New Website

guideanna

Hi All,

My friends has asked for my help with setting up her website for a new business.
She is going to get a web designer to do up an initial design and pay him for the set up of this however she would like me to help her with the upkeep of the website from there.
My background is in design for print so i'm not sure i'm the right person but i said i'd see what i could do as she's on a very tight budget.

If she gets the website up and running what do i need to get in and edit it.
Eg. if she wants me to add new photos or updates to the site can i use any web software or just the particular package that the designer used? Do i need log in details from the designer?
Sorry if these seem like stupid questions but before i agree to anything i'd like to have at least some info of what i'll need to do to get access to the site for editing.

pcardin

guideanna wrote: »

Hi All,

My friends has asked for my help with setting up her website for a new business.
She is going to get a web designer to do up an initial design and pay him for the set up of this however she would like me to help her with the upkeep of the website from there.
My background is in design for print so i'm not sure i'm the right person but i said i'd see what i could do as she's on a very tight budget.

If she gets the website up and running what do i need to get in and edit it.
Eg. if she wants me to add new photos or updates to the site can i use any web software or just the particular package that the designer used? Do i need log in details from the designer?
Sorry if these seem like stupid questions but before i agree to anything i'd like to have at least some info of what i'll need to do to get access to the site for editing.

If you have never done it before then even if access rights are given to you it won't help you much I'm affraid. To change a wording or picture could be plausable for you if website gets build on WordPress or Joomla but not so if it's done "old fashion way" where you do need to know some basic HTML at least.
And before all the web pros are jumping in I'm not a web designer or builder. Just have learned WordPress very well over the past 5 years and don't know much about other technics or platforms.

28064212

It would be a really bad idea to get involved.

Say you screw up, and accidentally delete something she needed. Is she just going to say "Oh, that's ok, you didn't really know what you were doing", or are you going to just be blamed? What if she needs an update done over a weekend, are you going to drop everything to get it done? How many hours a week are you expected to contribute? When she doesn't like your first 5 mock-ups, how many more are you prepared to do?

guideanna

thanks, pcardin, i'll have to check how it's being created but given that it's a web designer i'd assume it been done the html route.

28064212, thanks for the reply but this is for a friend who i was asked to help out, i wouldn't at all be doing mock ups for re-design, or getting "blamed" for anything as she is aware i'm not a web designer. it was just weekly updates she wanted to see if i could do rather than pay through the nose every week which she cant' afford anyway.

I'm a graphic designer so it's not completley out of my realm but i dont' have html experience at all so better to check that, i think i could manage wordpress alright with the help of a few tutorials etc but html is a level above me.

tricky D

The designer should provide a Content Management System function with a backup facility, whether they are within the framework (WordPress, Joomla, Drupal and loads of others) or separate (PageLime, CushyCMS on top of what pcardin calls the 'old fashioned way' ie. no framework). A Responsive Design is also a must these days. Any proposals not providing these should be given a wide berth.

devildriver

First thing to find out is exactly WHAT the web designer is providing to your friend. If it's a CMS like Wordpress etc then you should be able to do the content updates without having to deal with any html or php code.

If on the other hand the designer is providing static html, css and image files then you may have to edit content in an editor such as Dreamweaver, Coda or similar.

There will be quite a difference in terms of ease of use between those two options so you should ask your friend what way the site will be built before committing IMHO.

joseph102

Website development is professional work . You need technical skills to build one. I will suggest you to let developer do these type of thing . If you want to do this in cheap way. give your project to development company or web developer in india. They have skilled people to do this job at low price.

Graham

joseph102 wrote: »

Website development is professional work . You need technical skills to build one. I will suggest you to let developer do these type of thing . If you want to do this in cheap way. give your project to development company or web developer in india. They have skilled people to do this job at low price.

Off-shoring small web development projects can be difficult enough for experienced customers, never mind relatively inexperienced ones.

The additional complexities of multiple time-zones and language barriers can easily be more hassle than any small cost benefit.

joseph102

Agree with you but we can use freelance websites like Odesk, Freelance to hire someone for small or bigger project without any complexities at low cost.

Graham

joseph102 wrote: »

without any complexities at low cost.

Nonsense.

Language barriers and multiple timezones are just 2 of the complexities.

For an inexperienced purchaser, I would not recommend off-shoring a small web development project unless they really knew what they were getting into.

joseph102

Really? It looks like you never tried these freelance sites (may be bad experience). Many companies have good track record. English is global language if you can read and write English there will be no language barrier. If they can complete project at right time according to user's requirements How can timezone create any problem?

tricky D

joseph102 wrote: »

Many companies have good track record.

No, most don't.

joseph102 wrote: »

English is global language if you can read and write English there will be no language barrier. If they can complete project at right time according to user's requirements How can timezone create any problem?

Bad English is global. The lack of use of indefinite article in your responses is telling.

Graham

joseph102 wrote: »

Really? It looks like you never tried these freelance sites (may be bad experience). Many companies have good track record. English is global language if you can read and write English there will be no language barrier. If they can complete project at right time according to user's requirements How can timezone create any problem?

I've used many freelancer sites with some fantastic results, I still wouldn't recommend it for a beginner. Here's a brief list of reasons why:

• You need to know almost exactly what you're looking for.
• You need to be able to articulate exactly what you're looking for.
• You need to be able to cross-check that your chosen provider understands what you are looking for.
• You need to be prepared for 7,000 cut & paste responses that all begin "I have read your requirements and I'm confident that our team......"
• You need to be able to ask sufficient question to understand if the provider is capable of providing what they promise.
• You need to realise you're probably talking to a non-tech 'marketing' agent who gets paid a % of any work that is captured.
• You need to understand that many providers will agree to provide absolutely anything for absolutely any budget regardless of how ridiculous.
• You need sufficient knowledge to assess the quality of the work that is being delivered.
• You need sufficient knowledge to check that the work you're paying for hasn't been blatantly copied from somewhere else.
• You need to understand how the payment process works.
• You need to understand that staged payments are absolutely NO guarantee of getting a job completed.
• You need to be able to stand your ground when a service provider refuses to hand over a product until you've paid and given a 5 star rating.
• You need to know when to cut your losses and walk away from a project and start again with another provider.

niallweb1

if they do the website with wordpress you could be ok. There are loads of videos online for editing pages and posts. But if its solely HTML & CSS then you will be in trouble. I just finished 4 years in college for multimedia and it would be awkward even for me looking through someone elses code

cormee

Graham wrote: »

I've used many freelancer sites with some fantastic results, I still wouldn't recommend it for a beginner. Here's a brief list of reasons why:

• You need to know almost exactly what you're looking for.
• You need to be able to articulate exactly what you're looking for.
• You need to be able to cross-check that your chosen provider understands what you are looking for.
• You need to be prepared for 7,000 cut & paste responses that all begin "I have read your requirements and I'm confident that our team......"
• You need to be able to ask sufficient question to understand if the provider is capable of providing what they promise.
• You need to realise you're probably talking to a non-tech 'marketing' agent who gets paid a % of any work that is captured.
• You need to understand that many providers will agree to provide absolutely anything for absolutely any budget regardless of how ridiculous.
• You need sufficient knowledge to assess the quality of the work that is being delivered.
• You need sufficient knowledge to check that the work you're paying for hasn't been blatantly copied from somewhere else.
• You need to understand how the payment process works.
• You need to understand that staged payments are absolutely NO guarantee of getting a job completed.
• You need to be able to stand your ground when a service provider refuses to hand over a product until you've paid and given a 5 star rating.
• You need to know when to cut your losses and walk away from a project and start again with another provider.

Also wireframe and annotate the bejaysus out of every piece of functionality you want.

Regarding quality of work look for at the freelancer's track record, number of projects completed, feedback etc. I've been using the same PHP/Jquery guy for the past three years, and he's great, very good English, only $10 per hour - so cheap I just send *all* work on to him (before I used to do minor functionality myself) . If anyone wants his name PM me.