YES Oh- my intention was to cause controversy because I wanted Nigerians to read my post (lol). My primary goal however was to make Nigerian webmasters ask themselves the question “Am I the best I can be or am I a local champion?” Some people called me a broke, arrogant, a-hole, and funny enough, some disagreed with me in public and then sent personal emails to me saying it was about time someone spoke up about the low standards in Nigeria!

This process has been an emotional rollercoaster for me because I am a very proud Nigerian and I was attacked personally for having the audacity to discuss Nigerian issues from another country- but like I said before, sometimes only your brother can say to you- “your mouth dey smell”.

I still stand by the following:

1. Nigerian designers in general should up-their-game.

2. You don’t have to design Flash Heavy sites (remember bandwidth restrictions in Nigeria) to be good designers – you can design clean, elegant, uncluttered CSS/html sites. (see: http://www.smashingmagazine.com/category/showcase/ ).

3. The Nigerian economy has nothing to do with creativity.

4. Nigerian designers should benchmark themselves against international sites and stop thinking “local”. (I think http://www.digitalthread.com/webdesign/ is a good resource).

5. A website is essentially a marketing vehicle and designers should apply traditional marketing principles to website design and development.

6. I think Flash is fantastic but designers must take their target audience into account. If you are designing for an affluent audience that has access to broadband internet then Flash is cool, otherwise use as little Flash as possible.

7. You can make Flash SEO friendly by coding a linked XML file for spiders. This XML file can even be updated dynamically (Google: Flash + SEO).

8. Nigeria needs a National design competition to unearth the best of the best.


I also challenged Nigerian web designers to prove me wrong by posting their portfolios on this forum- and I was referred to some excellent sites:-

• http://ruggedmanonline.com/ (This website really made me sit up and take notice. My brother YOU ARE TOO MUCH!!)
• http://www.webworksent.com/ (despite slight usability issues)
• http://www.webmastersofafrica.com/ (not for aesthetic quality but for Information Architecture)
• http://www.taviatech.com.ng/index.asp ( Elegant site - just a few image optimization issues)

The rest were SHOCKING in my opinion.

I also shared the following Resources:

• http://www.smashingmagazine.com
• http://www.smashingmagazine.com/category/showcase/
• http://www.maxdesign.com.au/presentation/checklist.htm
• http://www.digitalthread.com/webdesign/

Cool sites (in my opinion) that I have been involved with:

• http://www.millerway.co.za/
• http://www.grahambeckwines.com/
• http://www.netevolution.co.za
• http://www.itnewsafrica.com/ (based on WordPress)


Other cool sites that I have found on the net:

• http://www.neostream.com/
• http://www.peroniitaly.com/za/age.html



To those of you who said I was broke and arrogant, you are probably broke and arrogant yourselves so no yawa.

To those who dissed my views and not me, you are my brothers and sisters and I look forward to having lunch with you very soon in Naija. (there’s no place like home).

To those of you who crucified me in public and agreed with me in private emails– have the courage to speak your mind openly!


Cheers!!

hey i think the nigerian economy is the problem. And please don't think i agree with the fact that "all web designers in Nigeria are amateurs. how many nigerian marketing agencies have a website like stonewall? none! the thing is these companies and organizations do not even encourage upcomming web designers. the people that get contracts like these are stock in the old days and they design old age websites. + their is no body per say that brings these young talents together to show off what they have.

www.webworksent.com -my site

abbywax,

I will have to agree and disagree at the same time

I disagree because:
I don't think you have seen the works of every single web developer in Nigeria to make that assertion. Sure, like you, I have seen some very bad stuff. At the same time, I have seen, at least through this forum, some very good stuff as well. You also have to remember that web design/development is very subjective in the sense that one man's meat is another man's poison. Also, don't forget that there is a cultural aspect to web dev/design. I say this because, unlike web sites from other countries, I notice that Nigerian sites, again for the most part, tend to "flashterbate" for one. Finally, I firmly believe that just like there are pretty girls who don't show up for beauty pageants, there are those who do web dev/design very well in Nigeria but unfortunately aren't doing enough to expose themselves to the world. I will end here to let others chime in.

Saying all Nigerians are amateurs is equivalent to saying all Nigerians are yahoo boys. Now, I don't know you personally, but I doubt 100% that you fall into that category.

A perfect example is this site: http://www.legacyuyo.com/ - a similar argument has been raised about Akwa Ibom state web developers. Someone claimed to me that AKS didn't have any. When I showed him this site, he immediately changed his position. Could improvements be made? sure, but it is pretty darn good, if you ask me. Unfortunately, all efforts on my part to contact the guy who did this have proven futile. he won't come out of the shadows. In my opinion, if I were to set up shop back home, he is the kind of guy I would want to partner with. But again, if he doesn't reveal himself, how can he and I get better? On the other hand, look at: http://www.gakpabio2007.com/ - if I were to judge AKS developers by this site, I would never trust the simplest of sites to them.

I agree because:
From what I derive, at least from this forum, for the most part, web developers/designers are going solo. In other words, it isn't uncommon for someone to google "html in 24 hours", read up what is pertinent to him/her and immediately call themselves a "guru" or "webmaster". There is more to it than that. If there were a way for say, some company to set up shop in Nigeria (this is where you could come in ) and hire the best, the difference would be clear overnight. Even if we had bad eggs, we could start off by hiring them as interns (mostly from the university system) and train them/send them to various seminars in order to bring them up to snuff.

Here is another idea I had in mind: When I am ready to set up shop in Nigeria, I would start by inviting all those interested to submit their designs for a website I have in mind. I would then pick, say, the top 5 and those would be my employees. Another idea would be to host a class of some sort. Again, say, my top 3 students after it all would form the nucleus of my company. I would then back them up by either sending them to various courses abroad or in the country or having people from abroad, especially those of Nigerian descent, come to teach them the latest technologies.

If I were to lend a %age to my arguments, it would probably be 52% to 48% in agreement with what you are saying. Having said that, I know there are good ones out there and again, b/w hiring them, sending them to seminars and even perhaps exchange programs (so for example, you could host a competition whereby the top 3, for example, get to spend say, 6 months at your firm in south africa ) and one-on-one nurturing, my %ages would immediately flip the other way.

This is just my one man's opinion of things and as I said earlier, I will let those who are actually in Nigeria chime in some more.

abbywax:

If there are Nigerian web designers in Nigeria who disagree , I dare you, SHOW ME YOUR PORTFOLIO and I will dobale for you and apologise for my comments.

I totally agree and you forgot to mention ORIGINAL WORKS/IDEAS. waiting to see BREATHTAKING PORTFOLIOS.

Let me tackle some of the comments above

• “i think the nigerian economy is the problem…, organizations do not even encourage upcomming web designers.”

I don’t think the economy is the issue, you do not have to be wealthy to be creative. I think Nigerians do not have a culture of excellence. Even if you are paid 2000 Naira to design a website – do your best. Anyone who watches Nollywood movies can relate to this. Some of our Nigerian movie makers and actors were trained in the best schools in the world but they settle for mediocrity. I repeat – culture of excellence,

Web designers do not have to wait to be encouraged by local companies because the world is now a global village and excellent designers are sought after by clients internationally. Many SA web design companies (the good ones at least) design websites for clients in the UK and Australia. Nigerian webdesigners should benchmark themselves against international designers and stop thinking local.

Here are some resources for webmasters:

• Web standards checklist: http://www.maxdesign.com.au/presentation/checklist.htm

• Web design trends: http://www.digitalthread.com/webdesign/


Another trend internationally is that web design companies do not regard themselves as Web Design companies anymore – they now portray themselves as digital marketing agencies or consultancies- because every website is effectively a marketing tool and the principles of marketing must be applied to each design in order for the client to get a Return On Investment (ROI). You must be able to show your client how they will increase sales, get new business leads, enhance their brand image, build an email marketing database etc. My company for instance charges an average of R100 000 (about 2 million naira) for a website because we do not see ourselves as web designers, but we see ourselves as a company that uses digital platforms to satisfy our clients marketing challenges.
So the same way a traditional marketing company would recommend a billboard, radio advertising or TV adverts to a client, we would recommend, a Flash website, opt- in Newsletter registration mechanisms, SEO (Search Engine Optimization), SEM (Search Engine Marketing), social networking mechanisms (blogging, My Space etc.), Viral Gaming, MMS/ SMS campaigns, Affiliate Campaigns, PPC campaigns (Pay-Per-Click), Podcasting, RSS Feeds etc. ‘

I still dey wait for una portfolios Oh!

don't get me wrong when i say the economy is problem. the economy being the problem doesn't mean you have to be wealthy to design websites. the way people think and their morale is what i mean. And nobody is waiting for any local companies to come and encourage him or her to build websites. How many web design schools are in south africa (i mean good ones). compair that to the number of web design schools in nigeria. Nigerian compaines go to south africa, uk and even the US to get designers for their sites without even wanting to know if anybody designs website in their own country. Thats the nigerian mentality. how many companies in south africa take their own designs out of the country? or do you think south africans design the best websites in the world? but its a way of promoting the locals.

, what did you think about www.webworksent.com

abbywax,

I've made great effort to go through your post and evaluate it with as much fairness as possible, and I've come to the following conclusions:

The heart and soul of your argument is that sites made by Nigerian Nigerians are generally of a low quality. Let me ask you: Which other product, or line of products made by Nigerian Nigerians are reputed as world-class? Just name one,

So, basically the problem transcends the narrow zone of Web Development, but is rather a pervading "cancerworm" (that word THEY like to use so passionately!) all over the land! Almost, like you said, a culture of mediocrity, or the reverse of a culture of excellence.

One thing that reeks out or your post, however, is that you almost sound gleeful about the fact that "All Nigerian web designers are amateurs". That is enough to set many of us wondering what you were really out to achieve; rubbing it in? It didn't quite sound best to throw that challenge: I DARE YOU, SHOW ME YOUR PORTFOLIO!

Therefore, as one priviledged non-Nigerian Nigerian, I expect you to sound more concerned about how YOU can make a difference. Rather than speak down on us (no, please note that I am NOT a web professional, only a medical practitioner), much better to proffer solutions FIRST to the Authorities and Decision-makers in the land, who can make the big difference, and THEN to the less fortunate Nigerian developer, as may come around this forum, tips and encouragement. While it is a positive thing to CRITIQUE others, it is another matter altogether to CRITICIZE. This is where I suggest you observe the modus of MY2CENT,

I'll conclude now: Yes, there's too much mediocrity around, but also enough excellent people (just like you!). When the playing field is fair (just consider constant NEPA, for instance), these guys'll excel (just like you!). One by one, we folks could decide to stick to standards, but it's only when the Powers-that-be, PUSHED and COAXED by priviledged diasporians (like you!), get committed to "fairing" up that playing field, that a real REVOLUTION will happen.

Let it be so for now.

abbywax,

Again, you still insist that "all" are amateurs. I think this is a wrong approach. Even God, b4 destroying Sodom and Gomorrah was willing to spare that city for the sake of 10, or so, good souls.

As for "show me your portfolio", I think I can spk with authority when I say, challenging pple to show their portfolio will probably not bring the good ones out. There is no motivation in "show me your portfolio". In my opinion, that statement is insulting and intimidating to the young ones coming up who need all the encouragement they can get. Now, if you attach a source of motivation (money, etc), , they will come out of the woodworks.

How can anybody make that kind of careless, irrational, unguarded and very "unresearched" statement,

How can??

It beats me,

Mr Webmaster Abbywax, i tire for you o, she na pride or na arrogance or you just wan show off say u dey work for 1 south african company, arryy

Anyway, make i no talk too much sha becos if i say make i talk,i no go finish today.

Maybe na one isale eko you dey work dey help to dey carry aaru you con com here dey fall, and people dey hold you up

No make me angry o, i dey warn you o,,,,abeg(laff)

this is absolutely nothing to argue about, Again I agree with abbywax. The best solution is to post links to site created by a Nigerian developer and let everyone critic. and we shall all decide. Even if u know great ng designers give up their works and we shall see.

in regards to

Neptune:

, what did you think about www.webworksent.com

Usability is very poor. I am literary squinting to read. The menu is like every other thing on the page difficult to find.


I personally will not advice anyone to use flash in any form. if u r looking for cool effects . look into mootools. or script.aculo.us or something else out there lol


Grade = Sub par

* always keep in mind not everyone has great eye sight, not all computing systems and monitors are the same. Instead of people complaining about not being able to read just design something great suitable for all. in respect to screen resolution and eyesight

So, it is about 230am, Atlanta time, and it suddenly hit me with respect to what's up with this thread - Abby is looking to pick a fight. Not that there's anything wrong with that. I'm just saying.

Abby, NL or whatever forum you may have been on prior to this isn't a fair representation of the IT community, let alone the general Nigerian population.

Here is what I suggest, if you feel so passionately about this: take out a 1/2 page to a page in a Nigerian newspaper with high circulation numbers and reproduce in its entirety your first post. Then put out the same challenge with an email address for the challenged to send portfolios to. Then and only then will you get what you desire.

Again, until you have facts/numbers to back it up, you can't make blanket statements of any kind. With all due respect, I visited the sites on the links you posted up top. They are all good and some had their shortcomings. Of course no site will ever be perfect in everyone's eyes. Let's face it and call a spade a spade - there's nothing spectacular about them. Granted, I am sure those sites have raked in millions of rand for you, there's nothing on those sites that can't be found elsewhere, even amongst sites built in Nigeria. You just haven't seen them yet.

I therefore implore you to take my challenge. If you feel, after say, 100 replies, that the work is still sub-par, then come back here with your facts/numbers.

As always, my 2 cents.

Na wah ooo.

The poster of this thread is simply being wrong and arrogant at the same time.

I am not in the business of advertising websites of my clients even when some have confidentiality issues that won't even allow you have your company name in the footer area.

Well, as to the usability and usefullness of a website let me even provide a link to my pet project (no money was paid for the site apart from the hosting fees since I uploaded it last month).

The website www.afamite.com may be sold if I won't find time to manage it but the major reason for setting the site up is to provide a single platform where Nigerians can complete certain tasks and basically all the services on that site will be free to use.

And every single code on that site was developed from scratch for the different modules and more will be added as time permits.

As to www.ITNeswAfrica.com the poster provided I dare say that the links on the left are too difficult to see because the colors are too close to the background color and this is harsh to the eyes and not a good idea of an ideal website.

And the pictures in the recent photos section are simply linked to the current page, what's the meaning of that? If they don't link to pages then remove the blank links.

So, while it can be argued that we have bad web projects out there (and this is not limited to Nigeria anyway) it is very wrong for the poster to make the categorical statement he made.

And as my2cents noted, one man's meat is another man's poison that is why a site like google chose to maintain the simplest design on planet earth by having just a logo, footer and a search engine because it decided to focus on making it easy for visitors to accomplish tasks on the website. They could hire the best web designers in the world and even have an elephant say good morning to you once you visit but is this the main reason for setting up a website?

Any website that is not task focused will not last the test of time, simple.

abbywax,
Hello,I want to disprove you on this issue. i want to show you my port folio, but for some personal reasons, i will not post them directly here.please send me your  email address to ndubuisi_18@yahoo.com and i will send you my e-portfolio today.

@abbywax,
Take time oh! Are you saying that creativity has a geographical constraint? What is your point? If Nigerians' as you say, don't have a culture of excellence, then how come you're a Nigerian?

i dont thnk you have seen portfolios on Nigerian companies that provide web services. Visit this site and view their portfolio. www.mooreadvice.com

It's not much but i'd like for abbywax to have a look at http://sachsgallery.com

flexyneat, the space at the bottom of sachsgallery, whats the space for? Did you design the site? Its a nice site, just curious about the space. You could have just close up after the copyright text.

LOL. Dude. Seriously. Generalisations are lame.

@poster
i can only agree with others that you are just as corky and arrogant as your works.
I dont want to argue bout who's superior, but i bet you are not half's as good as i am.
i am saying this without seeing your works just the same way you made your careless remarks

dearstan:

@poster
i can only agree with others that you are just as corky and arrogant as your works.
I don't want to argue bout who's superior, but i bet you are not half's as good as i am.
i am saying this without seeing your works just the same way you made your careless remarks

I totally agree with you.
The guy is suffering from what is called fallacy of Generalization.
How many websites developed in Nigeria has he taking his time to see and review before coming to his faulty conclusion?

To the poster.

Have you browsed on every Nigerian website before hastily concluding that Nigerian web page designers are 'amateurs'?

Moreso, your comment that our culture celebrates mediocrity is an affront to our country that has produced eminent citizens, thriving to make a positive difference in today's society. You need to apologize!

As I stated earlier, and I said what I said based on the fact that abby has less than 5 posts, I am pretty sure that his post was intentionally made to kick up a storm. For all we know, abby doesn't really do what he says he does. He is probably indirectly soliciting for developers in disguise.

In my opinion, we shouldn't show him our respective portfolios. By so doing, we stoop to his levels. Don't let what he has said hurt your egos. Let him stew in his arrogance. After all, as my "philosophy and logic" class of unical taught me, "If All men are stupid and Socrates is a man, then Socrates is stupid". He is Nigerian. Since All Web Designers in Nigeria are amateurs, then technically, he is saying (at least when he is physically in Nigeria) he is an amateur as well.

If you want to show him your portfolios, go ahead. However, if it were up to me, I think time is best served getting abby to realize his mistakes rather than saying words to the effect that, " eh heh! so this guy dey challenge me? Make I show am".

Not worth it at all, in my opinion.

my2cents,
I agree with you, there is no to take up unnecessary challenges from abby.

If I can shock some Nigerian designers into improving their standards then I have achieved my goal. It wasn’t my intention to hurt anyone but sometimes only your brother can tell you that “your mouth dey smell”.

Look at the following sites and please tell me what you think-

http://www.akwaibomstategov.com/

http://www.nigeria.gov.ng/

http://www.rsust.edu.ng/

http://www.unionbankng.com/

http://www.gakpabio2007.com/


I may sound arrogant but …. Naija designers how far These are not mai-mai companies, these are govt departments and multinational banks' websites. Where áre the Nigerian designers if the offical Nigerian Government website looks like it was designed in MSWord.

I want the top designers in Nigeria to stand up and be counted. Advertise yoursleves now and let people know who you are and where to find you.

i don tell this you, send me your e maill address, i will send you my portfolio so u can apologise to us all

abbywax its good you chanllenge your fellow brother to improve but don't embarrass us

abby,

One thing I have noticed in the Nigerian arena is that for the most part, contracts to do anything are given not based on talent per se, but who knows who. To that effect, in my opinion, you can scratch off all the govt websites (including the akpabio one) from your list.

Again, I say, you will not get a proper representation of talent from this forum. Do what I said earlier: write up an article in a popular Nigerian newspaper and solicit your responses from there. The sites you hv listed above are not representative of Nigerian web dev as a whole. If you disagree, then what do you have to say about the following south african websites:

http://www.southafrica.net/

http://www.southafrica.info/

http://www.gov.za/

http://www.saweb.co.za/

I just did a google and got the first 4 results. Should I, based on the above, condemn the south african web dev community? You see where I am going with this?

I understand you probably have already made up your mind and so won't be changing it anytime soon. Having said that, at least give all that I have said so far, some thought.

I'm surprised y'all see the need to waste your time arguing defensively with this guy. he lost me when he started warbling on about flash-heavy sites. Hell, even Adobe's site isn't flash heavy. . .

texazz,

We need to make him see the error in his ways and of his approach to this issue. If you notice, I am not attacking him but his posts. I don't want him to go home thinking that he has proven a point, when in fact, he hasn't.

It will be interesting to see how he responds to my last post with the 4 south african websites. We can't just go by what he has worked on

abegi! why are u guyz attacking the guy like that?

abbywax u are maybe right when it comes to animations in nigerian websites, they all look like ebooks

but apart from that sha, nigerian web designers are cool sha

visit www.nelxnigeria.com

I was part of the design team of that web portal

PURE JAVA --WICKET!!