neilp
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Everything posted by neilp
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I charge £20 an hour. I would always set the price of a basic brochure website at £399 as it would take me about three days max to create one - 1 day to design, 1 day to build and 1 day to test and tweak. But if you are starting out then £199 would still go down nicely to most people. It's only when your portfolio starts looking is built up nicely you can raise your rates. I am actually thinking of raising my rates to £25 an hour as from next month as I have plenty of work coming in. But you never know if that will put a stop to it or not?? Only one way of finding out I suppose.
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I used to use Think vitamin but I would rather use Nettuts+, the tutorials are mainly from those that are actually working in the industry so you learn how it is.
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I agree about the cold calling being 'unprofessional'! I have spoken to a few business owners who get more than two cold calls a week from web design companies and it bugs the hell out of them. You will only give yourself a bad name - specially if it's fairly local to you? I haven't started promoting myself as a business as yet - now working on it. But as a freelancer, I contacted several web design agencies offering my services and hopefully landing some of their overspill work. I have now been given two projects to do remotely and at a decent price. I have also been assured that if I do a good job they will supply me with ongoing work. So, that's something to think about. It's also a bloody good way of meeting people that you wouldn't normally meet - networking I suppose.
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Hmmmm...I have to disagree! Wordpress used to be hacked to do things it couldn't really handle but since version 3 - it can! It's no longer just a blogging tool, it is a full CMS. Anyway, without getting into the 'is Wordpress really a CMS' debate, it all boils down to what works best for you? It's like saying you would only use fireworks because Photoshop isn't really a web design tool? I must admit, I do love Working with Wordpress but I also may start looking into Expression Engine as I keep hearing good things about it?
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I think you are on the right track with regards to making it textured and I like that division with the two colours. But there was something missing for me, so I decided to add it in(image attached) - hope you don't mind? All I did was add a white horizontal line to bring out that division and then gave the two sides some noise. What do you reckon? Also for your title(logo), I would suggest you look on Google fonts and grab something more....well....bolder that what you have. Something like 'Amaranth'?
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For an external file, all you need to do is create a new file called styles.css. Place that in the same directory(location) as all your other html files, and cut and paste all your CSS into this file. Then inside the <head> tag of all your html files - copy and paste this line of code in there: <link rel="stylesheet" href="styles.css"> Then do the same for your Javascript. This will help to speed up your pages as the styles and JS will be get cached in the users browser from the initial page load, thus speeding up the download process of each subsequent page. Also, it makes sense to separate your CSS so it's easier to locate when the time comes to make some changes and instead of going into all your pages to make one small change, you can just open up your main CSS file - make the change and it will cascade throughout all your other pages. Makes sense now? That should get you started anyway's and really your main concern now is the tables. The whole idea is to make your pages faster, relevant and meaningful. That's what google likes and in the long run it makes your life a whole lot easier. Just do a Google search on 'why it's bad to use tables for layout' and you will see why it's such a bad idea! I will say that I have been learning web design for over five years and there are many others on here that have been doing it for longer. So feel free to post as much questions as you want and you will no doubt pick up some very good tips as everyone on here are probably the most helpful people you will find(as well as sarky!)
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Really? I was gonna ask if you deliver....
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That's what it all boils down to. There is no way Yell would work with you like a web agency or freelancer would - that's for sure. If you wanted something be-spoke, unique, then you need a professional who will treat you like a client rather than 'just another customer'? If your serious about your project and want a serious quote, then just PM me with all your details and I will give you a realistic price. I will help you all the way and you can guarantee a decent job - if you don't mind me saying so myself - Neil
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Hi Max "How much does it cost" - is one of the hardest and most popular question we have to answer. But as seeing as you have at least given us some clue as to what you need - then I would say no more than £600 + facebook page? Total cost of the facebook page is not clear to me as I have never done one. But I am sure it isn't hard? As for search engine optimization - well any web designer worth their salt would include that in the price as it's just about how you build the pages and how much keywords are used. It's not rocket science and anyone claiming to be an SEO specialist is a con artist. But depending your niche, it could take months for your site to go up the search results and there is no secret formula! Hope that helps?
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Well, where do I start? Hmmmm? Can I be brutally honest here...... The aesthetics of the site is okay - for a low budget project then you did good. But looking at your source code there no wonder why it didn't pass the validator - even though validation isn't the be-all-and-end-all! Coding for the web nowadays is all about semantics, everything needs to have meaning. This is why the W3C introduced HTML5 as the next version. It is meant to allow us to write semantically compliant code. Working from the top, here is some pointers for you to research more: Use the HTML5 Doctype - there is no reason why you shouldn't use this now in any project. Never ever put your CSS internal to your HTML - it should always be external, you naughty boy! Same with your javascript - external, external, EXTERNAL! Again why have you used tables for layout - tables for navigation!!!! You should use unordered lists for menus or navigations and either the new HTML5 tags or Divs for layout? Sort that lot out and try and re-validate and then see what you get and post it back up here. In all honesty Dave - don't let the validation get you tied up. If you stick to the basics, the things I have mentioned then it will be compatible on all platforms regardless of validation.
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Well said! Errr....your not Lorry in disguise are ya? I think City will play well in the first half of the season and fizzle out in the second half but will be uniteds main worry. But United showed them how to play like champs in the Charity shield and that would have played on there minds. With the likes of cleverley, Anderson and Nani in Midfield with Wazza dropping off like he does.....well...there is no other team in this league that has that hunger. A lot of youth in the United team right now and they are looking like united players with the right attitude and abilities. Fergie has done it again hasn't he - built another champion side who will dominate for a few years yet! Poor old Wenger - the stubborn old bastard, he should suck it in and admit he is wrong and that the club needs to buy. Can't wait to see where they end up if they don't? That's my input on the season and my predictions for the top six are: 1. Man U 2. Man City 3. Spurs 4. Liverpool 5. Chelsea 6. Arsenal
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Like everything, there are pros and cons to being a freelancer and using a freelancer. I haven't been freelancing for long - well, not full-time freelancing anyway so I am still learning the ropes. However, when I did work for an agency, two agencies in fact, we would always outsource work to freelancers that would charge peanuts and we always always ALWAYS got monkeys - and I bet you can guess where they where based? These two years I spent working for two web design and development companies, I picked up on how things are done - the good ways and the bad. So hopefully I can conduct myself in a more professional way then say someone who has just left school and decided to pick up a copy of Dreamweaver and call themselves a web designer. I also know people - good people who could help me out with any development work if need? So in essence, I could just as easy offer the same service as any small agency - and there is many small ones around! So, yeah....there is a lot of bad freelancers out there but there are a lot of good ones to, but you can say the exact same thing about agencies can't you? As long as you do good work in a professional manner and work to build up your reputation, then I think any freelancer should be paid what they are asking. But, I also know my previous employer charged £50 an hour! At this present time, I can only dream of charging that amount and still get work....
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I just voted for you....
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Ah ha! a dribbble bitch.....Nice! Are you talking about Dribbble here Chris, it would be great to be on there, so if you do get an invite
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How old are you Michael and how long have you been doing web design/development?
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Nice one! Hopefully i will get this contract with this agency as it also sounds to good to....well....lose out on.
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Ah ha - that's good to hear, those Indians almost sent my last employer crashing from doing shoddy work. I always had the pleasure of undoing all their mistakes. For $5 an hour, what else do you expect??? Not all bad i am sure? How long have you been in business for then Mike?
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Have you tried looking on peopleperhour - i have just started using it and freelance switch is a good'n
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It seems to me that there has been a sudden surge in people asking for websites just lately and out of interest i was wondering how many people on here have seen there business blossom? I have also noticed more agencies have started outsourcing more and i have almost(fingers crossed) secured a contract with an London based agency doing Design works. Anyone else?
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Hello Tom, always ready to help out - some super peeps on here fella! Enjoy?
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Well...i could do this for £1,600. I charge £20 an hour and would take about three weeks - working five hours a day as i always have other projects to do. So yeah, it does sound a bit expensive. Have you signed a contract and paid a deposit?
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United's again this season don't you think. I can't see City getting it - they must be still pissed from winning FA cup to think like that?
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Nice one!
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Hello mate, welcome to the forum. Well...are you a City fan or United!
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Yeah i suppose so? I have had some great feedback on Forrst, but dribbble seems to attract the best designers and industry leaders - it would be nice to be on there?
