invoices with your own layout, Fanurio has the right tools to help you get paid.

Features:

• Track time with little effort
• Analyze your performance
• Get paid for all your work
• Runs on multiple platforms

Comment To Win

• Leave a comment.
• Stated “why the application (prize) would be useful to you“.
• The most convincing posters should get the free licenses.

Terms

• Contest end on 30th April.
• Prizes will be delivered directly from the sponsor, so, please comment using your contactable Email address.

Have fun!

Their Order Process is shown in 5 simple steps-

1. Mail Order
2. Order Review
3. Conversion
4. Quality Assurance
5. Delivery

The process is so transparent and straight forward that the clients can track their order at any stage, converse with the team and detect the completion stage. I liked their professional Order Process, their service offerings and the portfolio. So before I begin the tutorial, I decided to write a review of XHTML.PixelCrayons.com.

Introduction:

XHTML.PixelCrayons.com is a specialized web coding service provider that promises pixel precise markup services and design implementation into CMS, Shopping Cart, Skins, Themes, etc. They also offer re-slicing of existing sites and all this with high-end client support and timely delivery.

Services and Work Process

This is what I think is 100% client centric. They would tweak their service offerings for what would suit its client. You could upload your files in PSD, AI, PNG, PDF or even in the existing markup. With XHTML.PixelCrayons.com, you get just any technical requirements you like: HTML 4.01, XHTML 1.0 Strict/ Transitional, XHTML 1.1, Search Engine Optimization, Tableless Coding, Dynamic Drop Down Menus, Transparent PNGs and Fluid Width Layouts, sIFR, JS Implementation, Commented CSS, Rollovers includes, Microformats and Accessibility (WCAG 1, Section 508/ DDA).

You can edit the advanced options and layout options and customize your order the way you want.

The work process is quite simple, and the order form self-explanatory. You just have to place an order and wait for your work delivery. You may also mention other specifications about your file (in the Special Comments box). They are in touch with you over phone and instant messaging to take your views and clarifications regarding design implementing and stuff. All-in-all, a seamless client support!

Pricing and Delivery

Their clients bear testimony to the fact that considering the high quality, hand coded, table-less, pixel precise and 100% W3C validated code, their packages are cheaper than others in the market. Web
Designers don’t mind paying more if quality supersedes, but when same quality is for a comparatively lesser price, XHTML.PixelCrayons.com become their choice.

They offer two packages as follows:

The Basic Package – starting at $99

• Markups: HTML 4.01 Transitional, XHTML 1.0 Transitional
• W3C Validation: CSS, XHTML & HTML
• I.E 6.x / 7.x, Mozilla Firefox, Safari

The Professional Package – starting at $199

• Markups: HTML 4.01 Transitional, HTML 4.01 Strict, XHTML 1.0 Transitional, XHTML 1.0 Strict.
• W3C Validation: CSS2 (Advanced CSS Code Structure), XHTML & HTML Browsers Compatibility: I.E 6.x / 7.x, Mozilla Firefox, Safari 2.x/3.x, Opera, Konqueror.
• Includes: SEO Semantic Code, Load Speed Optimization, Complete Presentation Separation, Maximum Cross-Browser Compatibility.
• Delivery time is fast and quick- 8 hours flat, and you get your professional, hand-coded, pixel precise design code.

Conclusion

This is a good PSD to XHTML site that provides excellent and customizable services. With XHTML.PixelCrayons.com, an SEO friendly, valid CSS/XHTML and W3C Validated code is possible along with price and time scalability.

• Drew Douglass – 1000 free standard size business cards.

  I would use the business cards to further brand and promote my name as a freelance copywriter and php/wordpress freelancer. Thanks for running this contest, good luck to all!

• Mario Awad – 1 free 18×24 canvas print.

  I’m currently considering freelancing software development… those cards would come in handy… good luck everyone

The winners will be contacted by the sponsor very soon. Thank you everyone who participated. Don’t give up, we will have another giveaway soon!

Winners

• Heather Flyte

  I think this theme is exactly what our magazine site needs. It’s got all the features, from clean ad-placement to easy navigation between features. I think it will really help in the redesign.

• Aaron

  Like: I’ve been waiting a long time for someone to design a template that looks similar to the Tuts web designs (aka PSDtuts, Nettuts, etc); the our magazine theme looks quite similar to what I want. A+ design in my opinion.

  Usage: I’d use this theme as a starting point for my iphone game review blog/site. It’s got everything I need built right in to the default layout – video, blog, and flickr rss in the sidebar.

  Thanks and good luck with the contest!

The winners will receive their prizes soon via email. Thank you everyone who participated. Don’t give up, we will have another giveaway soon!

Update: Contest closed

Our Magazine come in 2 colors

• White-Gold (default)
• Black-Red

Features

• FEATURED UP TO 7 CATEGORIES:
• Slider headline. Optional to be semi-auto or fully control.
• 4 categories under tabbing.
• Video category.
• 1 Blog alike display category.

• AUTOMATIC IMAGE RESIZING:
• Automatic thumbnail resizing for headline, blog posts and posts listing.
• Using WordPress Media Upload (Strongly recommended) or custome field ( priority to be displayed ).

• POWERFUL THEME OPTION:
• Select the theme color.
• Easy to select featured categories for each section.
• Disable / Enabled categories to be displayed in front page.
• Feedburner feed replacement and optional to display in text.

• USER LINK FEED:
• Easy to setup your own user link feed page.
• Example http://psd.tutsplus.com/ and http://kailoon.com

• UNIQUE ARCHIVES PAGE TEMPLATE:
• Using accordian:
• http://themetation.com/demo/magazine/archives/

• FLEXIBILITY AND FUNCTIONS:
• Almost every elements in front page can be disable or enable.
• Headline, Blog alike and Video category are excluded in recent post section in front page.

• MORE FEATURES:
• Smooth dropdown menu (Category)
• Easy to navigate page menu
• Threaded comment ( up to level 3) and paged comments supported.
• Unique design for comment area.
• Comments and tracbacks separation using tabbing.
• Integrated wp-navi and breadcrumb.
• Widget ready.
• Flickr ( Download plugin to make it works).

Requirements:

• Required php5 and curl enable (for the feed count).

Rules

• Leave only 1 comment here about how are you going to use this theme and what make you love this theme.
• Please post only one comment per person, duplicated comments will be deleted and void.
• Comment box will be accepted until 18^th March 2009, and we’ll randomly generate 2 winners.
• Winners will be contacted via email, so, please leave your comment with your contactable email address.

The Artwork

The Products

Something about our sponsor

UPrinting is a very professional online printing company that you can both get your designs printed, including canvas prints. They are fast in delivery. They are not only doing business card printing, but also covers postcards, brochures, labels and stickers and a lot more. Check out their website see the wide range of products they covered.

If you are going to kick start your own business, you will not want to miss this chance! Business card is a very important marketing tools for all of us.

How to win your free business cards?

Leave a comment at the end of the blog post, describing what you would use the free business cards and/or canvas print for.

• Please post only one comment per person, duplicated comments will be deleted and void.
• Comment box will be accepted until 31^st March, and we’ll randomly generate 2 winners.
• Winners will be contacted via email, so, please leave your comment with your contactable email address.
• Winners in the United States and Canada qualify for free shipping. Shipping fees will apply to winners outside these areas.

Prize

• 1000 free standard size business cards for one reader
• 1 free 18×24 canvas print for one reader

You can choose from any of their stocks for these items.

Tutorials

How to Build a Login System for a Simple Website

In today’s video tutorial, we’ll be building a login system with PHP and MYSQL. Many, many features will be covered; including MySqli, Prepared Statements, jQuery, Classes, Sessions, Cookies, etc.

Category: php . jQuery . MySqlRead More

The Logo Design Process From Start To Finish

In this article I will guide you through the process of creating the identity & logo design for one of my recent clients, UKE, offering insights into not only the thought process behind creating the logo but also the creation of the logo itself.

Category: Logo . DesigningRead More

Creating a Filterable Portfolio with jQuery

If you have worked in your field for a while, there is a pretty good chance that you have a rather extensive portfolio. To make it a little easier to navigate, you will probably be tempted to break them into different categories. In this tutorial, I will show you how to make “filtering by category” a little more interesting with just a little bit of jQuery.

Category: Ajax . jQueryRead More

jQuery Sequential List

Have you ever had to manually code something that is sequential? Didn’t you find it annonying? Well, here is a simple solution for you. This tutorial will show you how to use jQuery to add a sequent of CSS classes to create a graphical list. The second example will show you how to add a comment counter to a comment list using jQuery’s prepend feature.

Category: jQueryRead More

Landscape Tutorial

This tutorial shows us how to create a breathtaking landscape scene. The author shows you how to take different landscape scenes and merge them together to create one amazing scene.

Category: PhotoshopRead More

Photoshop HDR

This tutorial will show you how to take your photos and apply effects to them and convert to HDR.

Category: PhotoshopRead More

Creating Dynamic Distortion Effects

Computer Arts provides us another professional tutorial with a great outcome. Here you will learn how to create pro-looking distortions using simple brushes.

Category: PhotoshopRead More

Create a Magic Night Themed Web Design from Scratch in Photoshop

The past days I was looking for inspiration in famous old paintings, and got interested on “Starry Night” of Van Gogh and thought: Can I apply this to web design? And the answer is Yes! Then after several hours of work, here’s my tutorial for you, an artistic web design depicting a “Magic Night” concept.

Category: PhotoshopRead More

Design Amazing Mosaic Effects in Illustrator and Photoshop

We have all seen mosaics made up of smaller images and symbols. While there are a handful of Photoshop plug-ins that can simulate this effect, the results can be mixed. This tutorial from Digital Arts shows how to create a detailed mosaic effect in Illustrator and Photoshop without using filters or plug-ins.

Category: Illustrator . PhotoshopRead More

Top List

30 Fonts You Want to Have

Everyone has their own personal preferences when it comes to deciding what fonts to you one their designs. Depending on the project type and what the design is for, certain fonts make more sense in certain situations than in others.

Category: FontRead More

50 Minimal Sites

Since Web Designer Wall launched, I’ve been featuring a lot of graphic intense websites such as the artistic, large background, vintage, and illustrative styles. Now it is time to feature the minimalist design. Here is a massive list of 50 minimal sites. See how designers use minimal elements to create high visual impact — less is more.

Category: Minimal . WebsitesRead More

50 Mind-blowing Retro-style Photoshop Illustrations

Graphic design from the 70s, 80s and 90s has plenty to offer modern-day designers. Here we introduce a bunch of modern-day graphic designers using the best of retro-styles to create incredible and original work that melds the past, the present, and sometimes, the future!

Category: Photoshop . IllustratorRead More

101 Breathtaking Infrared Photographs

Infrared photography can really bring a photograph to life in front of your eyes. So you should definitely check out this compilation of 101 amazing infrared photographs.

Category: PhotographsRead More

40 Free Tutorials on Advanced Drawing Techniques

The traditional form of drawing and sketching is a highly sought after skill. Develop your personal drawing abilities by following this collection of 40 great tutorials on advanced drawing techniques, including general theory, useful tips, comic inspired art and some methods for transforming your creations into digital format.

Category: IllustratorRead More

Top 50 Wordpress Tutorials

As a web developer, you can broaden your potential client base and add value for existing clients by listing ‘Wordpress’ as an area of expertise. Of course, unless you want to bluff your way through jobs, you’d better have the skill to back-up that claim. This collection will help.

Category: WordPressRead More

Articles

How to Position Yourself as an Expert

Positioning yourself as an expert can often be the difference between landing an account or not. If you have been freelancing for a while, odds are that you have developed an expertise in a number of specialized areas. This article will help you to further your expertise and help you to position yourself as an expert so that you can ensure that you land that next account.

Category: ReadingRead More

Four Excel Tools You Can Use

Here’s how you can use the 10 Business-Building Tools Tracker:

Category: FreelanceRead More

Freebies

20 Fantastic Deviant Wallpapers

The writers at Abduzeedo have rounded up 20 amazing wallpapers from the talented artists of Deviant Art.

Category: WallpaperDownload

Custom Vector Pack

The guys at Bittbox have given us an awesome vector pack. There are 6 different types of vector packs inside of this one. A lot of nice stuff so this is a must download.

Category: VectorDownload

Result

Step 1

Let’s get started by inserting our sketch into Illustrator to begin the drawing process. I have a few tutorials which cover these techniques. I think you can refer back in details if you like. Here are the tutorials:

• Sketch To Vector – Bird
• Illustrate Image Into Vector

Step 2

Create a new document with 600px X 300px. Fill the background color with pink (#f08fb0). Create a new layer and rename it as color. Randomly paint the layer with a 200px soft brush with 60% opacity. The colors I am using are #e595b7, #f7c89c and #beeee2. You can use your own color set. Go to Filter > Blur > Gaussian Blur > Radius 70px. Duplicate the color layer.

Step 3

Create a new layer and rename as texture. Fill it with black and set the blend mode to screen. Go to Filter > Noise > Add Noise. Add a 400% Gaussian Monochromatic Noise. Set the layer fill to 20%.Then, go to Filter > Artistic > Watercolor and apply the setting as show in the image.

Step 4

Create another layer and rename as line. Fill it with black and set the blend mode to soft light. Go to Filter > Noise > Add Noise. Use the setting below.

Step 5

With the line layer selected, go to Filter > Blur > Motion Blur. Apply the setting below. Then, Erase the bottom part using a 300px soft brush. Then import the character vector from Illustration as a smart object.

Step 6

Draw a white shape like what you see in the animation below. Rasterize the shape. Erase most of the part as shown in the example image. Apply Color Overlay; I am using the same pink color. CTRL + J to duplicate the layer. CTRL + T to transform the layer. Set the transform angle to 15 degree for each new duplicated layer. After all, select all the pink layer and Press CTRL + E to merge all layers. Create a new layer above it. Set the blend mode to Soft Light. Paint the center of the shape with black using a soft brush. ALT + click in between the new layer with the pink layer to create a mask of the pink layer.

Step 7

Select a 40px hard brush. Press F5 to bring up the brushes setting and set accordingly. Paint as you like.

Step 8

Create a new layer above all the layers. Select a 400px soft brush. Press a few times as shown below. Set the layer blend mode to soft light.

Step 9

Almost there, type in the message you like. If you like, you can follow mine. I am using Myriad Pro, 60pt, semibold italic and white color. Apply a 1px outside stroke with #8b8782 color. Inner Shadow Distance 1px, Size 3px, -49 degree of angle, 24% opacity with Multiply blend mode. Drop Shadow with Soft Light blend mode, 100% opacity, 5px Distance and Size.

Step 10

I am trying to increase the realistic feel of the character. Create a new layer above the character smartobject. ALT + click in between the new layer and the smartobject to create a masking effect. Set the new layer blend mode to soft light. Gently paint the new layer according to the smartobject’s edge with white color to create a lighting effect. Create another layer and mask it as well. This time, we will be using black color to create the shadow effect.

Result

Download

Tutorials

jQuery for Absolute Beginners: The Complete Series

We start by downloading the library and eventually work our way up to creating an AJAX style-switcher. I’m very proud of this series; possibly more than any other that I’ve done for Envato.

Category: jQueryLearn It Now

Create a Custom WordPress Plugin From Scratch

This tutorial will describe the implementation of a Wordpress plugin starting from scratch. The plugin will connect to an external OSCommerce database and display random products on your Wordpress site. It also implements a configuration page for the Wordpress admin panel.

Category: WordPress . phpLearn It Now

The Logo Design Process for Ultimate Potential

I will guide you through the process of creating the logo for one of my recent clients, Ultimate Potential. This article offers insights into, not only the thought process behind creating the logo, but also the creation of the logo itself.

Category: DesigningLearn It Now

How to Make a Creatively Designed Moto Banner

In this tutorial, we’ll learn how to create a banner from images of Super Bikes. The idea in this work is to merge pieces of images in order to look like one. We will be using the Brush Tool, Eraser Tool, Pen Tool and some effects to create a website banner, so let’s gets started.

Category: PhotoshopLearn It Now

How to Create a Flaming Photo Manipulation

In this tutorial, we’ll manipulate a picture so it looks like a woman burning in flames. The idea behind this manipulation was to create a nice looking illustration, only by using simple techniques and tools such as the Brush tool and Warp command. I hope you enjoy the tutorial and try it with your own stock imagery.

Category: PhotoshopLearn It Now

Top List

15 Tips for Freelancers Starting Their Own Business

So you’re a skilled developer or design freelancer who has established a handful of customers who pay your bills and provide you with an income…

Category: FreelancingRead More

20 Websites with Beautiful Typography

Typography in web design plays an integral part in setting the tone, theme, and message of a website.

Category: Typography . WebsitesRead More

50 Extremely Useful PHP Tools

PHP is one of the most widely used open-source server-side scripting languages that exist today. With over 20 million indexed domains using PHP, including major websites like Facebook, Digg and WordPress, there are good reasons why many Web developers prefer it to other server-side scripting languages, such as Python and Ruby.

Category: phpRead More

10 Killer WordPress Hacks

The software was updated numerous times, leading to the recent release of version 2.7, and many new blogs dedicated to WordPress were created. Of course, tons of new hacks were discovered, which helped lots of bloggers enhance their blogs.

Category: WordPressRead More

10 Awesome Ways to Integrate Twitter With Your Website

There’s no better time to start utilizing Twitter integration tools than right now. Here are 10 of the most useful ways to start turning your site readers (or your client’s customer base) into Twitter followers, and vice versa.

Category: TwitterRead More

Articles

What You Need to Know About jQuery 1.3

The web development community became intensely excited on January 14, 2009 when jQuery version 1.3.0 was officially released. jQuery 1.3 brings with it significant improvements, especially when it comes to speed. In addition, the developers were able to keep jQuery as small as ever while adding some great and often requested features. Today, we will have an in depth look at the new features, and how you can squeeze the most out of it.

Category: jQueryRead More

Freebies

The Ultimate Collection Of Free Vector Packs

Designers love freebies that make life easier and help them create higher-quality work. Free vectors are useful, free vector packs even more so. Fortunately, there are plenty of talented graphic designers who are willing to give away their work (or samples of it) to benefit the rest of us. In this post, we feature 60 of the best and most useful free vector packs.

Category: VectorDownload

Collection of free resources available for designers to download

This way it’s easier for you to find what you need in your work and download easy and free. I’ll try to make it a weekly roundup of free textures, icons, Photoshop brushes, Photoshop custom shapes, Illustrator brushes, vectors, PSD files, fonts, social media icons and Wordpress themes.

Category: GraphicDownload

15 Awesome Free Fonts

Once again I went through Deviantart and found some great freebies, this time fonts, fonts that you may not even seen before and yes they are really good, check it out yourself, use and abuse them.

Category: FontDownload

• Every morning, she will open my “office” door and ask me a question which you have not more than one answer. “YES”.
• However. I also have my only answer for that, it is “NO”. When the demand cannot be fulfilled, the sky will fall on your head.
• Waaaa~ this is a nice and delicious song, it works like a coffee for me – wake me up! Then my mum will repeat her question and now, my answer will be “YES”, definitely … If I say “NO’, then I will need to attend a 2 hours course and learn to be a good son.
• It will be nice if I can hang a “No Disturb Please” sign on my door. But, will this work? Hm…

Know the market

It is always a good practice to do some research before doing something. Don’t wait, browse through the ThemeForest categories and check out what is available. You can see the design trend, buyers’ preferences and how the items are being priced. There is always a reason why an item can be the top seller in a short period of time. If you couldn’t find the reason, why not purchase it and have a look by yourself? See for yourself the reason why the item is a top seller.

Below are the top selling items from each category.

WordPress

PSD Templates

Site Templates

Know the market

Make sure you read the guidelines before submitting any files. This will reduce the chances of you having to re-upload your items again after being rejected by the reviewer.
Take WordPress as an example, you need to include WordPress default CSS for the images. You are not allowed to include any plugins within the download but you can provide a link for download from the original source.

Take a look at this help file template

Know your expertise

This is common, do whatever you are good at. For example, if you are not good in jQuery, do not implement that. I am not stopping your desire to enhance your Template. Normally, people will read tutorials and learn the basics. Some of them will download the source files and edit. I am not saying that this is bad. But, imagine a scenario where a customer requests some modifications due to their site setting? Are you sure that you will be able to handle those requests if you have limited knowledge in the required fields. Definitely it will be easier if you recommend another developer to him.

Besides, try to use your strength and fully implement your forte into the template. If you are a talented designer, try to do your best and create something that is really visually awesome. Functions are not everything but your template have to be very attractive and not forgetting the usability and UI.

Niche or general

I will go for niche. The question is how narrow is it. Take a portfolio wordpress theme for example. There are a lot of portfolio themes available in ThemeForest. Some of them are performing very well. Their common attributes are a design that is awesome; ease of focus and easy to navigate. Priority is design, the interface.

A portfolio site must be good looking, attractive and able to attract the user to continue browsing. Secondly, it must be focus oriented. Your portfolio showcase is the one that needs the most attention. Finally, equally important is the ease of navigation and of course the ease in contacting the owner.

Maybe you will go for a more general approach, a personal blog or a magazine. This is also good if your theme can be used for various types of sites. Indirectly, your target user groups will be bigger.

Test your work

Please do not directly upload your item right after completion. I suggest you to recheck it in different browsers, test it in offline and also online environments. I strongly recommend that every author need to set up a demo site for their item.

This is optional, try to validate your works with CSS and XHTML validations (except PSD Template). This is will absolutely increase the value of your work not only in the eye of a reviewer but also in the potential buyers.

Files included

In ThemeForest, they request different files in different categories. But all of them require a good help file.

Ready for support

In addition, always be ready in providing good supports to your customers.

References

After all, I hope this article can let you know what you need to prepare before submitting to ThemeForest. Besides, there are a series of interviews of ThemeForest Top Sellers ( authors ). You also can read some tips from them and try to make some money from the amazing marketplace. Finally, I hope this article can help you. Thanks!

To Display Feedburner Subscriber Count In Text

Copy paste the following code into your template, replace feedburner-id with your Feedbuner username.

//get cool feedburner count
$whaturl="http://api.feedburner.com/awareness/1.0/GetFeedData?uri=feedburner-id";

//Initialize the Curl session
$ch = curl_init();

//Set curl to return the data instead of printing it to the browser.
curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_RETURNTRANSFER, 1);

//Set the URL
curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_URL, $whaturl);

//Execute the fetch
$data = curl_exec($ch);

//Close the connection
curl_close($ch);
$xml = new SimpleXMLElement($data);
$fb = $xml->feed->entry['circulation'];
//end get cool feedburner count

Paste this anywhere you want and it’ll display a Feedburner subscriber count in text.

echo $fb;

To Display Feed Counter For Google FeedProxy In Text

Use the previous code. Change this:

$whaturl="http://api.feedburner.com/awareness/1.0/GetFeedData?uri=feedburner-id";

Into This:

$whaturl="https://feedburner.google.com/api/awareness/1.0/GetFeedData?uri=feedburner-id";

Full Code:

//get cool feedburner count
$whaturl="https://feedburner.google.com/api/awareness/1.0/GetFeedData?uri=feedburner-id"; 

//Initialize the Curl session
$ch = curl_init();

//Set curl to return the data instead of printing it to the browser.
curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_RETURNTRANSFER, 1);

//Set the URL
curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_URL, $whaturl);

//Execute the fetch
$data = curl_exec($ch);

//Close the connection
curl_close($ch);
$xml = new SimpleXMLElement($data);
$fb = $xml->feed->entry['circulation'];
//end get cool feedburner count