Why is it that, generally speaking, web developer's websites are better looking than at least half the sites they code for clients? Or am I the only one who has noticed this trend?

Oya, let's discuss/debate

nice one.

I've come to appreciate however that the concept that a site ought to represent many times limits the "good-lookiness" of the site.

A site for say a music group and another for a company that sells electric cables, on face value which one do you think will look better.


you bet. design is an integral part of the concept is formed from the client's brief and an understanding of his/her services and intended audience.

For my part as a freelance web-developer, I always felt that my site was not as good as those of my clients as time progressed. So I took the christmas break to change that feeling.

People expect your site as a developer cum designer to be representative of the value that you propose you have.

I have had higher hits and more clients (psss! than I can handle) since that redesign, digitalcraftstudios.com

so I'm using this opportunity created by Yawatide to request for any (very, very, very, exceptionally, )good user interface designer out there who would like to join forces with digitalcraftstudios.com to form a virtual agency that will rock this town,

phew! said it finally, ok back to the issue. the ball is in your court

oga castrolng, i agree and disagree with your point. (well said though). the honest truth is, there are different reasons for different web designers.

reason1
for example, some clients (the dull ones) just love ugly looking sites, probably because that's the kinda sites they see everywhere. infact if u made the site beautiful at first, they will tell you to change it (remove this add that)

reason2
good web designers tend to do that alot. and the reason is simply communication. its easy for me (for example) to know what i want a translate into a good design exactly the way i want it. cause its mine. almost everybody knows how to cook indomine but i bet if u cooked for 3different people 1 would'nt like it. (they'll go" i dont like water in mine" and so forth) and only very few nigerian clients know exactly what they want, so its hard giving them what they want even if u made the best designs possible for them.

reason 3

oga castrolng's reason

i dig both posts

some clients will tell you to remove this, remove that and at the end, you are left with rubbish, what do u hear?

"yea, i think it's fine that way, just enlarge the logo a bit" (i hear the logo part a lot)

Like i get email from up to 4 "serious" prospective client per week saying they want to do business right away and close to 10 angry developers per week

their complaints vary from too much flash, does not validate well, takes years to load, search engine wont see it, why are guys always using green, ur website is not secure, you wont get clients

feels good to have others use phensic for my headache

Clients dont need to sweat much, they just judge you from the look of ur site, if u can do this, then u can do what we want. period.
so developers will prefer spending months rearranging their site and i cant blame them

I for one, will grab any project that will reach a wider audience, even if the pay sucks.

I guess I will come in for a few miniutes on this, with respect to clients asking that we say, remove/add stuff here and there.  I will use a client from last august:

The client, without giving away much, is a highly placed state government official.  Out of say 10 things he wanted modified on his site, I only yielded to 3.  When I mean not budging on the other 7, I mean, even if he blacklisted my name in that state, I didn't care.  My usual response, "with all due respect sir, it won't look good/won't work that way.  You hired me not only to develop your site but to offer my expert opinion based on my experience.  When I do things, it's not based on how I feel but based on research findings.  Neither you nor I might like it but facts remain facts until someone else dispels."

Did I feel scared/worried after making such statements? You bet.  Guess what though? For those 7 or so things, his response was, "I totally understand and respect your expert advice.  Let it be that way."  The site still looks the way it did back when I first put it up (of course content is changing out on a regular basis) and he even called me 2 weeks ago to arrange a few more sites.

Conclusion:
Sometimes, even if it means losing a job or future job, it pays to stand your ground.  Of course, how far you want to push it is up to you.  Me? I push it as hard as I can baby! 

Mehn, yawa kudos to your patient. . .as for me. . .i will just do what the client wants. . .and get out of the place to seek the next job. . .though i try to
make it look good, but some clients are just to stubborn to accept facts.

yawa-ti-de, was that client black or white? cos i totally understand if he/she is white. trust me most nigerians aare not like that. a similar thing happened to me (it does almst all the time) i was like sir those colours dont really match together. then he pause and tilted his head a little, i though he was gonna go 'yeeeeah i think so to, so what do u recommend', he was like" haba, how can u say that. look at it well now" next thing he called an employee and was like "ngbo this colours dont match?" the fool was like it does sir. and i told myself yeah yeah what would u have said. and other scenerios like that.

yawa-ti-de, was that client black or white? Smiley cos i totally understand if he/she is white.

Actually, he was black and a Nigerian (in Nigeria) at that. As a matter of fact, I have never seen him in my life. It was a referral and the working relationship seems to be going well so far

next thing he called an employee and was like "ngbo this colours dont match?" the fool was like it does sir.

ROFLMAO!! What did you expect? Of course, omo had to kiss ass now, which ones? ROFLMAO!!

And that explains why i did not put some other websites i have done in my portfolio. . .too shameful, and downgrading, i will never admit that
i made those sites. . .but i don collect my money sha. . .and the clients are happy with their sites. . .which is what counts

no matter what it is the client wants i think you can still be creative enough to make it look good. who no like beta thing. most clients have a blurry idea of what they want and they are always more than happy if u deliver it in an appealing format.

Neptune:

yawa-ti-de, was that client black or white? cos i totally understand if he/she is white. trust me most nigerians aare not like that. a similar thing happened to me (it does almst all the time) i was like sir those colours dont really match together. then he pause and tilted his head a little, i though he was gonna go 'yeeeeah i think so to, so what do u recommend', he was like" haba, how can u say that. look at it well now" next thing he called an employee and was like "ngbo this colours dont match?" the fool was like it does sir. and i told myself yeah yeah what would u have said. and other scenerios like that.

very funny.

another scenario, some will ask if you can put a flying text. u convince them not to go for it, they sound like yea, dont worry about it then
at the end of the day, they still ask you what your problem is with not putting the flying text, they just love it

otoidea:

no matter what it is the client wants i think you can still be creative enough to make it look good. who no like beta thing. most clients have a blurry idea of what they want and they are always more than happy if u deliver it in an appealing format.

yea, u have a point

he he webdezzi,

Of the 3 things I ended up doing on the site, animation was one of them. The guy kept saying over and over, "I understand your point about animations being distracting but you have to understand, in Nigeria, we like to see things moving on the screen".

That pretty much summed it up. At that point, all urge to argue was replaced with laughter and I obliged merely cos of the funny factor, LOL.

dhtml:

Mehn, yawa kudos to your patient. . .as for me. . .i will just do what the client wants. . .and get out of the place to seek the next job. . .though i try to
make it look good, but some clients are just to stubborn to accept facts.

dhtml:

Mehn, yawa kudos to your patient. . .as for me. . .i will just do what the client wants. . .and get out of the place to seek the next job. . .though i try to
make it look good, but some clients are just to stubborn to accept facts.

you don spik ma mind

smartsoft:

you don spik ma mind

Common talk your own jo! 

ztyle, say ur own now? this one no be kulikuli matter at all?

LOL, na wa oh i don talk b4 Admin Delete em! because my words are powerful.

Na u sabi . . . u don post spam abi?

The Yorubas says (eni to da dasho funni, ti orun e lanwo) He who want to give u cloth, u must look at the way he dressed.

To claim to be a webdesigner, your own company website must be cute and convincing enough that u know that u are doing, PERIOD.
Againg, it can be linked to individual preferences of the clients.

Aaand again. . .previous works too matter, i mean, i have not yet used my website to get any stuff yet. . .rather use my full portfolio which is not even on my website sef