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The best payment set up is really going to be decided on what your client is doing, is the main priority cheap fee's, or is there specific types of payment that they need to cater for, there are no easy ways of answering that, it will have to be researched either by you for your client, or by your client. Have a look at PCI compliance but keep in mind that depending on how you take payment over the site, it may not be applicable, but its best to thoroughly research it at the outset. There is no easy way of explaining what a gateway and merchant account is to a non web developer, keep it simple and point them in the direction of some of the providers of gateways and merchant accounts, aswell as talking to web developers all day their customer services also deal with people who are taking the plunge and trying to set up stores on their own with limited tech knowledge, so they are use to putting things in basic terms. Put simply, if you explain that they need a payment gateway to take payments from their website. then they need a merchant account to receive the money they are taking from their site. and as with any financial product this must be set up by the person who is going to be using it.

Just been dealing with this myself recently, to take onsite payments you will need all the things you mention, but I would consider long and hard about advising your client to take "onsite" payment as they will fall well and truly into PCI compliance territory, which can be very expensive and time consuming experiance. "offsite" payment does absolve your client of some of the responsibility under the PCI regulations. As for your client having to take out these accounts, yes they will, ifthey are the ones being paid via the site they will have to set up the accounts for the gateway, merchant account in their or their business's name.

I currently use secure trading for my clients, their terms are £100 setup 2.5% for credit cards and a flat 35p per transaction for debit cards, they dont have a monthly fee as long as your fees are above £16 per month, they have pretty good customer service too. PM me if you want some more info.

Its the only way Acej, feel the burn, no pain, no cream cake!

I stay svelte and fit by jogging to the fridge between cakes.

I prefer the second mockup, but think it would look good with the first mockups navigation. no offense but personally I am not keen on the starboard logo, think it would look better with a nice font in a solid colour and a seperate logo next to it. Just my 10 pence.

They were robbed, I only charge 1.8 million per site.

The scheme chooser i posted is aimed at web designers, and it also gives Hex and RGB for the schemes. it also has far more features. but thanks for the link some may find it useful.

Dont know if many of you have come across this already, but though I would share anyway. Its a colour scheme generator with a few useful bits and bobs bolted on, you can have a look at a mock page with your chosen scheme on, change hue and brightness, saturation etc, then get all the hex values, it has an export feature for grabbing your chosen scheme, it even has a simulator for how the scheme looks to people with varying sight problems. Its pretty good does have a few flaws but generally quite useful. Have a look and see what you think. Linky link

Nope, just cant get into motor sport in general, I think the subtlety and strategy goes straight over my head, I have tried to watch it but soon become bored. my sport of choice is boxing and have been watching a lot of MMA recently to tide me over between fights.

There is some sound advice there, one thing I would like to add, dont get too caught up in the frame of mind that "This design program will make me a great designer" software is a tool and like all tools it's only ever as good as the person wielding it. I have seen some spectacular sites created with free software, that has relied on knowledge and consideration, as Eris stated above a good design is the sum of its parts, its the research, the typography, the code under the hood as well as what is produced in your chosen graphics package. please dont get caught up in the "Photoshop IS Design" cult.

Yer your favicon is working dude, it might not be on your local machine as you need to clear your cache etc they can be a bit stubborn showing up in certain browsers with out a decent clear out. As for your sidebar prob, sorry I cant help not familiar with blogger. but I do have a blogger template book (115 pages) on as a PDF if you want a copy PM me and i'll send it over.

Oh.... embarrassed now lol

Not gone 10 days across America, but it did take me 10 days to get across London once Enjoy your trip mate, very jealous.

You could also try Scrumpy macs they do recon Macs you do have to check regular, they have a lot of the older g5 powermacs but I would stay away and hold out for a decent mac book or imac.

It is possible to sue for as little as £25 using money claim online, its the online arm of the court service and can be found here, the £25 is added onto the amount owed with the option of adding interest, its amazing how quickly people pay up when they receive letters from the court, to be honest I wouldnt let it lie. If you let people roll you over it sets the scene for every chancer out there, if someone stole your computer and got caught red handed would you sit back and say oh well nevermind, its theft straight up. and you have a ton of evidence. I would make an example of her.

Hhhmmm I dont see how he could sue, especially if you have advised him the right course of action, its up to him if he listens or not, and it would just be his word against yours. I would rather let him limp off into the sunset, than have him dragging my name through the dirt. Personally I think you should just poke him in the eye and run...................... he's got a broken leg he aint gonna catch you

Let him limp, that way he cant say you prescribed the wrong treatment and bad mouth you, affecting your rep. When he has had enough of dragging his leg behind him he will be back.

Happy birthday Dizi, have a good one

I would echo that really, there is such a lot to learn, that if you are finding it tedious you may come unstuck, to meet a tight deadline you may be required to do very long stints in front of your computer, if this fills you with dread maybe a rethink is needed, as if you are finding mockups and mock sites tedious, doing the real thing is no different really,

Flash is not great for search engines, but you can just have certain elements of flash in a HTML based site. Uploading videos would be template specific, if you want to create and add your own content above and beyond the changes you could make to a template, you may be better off with a CMS content management system or a blogging platform, wordpress has both hosted and self hosted versions and has loads of different themes available both free and paid for, the paid for ones are pretty cheap generally. As for getting someone to do it for you I'm sure someone on here would oblige for the right price.

Thanks Tobo, I am glad you found it useful, I dont think it ever harms to put yourself forward, it also tells potential clients that you are willing to put yourself out a bit. good for you, go for it.

The work is out there you really have to go get it though, hoping people will contact you through your portfolio is a waste of time, you have to go get it, go into local shops and chat to the manager or arrange an appointment, search for local business's on the net, if you cant find a website for them go and introduce yourself. Go to your local chamber of commerce and network they will try and get you to join but you dont have to, get some human interest stories in your local paper, do a charity a site for free then go to the papers and get an interview you will get a slot in the newspaper for free in a much better position than any crappy 1 x 1 advert. if you can afford it get your vehicle sign written, always carry your business cards with you its amazing how many people you meet who have some need to be on the net, then thats your que to give your card over. You have to get a bit imaginative and look for every opportunity. Its tough really tough, but you can make it work, getting some proper business advice is a real bonus, forming a business plan will tell you exactly what you need to generate cash wise to operate and is well worth doing. I think if you are going to do it you really must throw yourself into it 100% if you sit back and hope work will come to you, you will be destined to fail. I have only just started myself and have picked up 3 jobs this week with the possibility of 2 more after. My main points of advice to you are: 1/ Get proper business advice. Find your nearest business advisory body. dont be afraid to start in a small way, can you get by on a part time job?, then dedicate the rest of your time to building your business. it doesnt have to be all or nothing. 2/ Market yourself at every opportunity. 3/ Dont assume work will land in your lap because you have advertised. go get it. follow up every lead. 4/ Network, join local business associations, Chamber of commerce, anything that will expose you to other business's. 5/ Diversify, start a blog or an affiliate site get advertising revenue, it wont be much but it all helps. 6/ Make sure you are getting all the financial assistance you can, use your tax credits. 7/ Be passionate your passion and enthusiasm will rub off on clients and generate excitement about their project. 8/ If this is what you really want to do, dont ever ever give up. The best of luck to you.

OK............... (Walks slowly and calmly away from traxor lol)

All I have to say is DIE SUCKER DIE!!!!