Thanks so much

oneluv — Sun, 08 Jul 2007 01:16:05 +0000

I left it alone for awhile. He frustrated the life out of me! I told him all the things that I have found out asking questions. He understands this is business. He kept saying that. BUT he didn't know what THIS business was all about.

He is a prime example why I don't do anything for family for money. First of all I don't believe in charging my family. Just the way I was raised. At the same time Im a living witness how if you let them they will such the life out of you (unintentionally..or otherwise). I bake, do hair and nails and have become Cinderella to the family. I need someone to handle the business part. My friend in Chicago has volunteered, and well if you know Chicagoans, you know what Im talking about.

I followed the advice and told him this was the LAST time he can change his mind. PERIOD. My tolerance for his indecisiveness is nill. Told him to spend a lil time surfing to get a feel. I gave him the couple sites I saved who had color schemes. I'm waiting...as I have been. NOW he's ready to have the site up and running...and I have a Java ***. exam to study for (pffffft). Not to mention I dont have his mission statement, the pictures..nothing to work with.

After this and the other one, Im taking a break. There is stuff I need to and want to learn. Thanks for the heads up about Expression. I was just about to take the Dreamweaver plunge. I hear its good because of the interface with the flash stuff. I'll be sure to look it up! The little I did get to play with FrontPage let me know, that coding by hand has truly become just for fun. (for the time-challenged).

Thanks much, I so appreciate the input.

Do i need to go to the critque area. I want to post the link for what "I" want, and what "he" wants. But I need a lil time inbetween to change it.

webwiz — Wed, 04 Jul 2007 18:52:47 +0000

@oneluv: You say:

Quote: I think Im going to brush up on my FrontPage skills

I hear from a number of sources that Microsoft's new version of Front Page, called Expression Web, is miles better than Front Page. Some even say it beats Dreamweaver!

greg — Wed, 04 Jul 2007 15:22:55 +0000

I think most of the possibilities to tackle your cousin have been covered.
What I would do is explain you dont have the time or inclination to just keep changing everything until he is happy.

Show them the sort of design layout and colours that are available, either by pen and paper or browsing the internet with him.
Then hopefully after an hour or so he should be able to pinpoint what he would like, then when you do it like he has asked hopefully you will only need to make a few adjustments
But make sure he knows this is the final attempt, after this there will be no major changes or tweaking as it is a favour. I understand the family issue, and is good you want to help, but that understanding has to be mutual. He also has to be decent enough to accept it is a favour and free, and therefore not be too picky.

There are plenty of good design sites to get ideas from and show your cousin. One I use is ... http://www.designmeltdown.com/
They have a whole range of colour schemes and layout ideas, in decent categories too.

You mentioned he want rotating pictures!? there are plenty of CSS sites with the code available to copy and paste for image tricks. hover over changing gallery, numbered links that change the image when you click or hover.
Google is your friend (and of course sometimes the enemy)

Good luck

marblehost — Tue, 03 Jul 2007 14:21:46 +0000

You should not make for him again.
He will ask you do many thing which will take all your spare time
And he can't learn anything from it.
You should have a good talk with him.
Tell he you have no time to make webpage.
If he need,tell he should learn it by himself.
then you can give him a little help.

Freedom — Tue, 03 Jul 2007 11:12:35 +0000

Yes for income especially

kristimullins — Tue, 03 Jul 2007 10:27:21 +0000

It's funny this sort of "dilemma" doesn't only happen with websites but in all kinds of transactions involving "family"! Why dont you suggest you have 50/50 say for everything?

oneluv — Tue, 03 Jul 2007 07:51:02 +0000

Thanks a lot. A lot to absorb, but tell me if I got it right. If Im going to do this for pay, I need to develop a PnP for myself. What I will do/won't do, changes etc. Some kind of contract. He keeps telling me this is business, I told him today at that rate he'd better take advantage of the "family" aspect. I gave he a couple of websites to view in respect to what other people are charging for the services he' s requesting. This will be an interesting conversation. I think Im going to play with MS Project. I think planning this out using that, will give me an overall idea of how much time I need to spend, generally, from start to finish. I think Im going to brush up on my FrontPage skills, coding from scratch, not knowing much about CSS is too time consuming. Not knowing much about other forms of websites, Im going to have fun exploring. I learn quickly so it will be to my benefit. And you are right. All I have is a general idea of what he wants. I can see how having a road map will greatly reduce the stress. But it's still fun. Thanks again for your input.

zhalefarin — Mon, 02 Jul 2007 01:20:35 +0000

I agree with Roo. If family gives you trouble then customers who could care less about you personally will be even more trouble. I say this not to discourage you but this experience could prove to invaluable in the future.

Roo — Sun, 01 Jul 2007 22:34:42 +0000

Well you've learned a lesson here! Finish what you started with the family member, and chalk it up to a learning experience...it is after all family right?

As for word of mouth for other people...a contract and no freebies. Specify a number for any changes (if any) allowed and if it goes beyond that charge extra for your time.

That said...these types of learning experience in the beginning can help you build a portfolio.

rfresh — Sun, 01 Jul 2007 22:25:23 +0000

Rather than jump right into what colors are going to be on the web site, you need to get an idea of what the web site is for? What is it going to do? Do you need a backend database? Can you create it with only HTML (static web site) or do you need a server-side scripting language such as PHP to make it dynamic? In other words, you need a requirements/specifications document of some kind.

When you don't have a road map of where you're going, it's hard to get there and hard to know when you've arrived.