Nice writeup.

Nonsense!!! All those rubbish website and graphics you people do and u are still making noise about it? Wen I can use jimdo.com and wix.com to build a very professional website. When I see a Nigerian designed website I know cos its always WACKy!!!!

googlepikin: Nonsense!!! All those rubbish website and graphics you people do and u are still making noise about it? Wen I can use jimdo.com and wix.com to build a very professional website. When I see a Nigerian designed website I know cos its always WACKy!!!!

Learn to appreciate your own. Wacky you called it? As if its easy, why don't you try do it yourself then without using already made tools. One of the many reasons Nigeria is still the way it is today cuz we stress so hard to patronise everything abroad at the expense of ours. Too bad

Start patronising Naija designers if not for anything but to encourage then. In this game motivation matters a lot and help one to be more creative too. You want the best from Naija designers, help them by patronising them. It begins with you!

[code][/code]fellow me on twitter @vanfolaz

Hmnmn...u cnt buy my quality cheap o

googlepikin: Nonsense!!! All those rubbish website and graphics you people do and u are still making noise about it? Wen I can use jimdo.com and wix.com to build a very professional website. When I see a Nigerian designed website I know cos its always WACKy!!!!

Its because of people like u that Web development in Nigeria is backward..

How can u compare using a wap builder to writing your own web app...


Anyway u probably don't know wat web development really is....

googlepikin: Nonsense!!! All those rubbish website and graphics you people do and u are still making noise about it? Wen I can use jimdo.com and wix.com to build a very professional website. When I see a Nigerian designed website I know cos its always WACKy!!!!

When you're dumb about something, try not to express it.

spywareczar: Conversation #1

Client:I know you said 10 days, but I need it ready for print by the end of the week.
Designer:I might be able to squeeze it in if I work late a few nights, but I can’t promise anything. It’s a big job.
Client:Thanks, that’s very professional of you.
Designer:No problem.
Client:And because you’re so professional, I expect a 50% discount since it will only take you half the time.

After you've sweezed out time and working extra hard, you even deserve extra pay.

These guys think they are the messiah FFS!

Now, this is quite an interesting topic and i think i can relate with all the HTML/CSS front end developers as well as graphic designers. Well, you see your clients will only treat you the way you present yourself. When you sound desperate, they treat you cheaply. Lets say for example, you are quoting 120k for a project, then the prospect (mark you there is a difference between a prospect and a client) tells you he can't go above say, 40k. What you should do is either tell him what quality of work he will get with his own price. You may say something like. "At this rate, i can provide you with nothing more than 8 pages only, your company's portfolio will only have a list of works as opposed to having a quality picture gallery and finally your company will be responsible for handling your hosting and domain name registration." Or you could politely turn down the work because if he doesn't appreciate you now, during the project. Its going to be hell.

I am just starting out web design and web development and i am having challenges in raising a good development team. Web development is not dead in Nigeria, its just the way we present it. Here are some issues we have:

1. We want to do everything ourselves. No we don't want to hire a quality photographer, we don't wan't to sub contract to someone who is good with server side scripting.

2. We don't submit proposal to show our prospects that we know what they need. The prospect sometimes can change his perception about you after reading your proposal.

3. We believe in skills and not presentation. We think like an employee when you are supposed to be a CEO. Look, if you are working for an organisation, you may dress any how, you may even look shabby but as far your employers have the money to pay you for doing your work you will remain there until they decide to fire you. What you actually care less about is that there are people in management positions who dress very well, not to impress women, but to look professional enough to get contracts/jobs which the company would profit from so that they can pay you your monthly salary. Now you are running a freelancing business, a small business, trying looking neat and professional. There is nothing wrong with having gadgets with you. I am telling you this. When you do this, I promise you will get big jobs.

As i said earlier, i am just starting, and by the grace of God i will make it. I also sometimes use templates, but here is the thing. If the PSD is suited for clients business with all the content, it won't matter. They won't ask. The key thing is that it must bring in emails and phone calls from their kind of contractors. Here is a site from a client [url]i charged 221k for.www.bhiveconsults.com

Just put these three things above into consideration and things will change with time.

I really appreciate intellectual efforts and, ordinarily, I won't try to degrade such but my challenge is that I don't know the difference between a website done with some ready made packages (jimdo, wix, HTML,) and those done by writing scripts. I don't even know the meaning of what I just wrote. So how do I ensure that the guy billing me for writing codes is not using jimdo or wix.com to design my website for me?

some do appreciate while some do complain just learn to kind with ur customers that how have been managing customers

Elgaxton:

And they would say something like: is it not logo? I will tell them in UTC and they will do it for me at a cheaper price like N2500.

Lol. .So annoying...

symbian03: Telling me that web design/dev doesn't cost much after all he/she sees series of adverts and billboards claiming to build a super database driven website for 15,000.

I swear, these wretched template guys don spoil biz. Guys who took their time to learn coding aren't making much nor are they appreciated.

funnny. I organized a recruitment process for my company. I requested for programmers. But many php/web/zend developers applied. I didn't want them though. I wanted Java, .Net , Csharp developers. I just called them, may be we can manage them. I was surprised based on what I saw. Most of them just download template and edit it. I gave them programming work. Code from scratch. Only one out of 8 candidate was able to do it. Nigeria technology has no future if we don't have real programmers. Template editors won't take us anywherre.

kiss2Tell: I really appreciate intellectual efforts and, ordinarily, I won't try to degrade such but my challenge is that I don't know the difference between a website done with some ready made packages (jimdo, wix, HTML,) and those done by writing scripts. I don't even know the meaning of what I just wrote. So how do I ensure that the guy billing me for writing codes is not using jimdo or wix.com to design my website for me?

Now here is what you need to find out.

When you tell him you need a website, does he just take your materials and go without asking you any questions? Or does he show keen interest in what you do as a person or business so that he can discuss with you the best online marketing approach to your business before moving on to the next phase? If he doesn't sit with you and involve you in the process it is highly likely that he may be using a wix or special design website, because he is more interested in showing off skills than integrating your business with the World Wide Web.

Here is the thing with these platforms. You may want to develop something unique to achieve your online goals, if the platform does not have it, the developer may become stranded. That's why some businesses tell they offer web solutions because your website is built to solve business problems be it marketing, selling, customer relationship, surveys and polls etc.

Now if your designer tells you your site is www.yourbusiness.wix.com. Now that is a sure sign that its a wix website with no money commited to it. Normally, your designer should present to you a JPG or PDF file giving an idea of how the site would be arranged or look like. Now i am not sure wix offers graphic files of the sites they sell.

If a web professional uses a template to market your business online, most times you would never know because it is customized from the graphic file before slicing of the image is done as well as the html coding of the site. He would understood your business and probably taken your content to someone who is good with copy writting. This is the preparation of site content from your marketing materials as well as the from the dialogues he or she has had with you.

Another thing, try to find out if he's working alone or as part of a team. Maybe he outsources his work to others that why the cost may be high.

hotwax: funnny. I organized a recruitment process for my company. I requested for programmers. But many php/web/zend developers applied. I didn't want them though. I wanted Java, .Net , Csharp developers. I just called them, may be we can manage them. I was surprised based on what I saw. Most of them just download template and edit it. I gave them programming work. Code from scratch. Only one out of 8 candidate was able to do it. Nigeria technology has no future if we don't have real programmers. Template editors won't take us anywherre.

Now, what you need to need to know is that web programmers (Java, .Net, Csharp) can never be designers. Web design is an aspect of web development which involves understanding of, not just graphic applications, but also understanding UX (User Experience) which is part of Information Architecture.

Information Architecture has to do with understanding the goals that would be accomplished when the site is finally online. This has to do with the theme, colors as well as how the information can made readily available for the site visitor's viewing. Before it is finally built as graphic template. Now the designer will now slice up the images and prepare the HTML/CSS needed for the design he has created. Now, take note that the designer might not know HTML/CSS efficiently so he could still pass on the work to a Front end developer.

The web programmer's job will now commence when it comes to adding functionality to that site. For example, a Java developer may implement a JSP application that could integrate with an Oracle database for easy pagination of information to be viewed by online visitors. A .Net or Csharp developer might develop an eCommerce system for an online business and so forth. So when building a programming career, most of the times, designing is not part of the system rather its about functionality. If you get a professional web designer, you get UX/UI designer. If you get a web programmer, you get one who is confident in coding and not colors. A full web development project involves a copy/content writer, a web designer, a photographer with the added advantage of using photo/graphic software, a web developer or programmer and sometimes a database developer with the added advantage of database administration to aid in the development of a database that would help in achieving a website's data storage and retrieval goals. Big global companies have a whole department dedicated to this. Its no mean feat.

Finally, another thing is this. In Nigeria, when you have openings for job positions, anyone is ready to claim anything to acquire everything. In other words, if you say you are looking for so-and-so skills in the job market, you must be very careful. Because, by the time you interview applicants, you would be shocked at the person you are interviewing. People sometimes believe that there may be in-house training for the skills you are looking for. This is Nigerians for you. No passion, just Salary Mentality