Cheater

wheresthebeef

Hey Guys,
I have been "designing" pages for the last while. Some of which i made from scratch. Some of which i downloaded templates for.

Is it cheating to download and modify a template, if the template provider says its ok for you to use and re-sell its services.

I am learning more and more bit by bit, and have just figured out the Slice tool in Fireworks. Which is really handy if you have a visual of what the site should look like and want to make HTML Table of it. I am working on getting PSP and Photoshop to make better grapics and stuff.

Is there anywhere on the net that offers step by step design so i could learn how decent quality stuff is made.

Here are some of the pages i did:
(i know they are not good, they just do the trick)
http://homepage.eircom.net/~darkened/CYD/ (used a template but majorly modded it)
http://homepage.eircom.net/~darkened/tcdnursingsoc/ (designed myself)
http://homepage.eircom.net/~darkened/Ashen/ (designed myself: however please note that i used a font that most ppl dont have and so it looks crappo. i know this is probably one of the most newbie-ish fatal flaws of web design)

Anywho, more's to the point. This construction company asked me to do a site for them for a 4 figure sum. I was gonna use a modified template. Is this wrong of me?. By the way, they suggested the paymount amount, not me.
Also i will have to keep updating and maintaining the site. How much is standard charge for this, per year?

GoneShootin

It matters not the the client how the site gets their. They are paying you do provide a service because they are unable to do it for themselves.

Im a template whore, but I don't charge high prices because of it. However, if they are the ones that negotiated the price, who are you to refuse? Go for it imo!

wheresthebeef

like i dont want to fleece them.
i know the managing director of the company. and he seems willing to pay the price as long as i can provide what they want without bothering him with the technical bits of it all. the just want it to work.
but still i am not sure.

Again, is there anywhere online i can learn how to produce stuff that is of template standard. i have dreamweaver, fireworks, flash and frontpage installed.

GoneShootin

I still dont get the moral dilemma. Fair enough you know him, but you are using your knowledge and expertise to find a suitable template (which is not all that easy sometimes depending on the requirements) and use your skills to edit the template to suit what your customer wants.

By the time you have finished with the template you will know how it is structured in detail, so you should have no qualms about giving him pre made goods. Certainly many web design companies have their own catalogue of pre made templates that they try to use for each new customer.

Like in software development, using the good components out there and integrating them into your system may prove dividends over creating your own components from scratch.

wheresthebeef

fair enough so.
i just wanted to see if other web design people thought it was a bit much to use templates and still get paid a fair amount.

thanks.

by the way. your signature is the best one i have ever seen. nice one

GoneShootin

Thanks Made it ages ago during my League Of Gentlemen phase, but I thought it best to revive it for the film.