Paradise Designs is pleased to announce the opening of Mercury Hosting, Inc! (http://www.mehost.com)

Mercury Hosting, Inc became our most recent client requiring our Web Design and Development services, and to the great satisfaction of all the staff between the two companys, the whole process has been both a vital success and a pleasurable experience for everyone.

We'd like to take this opportunity to welcome you to the possibilities for you and your business by acquiring our services here at Paradise Designs, and look forward to hearing from you in the near future should you wish to use us. :)



**Mods if this is the wrong forum please put it to the right***

Looks very nice!

Very nice site.. great job :D

Thank You all for the comments. :)

I, too, like the design of the site. Very nice!

Great design!
I might send a PM, see how much the going rate for a design like this costs.

Whoa that is one amazing design

Excellent Job!!!

wow! Very nice...if I didn't know better I would think it was a Pixel Brick design. Excellent Job!

Awesome design. Check your spelling, punctuation and grammar though. Tons of errors there.

--Tina

Very nice work, but forgive me okay, my first impression was that the top graphic with the server collaged with the keyboard etc looks a little like the one on www.hostrocket.com

I mean, put it side by side...there is a visible similarity right?

I'm sorry if it was unintentional.

Looks much better than HostRocket, if you ignore the impressive flash.

Originally posted by xharine
Very nice work, but forgive me okay, my first impression was that the top graphic with the server collaged with the keyboard etc looks a little like the one on www.hostrocket.com

I mean, put it side by side...there is a visible similarity right?

I'm sorry if it was unintentional.

I agree. It seems that it borrows a few ideas from the Hostrocket design.

For example, the orange arrow with the dotted circle around it on the menu. The three objects going small to large (on the Hostrockets site it's meant to be a flying server, a host rocket), the clock, the dotted line between menu items, curve on left, the earth at the top.

Just pointing it out.

I want to Thank You all for the comments we're receiving on this design. . It doesn't look like HostRocket at all the colors may look a little alike but it isn't a copy nor does it look like HostRocket. I want to Thank You All for the comments.

I don't know...it has blue on it....and I'm sure I've seen the color blue used on other sites.....and that background...let's see...I saw colors like F7F7F7 and I know I've see that before....and you start off with "Welcome to"....that is copied directly from another site I've seen...and putting a button with home on the navigation bar....that is obviously copied.

Seriously, it is a very nice site.

And, we are just getting carried away in comparisons. Every site shares some characteristics with other sites and we all strive to include similarities to those we admire. But, this site is clearly not a copy and even the hint of that is inappropriate.

http://www.mehost.com/sitemap.html

???? what ????

As soon as I loaded the page I thought: "Wow, nice...but it sure looks a lot like HostRocket's site." Putting them side by side confirmed the similarity. Probably different enough to avoid any legal problems, but it appears very derivative of the PixelBrick design.

Steve

Originally posted by scslawin
As soon as I loaded the page I thought: "Wow, nice...but it sure looks a lot like HostRocket's site."

Yeah, that's what I initially thought also. I don't usually accuse people of ripping other sites, I pointed it out only when I think it's similar enough to justify what I am saying.

As a professional designer, I don't wish to create friction between fellow designers and me, but that is precisely why I feel strongly when I see other sites trying to imitate an original design. I mean, it's a huge compliment when someone does that, but if it was done to me, I would feel very very displeased.

I don't know, if you were to ask pixelbrick's designer who designed hostrocket to see this site, he'll probably hit the roof.

Am not pro-hostrocket, in fact I left them months ago, am pro-original designs.

Besides, it doesn't mean it is okay to take a good design, modify it and make it better.

I don't wish to create discord, really, I really think it's a nice piece of work and it might be really unintentional, but whether it is intentional or not, only the designer himself would know.

Peace. =)

I would first like to say Thank You to those who commented on it. Secondly this isn't a post to say that you think it looks like HostRocket it is a post simply saying we opened a new site that we developed it isn't here to say you think it looks like HostRocket. My word is in....

Well pardon me, I was under the (apparently false) impression that this was an open disussion. If you didn't want any feedback perhaps you could have asked the moderator to lock the thread when it had only your post in it.

Steve

i wouldnt worry about it tim, if it wasnt copyed it wasnt copyed case closed, theres nothing wrong or illigal with designing a site using concepts you liked from other sites.

The important this is that your client is happy with it.

'Inspired' by might be a better choice of word than 'copied'.

Hmm... I guess some people are willing to go all out to make sure designers never cross the boundary between originality and inspiration. As with anybody, if I had my eyes closed to the world, I wouldn't be a designer.

I appreciate there may be minor similarities between my design and Hostrocket's. I don't begrudge anyone the right to point them out, be it hurtful or not. That's their choice. I could spend all day comparing sites and spotting similarities too, but I've got better things to do with my time. However, to suggest I may have taken somebody elses design, modified it, and by chance produced something of a similar quality, personally, I think that's way out of order.

I don't think it would be wise to say that I've never seen some aspect of a design and thought to myself "Wow, that looks great" or "Hey that fits in well" or "Hmm..nice pattern". Sure, I do look around many other sites for inspiration, to see what's the norm, to see the kind of things that stand out. I do read the review forum here at WHT to see what the average joe likes and dislikes. Of course it all affects my designing and adds to my experience accordingly. I do not, however, take somebody else's design, and purposely reproduce it, in any way, shape, or form.

To be honest, sometimes I see this kind of cynicalism in other threads.. and hell, I'd even chuckle for a second or two. Well, I would, but then like many things in life, you don't tend to realise how offending it is until you get placed in the hot seat yourself.

Thanks to all that do appreciate my design to its own, your comments are very kind.

scslawin
They were just showing their work act mature and don't say such rude comments

Originally posted by vibehosts
scslawin
They were just showing their work act mature and don't say such rude comments

Which rude comments?

Steve

If you didn't want any feedback perhaps you could have asked the moderator to lock the thread when it had only your post in it.

Sounds quite viscious

Thanks for posting Adam,

I wasn't meaning to come across as rude, I was just pointing out some similarities. You did a nice job on the site, I look forward to seeing your future work.

I don't think Steve meant to be rude, or neither did I mean to be rude.

I don't even mean to be cynical, there are many other threads that accused other sites of ripping who and who, and I've even stood up for them if it is truly unfair.

I understand that it is not intended, but the similarities are obvious, besides steve and me, there are others who noticed them too.

I sincerely apologise, and as I've done so earlier on, if I caused any unhappiness, but like many others, am just voicing out my honest opinion.

No problem

I knew he didn't copy because tim and hostrokcet I know are good friends;)

Originally posted by vibehosts
If you didn't want any feedback perhaps you could have asked the moderator to lock the thread when it had only your post in it.

Sounds quite viscious

It certainly wasn't intended to be. It was a simple suggestion, really. If someone wants to make an announcement and doesn't want anyone to reply, I think it's reasonable to ask the moderator to lock the thread. The moderator can decide if they want to do so or not.

Now if someone makes an announcement like this and decides they only want positive comments, then that's something they might put in the post itself. Something like: "Positive comments only, please!"

I certainly don't think the original poster stole the design and never indicated that in my post. The sites do, however, have quite a lot in common.

I'm sorry my suggestion was taken in such a negative fashion. Personally, if I post a site that I've designed that bears such a similar appearance to another site, I'd hope everyone who saw the thread would bring it to my attention.

Steve

Originally posted by vibehosts
I knew he didn't copy because tim and hostrokcet I know are good friends;)

Exactly. Just because they're quite similar doesn't mean one of them was stolen.

Steve

No problem at all thanks for the good response, I guess they should have said only positive comments

I want to Thank You All for the Postive Comments on this design. Again I'm not the the one who designed MEHost "PDAdam" did the site. I'm the CEO and The Owner of Paradise Designs as my signature reads. I just wanted to toss this in here before someone says I designed it and I didn't. To those with the negative feedback. If you heard that old saying "Can't Say anything nice don't say anything at all"....

I think what Tim's meaning to say, and what I believe, is that certain things should be kept to yourself at certain times.

I didn't mean to make out that anybody was being rude here, or that members aren't entitled to give opinions whether favourable or not. If I did then I apologize. It's a community forum.. it's expected.

When you point out someones design looks similar to anothers though, you're very almost suggesting it's been copied, to whatever extent that may be. Some of you may be thick skinned, but for myself, by having to pay attention to what is said about my designs and constantly welcome peoples opinions in order to improve my skills, when something like that is suggested it really gets to me. I'm sure there are many others that have felt and do feel the same way.

The first 9 members that commented on the design have most likely seen HostRocket.com too, and maybe one or two noticed it had similarites with my design. Yet, they didn't feel the need to point them out and insult me in the process just incase I had copied, or modified and reproduced any part of it directly. Sometimes it's a lot better to give people the benefit of the doubt. Of course, if you're very sure someone has done wrong, speak up. I would too. I hope that nobody here thinks that I've intentionally copied anything at all, it'd sure put a large dent in my confidence, especially after all the hours I put into my work. If you knew me better you'd know I'm not that type of person.

I have to be very, very careful in responding to your post. My vocal inflection and body language are not being carried with my reply, and thus you won't be able to discern that I am responding in a sympathetic manner, not an attacking or confrontational or destructive way. That said:

Originally posted by PDAdam
I think what Tim's meaning to say, and what I believe, is that certain things should be kept to yourself at certain times.
Posting a site design in a popular public forum isn't really the sort of thing that lends itself to having people hold their tongues. Showing the design to your friends and family or co-workers is the best venue to elicit "if you don't have something nice to say don't say anything at all" responses.

Adam: If your work is going to be posted here, you're going to get commentary whether you like it or agree with it or appreciate it or not. Even the comments that the design is very similar to HostRocket's, which you took negatively, can be constructive.

If I design something that's so similar to another site, I'd certainly appreciate that being pointed out to me here -- rather than it being pointed out to (or worse yet, BY) my paying client.

Originally posted by PDAdam
I didn't mean to make out that anybody was being rude here, or that members aren't entitled to give opinions whether favourable or not. If I did then I apologize. It's a community forum.. it's expected.
Good. You say it's expected, so you were aware that there could be criticism. That's just a basic fact of life in practically any online forum.

Originally posted by PDAdam
When you point out someones design looks similar to anothers though, you're very almost suggesting it's been copied, to whatever extent that may be. Some of you may be thick skinned, but for myself, by having to pay attention to what is said about my designs and constantly welcome peoples opinions in order to improve my skills, when something like that is suggested it really gets to me. I'm sure there are many others that have felt and do feel the same way.
You should be careful not to mis-interpret a comparison as an accusation of theft. Sites can be similar without one being ripped off. People in these forums aren't shy. If they think you stole something, they'll come right out and say it. Making a comparison is not an accusation. If you intend to be successful in the Web design business, it may be necessary for you to develop a thicker skin, just to keep yourself from going nuts. Take it from someone who has been designing Web sites for the better part of ten years.

You say above that you "constantly welcome peoples (sic) opinions in order to improve my skills". Then make sure you welcome the negative as well as the positive. It will serve you well in the future.

Originally posted by PDAdam
The first 9 members that commented on the design have most likely seen HostRocket.com too, and maybe one or two noticed it had similarites with my design. Yet, they didn't feel the need to point them out and insult me in the process just incase I had copied, or modified and reproduced any part of it directly. Sometimes it's a lot better to give people the benefit of the doubt. Of course, if you're very sure someone has done wrong, speak up. I would too. I hope that nobody here thinks that I've intentionally copied anything at all, it'd sure put a large dent in my confidence, especially after all the hours I put into my work. If you knew me better you'd know I'm not that type of person.
It's a shame that you feel "insulted", it certainly wasn't my intent (I can't speak for the others). You say that you should be given the benefit of the doubt, and I suppose that's because you interpreted the comparisons as accusations. If you're not guilty, don't feel guilty and certainly don't act guilty or overly defensive.

I hope this helps.

Steve

Fair enough Steve, but I never condoned the response Tim gave, and never said I don't want negative opinions myself. Of course I do, that's part of the learning process.

And, no offense intended here, but you don't need to tell my how the members in these or any other forums conduct themselves either..I've been here some time too, I know what the score is, and I tend to disagree with you on this one.

I did, and do interpret the comparisons as accusations. I suppose it's a matter of personal opinion, because if I was to say something along those lines, that's exactly what I would be getting at...which is why I would also refuse to consider them constructive. Lots of people do the same..and I don't see how that's wrong. I've seen people making similar suggestions many times before..and what can shortly follow is a flurry of sarcasm or anger from other members. Like I said, it's all based on how you would concern yourself with the situation if the shoe was on the other foot.

I realise yourself and those with opinions alike probably didn't want to insult me, but that doesn't mean you didn't, and I certainly wouldn't be the first person here to feel offended by such remarks. I can't change that fact no matter how much it would work in my favour.

Originally posted by PDAdam
I did, and do interpret the comparisons as accusations.
If you're dead-set on interpreting such a comparison in such a manner, then sadly, there's nothing more that I can say to help you overcome your false impression. Its an issue that is yours alone to grapple with.

I do wish you the best of luck in your quest to improve your Web design skills.

Steve

I don't think that was needed. I explained my reckoning, and now you're just being patronising.

I'm sorry that you're so firmly placed in such a negative position in regard to my comments that you are unable to accept them in the friendly spirit they were intended. I've tried to be constructive and have taken the time to help you get a better understanding of my point of view, and now you claim I'm being condescending.

This, after sincerely wishing you good luck in your efforts. Despite your stance, I still wish you success in improving your craft.

Steve

Ok

this thread just turned into the ridculous

great Job guys, site looks great, was it "inspired" on HR's site .. yes, does it have one or two grafical components from it, yes .. say NO, and you woudl be lying to all of us

but that's ok, I mean, remeber Burlee ?, they came out with a great site and everybody went after it, "inspiring" themselves on it's desing ..

neither the less .. good job

-----
Carlos
-my company has no website- :bawling:

oops .. didnt' realized how old this was :stickout