I was going thru some naija sites and i realized that a lot of our websites are ugly and lack originality. 75% of the sites i visited were templated (ugly templates).

You as a webmaster, are u doing great or are you just spreading the ugly trend?

Have u ever taken time to do a website from scratch?
Have u taken time to learn your basic html and css?
Have you tried to learn how spry (or some other widgets) work?
have you ever tried creating your own content management system?
Have u ever embedded your original efficient chat application or other applications to blend with your site?

If we are doctors or lawyers, I wont have a problem; but for God's sake, we call ourselves "WEB MASTERS."
We have to live it up.

Cheers.

Shhhh. The more you convert your competition, the less of the pie is left for you.  Let the "webmasters" do what they think they know.  In the end, you will be vindicated, if indeed you practice what you preach 

yawa u are right sha, but it is still our industry and it needs to grow

Then organize a class showing them the right way and while you are at it, make some money from it too

@poster

Lets do a comparison- what you have done side by side these so called ugly websites. Rome wasnt built in a day.

@ Paroh-frey

You asked for it.

see my latest job= http://www.celeugonabo.com

but just like U said Rome wasn't built in a day

I have gotten to this stage and won't hesitate assisting someone

I assume thats your best? You are not qualified to speak against any body making websites.

Please guys the aim of this discussion is not to harrass each other verbally. It is for us to redefine our target and work harder.

For the guy that sent the website; ill assume u are just creating some sort of awareness, else ,

Good point but who will pay you or who ask you that.

ah ha! I knew that at some point the "can I see your works?" question would come out. I could see it coming

Granted it seems the original poster isn't practicing what he is preaching, as someone has pointed out, I see this as a thread for self-improvement and not for site reviews. If that is needed, let another thread be created.

And oh, by the way, don't bother asking me to "see your works" because I don't share those publicly. I am not competing with anyone here for website of the year. I am here to teach and be taught, with respect to web development in general. For that, you will have to email me privately, if you so wish

Yawa im not the person that sent the site for review and im not competing wit anybody.

Come to think of it, why are u guys getting personal?

Is anybody hurt?

ebonyking:

@ Paroh-frey

You asked for it.

see my latest job= http://www.celeugonabo.com

but just like U said Rome wasn't built in a day

I have gotten to this stage and won't hesitate assisting someone

Brotha brotha dont start a war mehn!

And hey if you must start one, please and please draw the first blood with a mad ass killer Weapon(Website) of Mass Destruction, not some kinda bombs that would make pipz think we just doing some routine lab tests or drills.


@Topic,
no plenty comments really, its just talk talk talk and mo' talk (or more like. . . brag brag brag and mo' brag), nothing ever comes outta these threads, sadly.

When y'all are ready y'all will either resurrect WOA and make that place a standard or do something better and use as a standard. Until then, boiler plates all the way for 'em rookies! And we really know how to mess those things up with out distasteful taste of colors.

ogzille:

Have u ever taken time to do a website from scratch?

Yeap all my sites are done from scratch or based on CMS and i write my own modules

ogzille:

Have u taken time to learn your basic html and css?
have you ever tried creating your own content management system?
Have u ever embedded your original efficient chat application or other applications to blend with your site?

Yeap, (x)html and css all the way.
As per doing my own CMS, dunno how you see that but i make sure my sites are maintainable by me. All nav links are in a single file, so if i want to add more nave buttons or remove some i dont have to go about the 1 million pages doing that, i just change them in the single php file. My footer, also is in a php file so on all pages i just echo the footer, the next year i dont have to start changing 2009 to 2010 on a million pages, i just change the footer.php

ogzille:

Have you tried to learn how spry (or some other widgets) work?

erm. . . no

ogzille:

I was going thru some naija sites and i realized that a lot of our websites are ugly and lack originality. 75% of the sites i visited were templated (ugly templates).

from experience,
I can bet u that 70% of the 75%, was done for as low as 20k(hosting inclusive).
Cheap labour
Clients low taste.

ogzille:

You as a webmaster, are u doing great or are you just spreading the ugly trend?

Have u ever taken time to do a website from scratch?
Have u taken time to learn your basic html and css?
Have you tried to learn how spry (or some other widgets) work?
have you ever tried creating your own content management system?
Have u ever embedded your original efficient chat application or other applications to blend with your site?

Yes to all.

I bet you that anyone dat can say yes to at least three of d above will not fall within those that design does HANDBILL, they called WEBSITE.

- SAFE

quadrillio:

I bet you that anyone dat can say yes to at least three of d above will not fall within those that design does HANDBILL, they called WEBSITE.

yay! beer beer beer beer for quad, at last i'm a webmaster!!!!!
damn, finally!!!


Yea talking about web design pricing, na condition make crayfish dey the way e day. I've seen some very good devs here with very low prices and I know its just the environment we're in. This still boils down to having standards.

I still believe that there are some good naija guys out there.

Let us keep the flag flying.

ogzille:

Let us keep the flag flying.

Tired of keeping the flag flying, lets do something new. Let's create a webmaster's "home" online. An online crib where everything webdev goes down, purely Nigerian.

ogzille:

If you read the thread carefully, and apparently you didn't, you will see that my post wasn't referring to you.

I think you should modify your original post to include, "Nigerians generally speaking, in addition to answering a question with a question also like to make blanket statements"

What's "blanket statements"?

he he, generalized (please don't ask me to define "generalized" ) statements that usually emanate from talking before thinking and usually have no facts to back them up.

yawa-ti-de:

he he, generalized (please don't ask me to define "generalized" ) statements that usually emanate from talking before thinking and usually have no facts to back them up.

Okies, but what's erm. . . nevermind
Thanks

mama-gee:

ogzille:


Have u ever taken time to do a website from scratch?
Have u taken time to learn your basic html and css?
Have you tried to learn how spry (or some other widgets) work?
have you ever tried creating your own content management system?
Have u ever embedded your original efficient chat application or other applications to blend with your site?

Yes to all the questions but the last one.

Why would someone that created an original efficient chat application have any problems with making it blend with the website or is the poster referring to an open source chat application that is customizable?

nigeria is bless with good webmaster, but most of the self accliam webmaster doen not really take time to learn the basic of webdesigning

fredrick13:

but most of the self acclaimed webmasters do not really take time to learn the basics of webdesign

gbam!

Webmasters in Nigeria is not about creativity. Its just about money and job.

I won't take a sledge-hammer to webmasters in Nigeria. some are good at some things and bad at other aspects. but then,it is a jungle and you must be a jack of all trades and master of none really.

We have webmasters - they know basic HTML code and can do a "decent" webpage to go with a website that needs a full-time webmaster, they often claim to be able to do everything under the sun as it pertains to the web (web design, development, RIA, databases, SEO etc)

We have web-designers (who love to be known as web-masters) they are usually graphic artists who have become popular with the WAOW! factor that has crippled the mentality of clients these days. they try their hands at web-enabled databases, patch a few scripts together and they claim to be masters of the industry. you can never be right with these guys, they have google and they have sold a couple of sites

We have Web developers - they may not be professionals with Adobe or Corel draw, but they know that a website is beyond graphics and effizy. they are responsible for websites that work and give you what you came for, sadly they are the ones who get less and less of the juicy webjobs out there because in the Nigerian view. it is not what you do that counts, but how you look doing it.

We have Webprenuers - they are sharp kids with an eye for what works and they can engage, manage and grow a web idea into something not unlike Nairaland @seun is a popular webpreneur and the jobsnigeria guys etc

We have Web Architects - who are really very good web developers and web designers who have now become project managers and planners. they know how to select the right webmasters, designers, developers into a TEAM that can give you the best of any web project.

So really the post is too general. rarely but not impossible, do you see an individual who has combined the skills of a webmaster, designer, developer and architect. and they abound

thanks for making effort to concretize our web development skills in naija.
i making a plea, pls if you have a book on xml, i will appreciate it if you can forward it to my box (wojidem@yahoo.com). thanks for anticipated kindness nairalanders for which u are always know for.

popin5:

thanks for making effort to concretize our web development skills in naija.
i making a plea, pls if you have a book on xml, i will appreciate it if you can forward it to my box (wojidem@yahoo.com). thanks for anticipated kindness nairalanders for which u are always know for.

I will upload one to my server now. Will mail you the download link shortly.


Edit: Mail sent

Nice one poster.

But am sure you are still in the process of learning authoring of XHTML and CSS.

Ya all should please check: http://www.jideogunleye.com and let me have your comments on it.

Its hand written from scratch. and i also had to take the picture of the site by myself.

larger:
You need to write a book, seriously

Also, do we have the job title of web architect, as you have so defined, in Nigeria? If so, it would be nice to meet such people.

@ Poster.
I will like to see your work to see if u have the right to post this lol
Water get im own level. As those who understand the market dynamics have said; Naija people can be funny. The tasty soup dont come cheap. And thanks to the guy who broke it down - Web designers, developers, architects, project managers. U know your stuff man.
I will just advise everyone to grow daily. Learning new things never kill. But I must say there are many talented developers, designers etc in Nigeria. Do u know that the GT bank website with all the nice functionalities was done by a Nigerian? In fact most big company websites are done by Nigerian companies but the case is that it is done by a team and not one individual.
So, if I see an individual working on a 100K website alone by adapting some nice graphics and wordpress, I wont blame him. Same guy could have teamed with some other talented individual to do a better website on a big budget.