A Browser That Works With You …

A few years ago, I was look at the different browsers available. I tried Netscape and Opera but it wasn’t a seamless transition and I always seem to go back to using IE.  When I tried Firefox it ended up being a prefect match and I still use  Firefox as my main browser today. I really enjoyed the tab browsing – these was of course before IE 7. I didn’t have to think about what I was doing, which wasn’t the case with Netscape and Opera. Then with all the possible add-ons to choose from it took my web surfing to a new level.

Well I think my love for Firefox is going to grow with the release of Firefox 3. A big flaw in any browser is the favorites/bookmarks section. It is up to the user to organize their bookmarks so that they will be easily able to find the bookmark at a later date. Which is the whole point of bookmarks in the first.

Now being a web developer I save a lot of bookmarks to archived sites, tutorials, articles and many other things. I try my best to organize them so I will be able to actually find it when I need it later. I haven’t done too bad of a job but I still have A LOT! And some of them still end up going  missing.  It also takes a lot of cleaning up and re-organizing to keep my folder system working. It ends up being a real chore, sometimes worse then cleaning my desk.

So it was about time for a browser to step up to the plate and admit that they may have over looked how much some of us were really going to be using the bookmarks/favorites. Then supplying use with the proper tools to keep track not only of our bookmarks but previously viewed websites.

I read this article — http://www.dria.org/wordpress/archives/2008/04/22/629/ — about Firefox’s new development to help bookmarking and finding a hell of a lot easier and faster. Hopefully a lot less time re-searching for that website I found about that thing a while back … dammit what was that website again?

I can’t wait for this to come out … I am highly considering getting the beta version myself!!

Soon to come my Metric review!!
– Andrea

Am I Obessed?

Signs that I might be obsessed with design

• I keep business cards for what they look like, rather than for the business details.
• After I complete a household chore, I find myself wishing I could ctrl + S.
• It goes without saying, that washing, eating, and sleeping are a waste of valuable time.
• I consider my bookmark collection as literally priceless; a limb wouldn’t pay for it.

Sounds familiar

I was reading a blog post “Pay Me Please: A Freelance Web Designer’s Guide to Billing and Price” which really got me thinking. It has some nice helpful tips that I might use myself. But what really got me was when I started reading people’s comments to the post. I read the last one and I thought I would share it because it sounds a lot like people we have to deal with at work.

The story starts:

I was hired for a straightforward case of web design; this person approved of the work; she discussed ongoing maintenance and requested that I upload the site and supplied the account info in order for me to do so. The agreement to maintain the site was made on my part only in exchange for the unused disk space on the server, and free of charge; basically an act of good will and the best intentions on my part; she also requested to pay half at that point, half after upload; here is when things got interesting.

Something I have learned is that “acts of good will” are only good if you know the person. And even then it could go hairy. This is how easily someone can take advantage of you. It is really sad that you have to think twice about being nice. We actually prefer to have the sites stay on our serves. Not to gain money from web hosting, but so that we know what’s going on with the site and have direct access.

Although my policy is work first, pay later, upload last; on the assumption that I would be maintaining the site I foolishly thought I could trust her. This person never paid half first but I went ahead and uploaded the site. Agh. A few days later she informed me that the site was “funky” and had reverted seemingly by itself to its previous state, which was a generic template that she had made using the template builder provided with the web host. Hmm.

It is really sad that we can’t trust people anymore. We let things slide with people to be nice and they just turn around and take advantage of you. What bugs me the most is letting people have access to their site when they don’t know what they are doing. Then they turn around and screw things up. Then lie about touching. Then blame you for it. Come on people just be honest about it, I promise I won’t kill you for it.

This time she made a $50 payment, which was 1/2 of the ‘half first’ or 1/4 of the total payment; requesting me to again upload the site, and informing of the new password to the account, which had inexplicably been changed. Ok-?

In an effort to be helpful I stated the obvious in asking this person whether she had used the template builder, which still had the old copy of the template stored, which the client denied as if being accused of something. It was only a few days later when no further payment or instructions appeared from the client that I realized what was happening. She had waited for me to upload the site, then promptly changed the password to shut me out. The client then stupidly attempted to use the template builder to modify the new website, inadvertently reinstating the old one by mistake. I sent a two-page email, which went unanswered, patiently explaining the differences between the template editor and alternative means to edit the site, something I had contacted her about two weeks earlier, requesting to set a time when we could put our heads together to implement a customized solution; a request that also had gone unanswered. I then wrote another two emails over the course of two days patiently explaining my position in our agreement, all the things I had done and were willing to do for the benefit of her website, and explaining that the agreed upon fee for the site was more than $50.

After a few days this person responded. This time I had apparently crossed the line and been irrevocably disrespectful in some way with my ’smart comments’; and no further pay would be forthcoming. Sadly, it is apparent that THIS CLIENT NEVER INTENDED TO PAY ME. It is unfortunate that so many take advantage of Craigslist’s open market system to cheat and connive their way through the system.

It’s stuff like these that makes starting up a new business really hard to do. You are just trying to pay the bills and hey maybe put food on the table. It’s one thing to dick around the big companies. You have to have some respect and understanding that these people are just trying to make it. If you can’t afford it then you shouldn’t get it

What will it cost??

Let me start off by saying that I have added a bunch of stuff to my deviantART that I mentioned last post!! Shocking I know, it surprised me that’s for sure. So if you haven’t already looked at my deviantART check it out at momentsstolen.deviantart.com

I have also been working on an identity for my work to go under. Over a year ago I came up with the name “Open Box Creations”. A couple weekends ago I worked on making up a logo that goes with that name!! I have put it up as my avatar on deviantART and will be putting it in my Identity gallery on deviantART.

I just ran across an article talking about what it would cost to develop a website. I thought this would be a good post for the blog. Hopefully it will also help explain a little more about where the name “Open Box Creations” came from.

Each project has a different set of requirements, requires different resources and varying levels of expertise, and takes a different amount of time to plan, execute, and deliver.

If you can appreciate the value of a custom built website, then I should be able to work with you to create something we both like. That is what “Open Box Creations” is all about. Nothing is pre-packaged, it is custom built to what you need. No two projects are exactly the same and are created with you and your visitors in mind.

What makes each project different? Number of pages, complexity of custom programming, and advanced features are all factors that can increase the price.

These days, having a content management system (CMS) integrated into your website is becoming more common because it allows you to update the content of your website without having to contact your web developer or have any web experience or programs. I would say that if you are going to want to make changes to your site monthly or more frequently then this is something you may need.

This is going to also add more complexity to the development of the website which in turn does cost more. It also depend on how much of the site is going to need to be maintained by you. If you simply want a what’s new area on your home page that isn’t going to cost as much if you want the whole website maintained by you.

Are you interested in selling a product or service on your website? I don’t create “shopping carts” but I have built forms that can help you sell your product or service online. Sometimes this will have to work hand in hand with such companies like paypal so  you can collect money via credit card from your customers. Once again this is increasing the work load on developing the website.

Those are some of the basics things to keep in mind. The more you want the more it will cost. Why is that? Because the more complex things get the more time it will take for me to build it. You are pretty much paying for my time and my headaches .

Think of your website as a car. The more you want in your car like automatic transmission, cruise control, anti-theft system that is going to cost more. Once you have your car you are going to have to maintain it. Some people are going to be able to change their own oil and some people will pay a professional to do it.

Don’t expect to get everything for nothing!! Don’t expect to get a Corvette for the price of a Jetta!

Moments Stolen

I really need to start posting more … I know I said I would. I also said that I would start posting some of the websites that I have done as well. And this post I am actually going to do it!

I have started a deviantART to post some of the websites that I have done. Only tell I actually get around to building my own website – [eye roll] yeah right [/eye roll]. I am also going to be posting other stuff I have done like: photography, photoshoped stuff and indentity/logos I have done for clients.

Take a look at my website gallery for some website I have worked on in the past year. I will hopefully get around to post some more in the next few weeks but at least some of my stuff is there for now. I have also put a few things in my identity gallery as well, so have a look there too.

My deviantART … more to come.

Andrea