Hi Guys,

I finally launched my web design blog and here's the address. www.webpromag.co.uk

Please check it out and let me know what y'all think.

I intend to update this thread with posts from the blog - I hope that is not illegal, Omnipotens.

Anyways, your feedback will be appreciated.

Bookmarked
I'm glued to an article which u linked back to from ur blog.

I dont do critiques, sorry. . . all i can say is tht i have bookmarked it. thts like getting ur site into my little "hall of fame".

pie, e b like say them take Joomla swear for you 

Anyways, I like what I see.  As I said in an earlier post, it is something I have always wanted to do but haven't due to lack of time which is why I find myself posting a lot here on NL.  It is one thing to come up with what you have but a totally different thing to keep the folks coming back by keeping the content fresh.  Good luck!

As my way of showing appreciation, please accept the following additions to your site.  For the code, please verify that it works on your end before posting (make person no scatter your blog ) and feel free to change variable names, function names, verbiage, etc.  Once again, well done!

================
Blog Roll:

Andy Budd: http://www.andybudd.com/archives/2007/05/css22/

CSS Zen Garden: http://www.csszengarden.com/

Javascript and the arguments object:

Question:
Does javascript support method overloading? 

Answer:
Technically, yes.  This it does via its "arguments" object.  Let's say you want to write a math function that adds 2 numbers together.  This would mean writing a function like so, function addTwoNums(a,b).  But what of if you want to pass in just one argument?  This can be done in javascript, again, via the "arguments" object.  Explanation:

The arguments object keeps track of all arguments passed into a function, as an array.  Just like any array, one can use the "length" property to determine the number of items it is holding. Taking advantage of this, we could have the following 2 function calls:

var addition1, addition2;

addition1 = addTwoNums(3);
alert("The function call with 1 argument returns an answer of: " + addition1);

addition2 = addTwoNums(3, 5);
alert("The function call with 2 arguments returns an answer of: " + addition2);

With the function declaration like so:

function addTwoNums(a,b) {
    var args = arguments;
    var sum;

    if(args.length == 1) { //first function call above
        sum = a * 5; // which equals 15
    }   else  { //second function call above
        sum = a + b; // which equals 8
    }
    return sum;
} //end function addTwoNums(a,b)

Hopefully, at some point we all on this section can move passed the pixel-pushing and "design"-type posts and focus more on the development side of things.  I think it is about time and to that effect, as I have stated also in an earlier post, beginning in 2009 and moving forward, I will refrain from replying to "site review" and design-type posts in favor of posts that actually make us think  and debate issues.

pie, e b like say them take Joomla swear for you

I know, almost all my recent sites are joomla-based and I don't see any end in sight. I just love the simplicity and the fact it's highly scalable.

It is one thing to come up with what you have but a totally different thing to keep the folks coming back by keeping the content fresh.

This was one point which I had to really think about. Luckily, Joomla allows me (not unlike any other blogging software) to auto-publish and unpublish content items, so I can just load articles in batch at the beginning of each week, and let it do it's thing. Of course, I provide "oversight".

Thanks for the links and the article. I'll add them.

in favor of posts that actually make us think  and debate issues.

Yeah, my sentiment exactly.

Thanks again

Just wanted to add - with this post, you will probably see where the hearts of some of the "webmasters" lie.  When it comes to posts that involve learning, you will not find them.  Put up a post that allows for personal attacks, site reviews, "show me your work", "do you know who i am?" and dem go full.

Let's hope this isn't the case here

yawa-ti-de:

Just wanted to add - with this post, you will probably see where the hearts of some of the "webmasters" lie.  When it comes to posts that involve learning, you will not find them.  Put up a post that allows for personal attacks, site reviews, "show me your work", "do you know who i am?" and them go full.

Let's hope this isn't the case here

What do you expect when you have more of designers in here than programmers? The few here are still kinda new in the industry so wouldn't attend to posts bigger than their coding levels. They only wait for you to solve the puzzle anywhere they find one then they learn if they care or just copy, paste and save in case of tomorrow. If any confusion arises, they post back for you to give them the solution. Again, they copy, paste and save.

Don't blame anyone anyway. Just that 2009 will surely have to change things. Either you are safely on the programming posts and known there or you just maintain on the designing side and power greatly there. You only peep into where you feel is higher for you to learn and in the shortest time, you'll start contributing as well.

Here's another good one i left out from last time: http://www.zeldman.com/

Thanks guys.
This article just in -

Who really owns a website?

I was having this debate with a few colleagues of mine recently about software ownership in a case where there is no contract between client and supplier (web designer). It may come as a surprise, but even today, too many web designers and web design clients prefer to skip this particularly thorny issue at the beginning of a project only to be forced to deal with it much later (and often in a not-so-friendly manner).

Read the rest of the entry

And please post your comments

Weeeeell,

I tried adding a comment (both as an unregistered and registered member) but came up with a blank page, below the post, each time. Here are my comments:

Everywhere I have worked, it has always been the policy of the employer that they own any code you right. I have never bothered asking but an educated guess would be that they are afraid that you will leave them for a competitor and using the same code you wrote for them, you could give the competitor an advantage by reusing the same code.

I personally have a way around that - saving off any code of mine I deem important to a CD, flash drive and hard drive at home. After all I wrote it I mean, if indeed I go to a competitor (hasn't happened so far as having been scarred by an employer, I don't see why I would want to go through the same thing twice, though you you never know ), why reinvent the wheel?

Thanks for bring that to my notice, yawa. Your comment has been added.

Professional Website Design - It's Easy When You Know How!

You know what you want, you can see it in your mind's eye. Now it's time to actually put your website design down on paper. But you're wondering where to start. How do you go about professional website design. To be honest it's not black magic and here are some easy steps to follow.

Read the rest of this entry

pie1ct,

Nice article.  The one thing that we as Nigerian developers should apply more than anything is the testing part.  How many times have you seen a website advertised here for review full of broken links, inconsistent layouts between browsers, forms that don't validate, etc? It seems once we hand over a site to a client and the client approves, we could care less, as long as the client didn't observe anything.

As professionals, we have a reputation to maintain.  I personally for instance could probably whip up a site in 2 or 3 days.  However, I hate finding errors or having people identify errors to me so I tell my clients that it takes me 2 weeks to do a site, granted it will take me a week or less. 

I believe in incremental testing, with 3 different browsers (IE6, IE7, FF) open at all times - I put up the header, I test.  I put up the navigation, I test.  And it goes on and on.  It is better to identify a problem as it occurs as opposed to putting up an entire site and trying to figure out the source.

yawa-ti-de:

pie1ct,

Nice article.  The one thing that we as Nigerian developers should apply more than anything is the testing part.  How many times have you seen a website advertised here for review full of broken links, inconsistent layouts between browsers, forms that don't validate, etc? It seems once we hand over a site to a client and the client approves, we could care less, as long as the client didn't observe anything.

As professionals, we have a reputation to maintain.  I personally for instance could probably whip up a site in 2 or 3 days.  However, I hate finding errors or having people identify errors to me so I tell my clients that it takes me 2 weeks to do a site, granted it will take me a week or less. 

I believe in incremental testing, with 3 different browsers (IE6, IE7, FF) open at all times - I put up the header, I test.  I put up the navigation, I test.  And it goes on and on.  It is better to identify a problem as it occurs as opposed to putting up an entire site and trying to figure out the source.

Thanks Yawa. Professionalism is sadly lagging behind in the Nigerian web design industry. We can only improve it by discussing it constantly (as is done everywhere else) and it has to be a joint effort by [i]real [/i]professionals in the industry. This discussion also has to involve clients as well, as their lack of awareness is one of the main drivers of the low level of professionalism in the industry. When clients begin to demand professionalism, they'll get it but as long as they don't demand it. . .
 
Take Tinapa, calabar for instance. They've got two websites that I'm aware of. One is a picture, the other is . . a website. A website with almost all the wrong shades of color.  I'm sure the designer of the "website" will have collected hundreds of thousands for that site. Why not make it look professional? And why leave tinapa.com(the picture site) to go to waste, why not re-direct it to the main site or at least provide some information about the new site.
I guess the designer of both sites will tell you "the client is happy with what they got". I'm sure they are, they don't know it could be better. They don't know an organization like Tinapa should have booking facilities on their websites as their clients come from home and abroad.

I heard this quote somewhere "If you think hiring a professional is expensive, wait till you see the cost of hiring an amateur".

Na wa this Yawa tide again!

"If you think hiring a professional is expensive, wait till you see the cost of hiring an amateur".

Priceless!

Here are some other sites I dug up that are "sister" websites:
- www.pioneernewsonline.com and www.pioneerng.com

- www.akwaibomstategov.com and www.aksgonline.com

e pass na wa. na waiya

zstyle:
Wetin concern bird with toothbrush? Wat beef u got with me?

Beef ke, . . .spit em throway! God forbid bad thing!

yawa-ti-de:

Here are some other sites I dug up that are "sister" websites:
- www.pioneernewsonline.com and www.pioneerng.com

- www.akwaibomstategov.com and www.aksgonline.com

e pass na wa. na waiya

My brother, de tin fear man o. How clients can accept such a shoddy job is beyond me. What some Nigerian developers don't understand is that there is so much money to be made in Nigeria. I don't even know whether they really don't get it or they are only too eager to turn a profit, however small it may be. There is a huge market potential in Nigeria. The hotel sector seems untouched)and I mean untouched, the real estate sector is there among others. These are clients you can sell your services to, and in addition make money by selling them add-on services.

Few months back, I talked to a few major firms in the country about their [i]existing [/i]websites and they all agreed they needed improvements in specific areas. These guys were willing to pay as much as N200,000 monthly for a service which would have cost me less than half of that to provide. Then I was planning to move to Nigeria and I was scoping out the market. As things turned out, I couldn't make the move then (which I most definitely will), but it opened my eyes to the very real prospect of what is possible for a professional web application development firm at home.

People just want quick money and are only too eager to sacrifice long-term benefits for the short-term gains and the results are just frightfully appalling.

yeah pie1ct,

One thing I will say is that when you have the opportunity to leave the country, even for a week, if you are entrepreneurial, upon return, you will see there is so much opportunity in Nigeria.

I think one way of being able to charge more for our services would be advertising. I have brought this up before on this forum and was basically laughed at. IMHO, if you advertise, you attract the big fish. The big fish will only go after "bait" that they assume can afford to put ads on the airwaves. In turn, you are able to charge such more money because after all, for one, you have to charge them for the ads you put out - transfer of cost. Of course, the only caveat is, when they start calling, you have the resources to handle all of them cos they will come.

As long as we, for the most part, are dealing with individuals (with limited cash supply), we will continue to bargain prices and earn little money. Sure, 100K might sound like a lot but what is wrong with making $10K on a basic, informational company website?

yawa-ti-de I totally agree with you there is so much power in advertising lets take the big multinationals for example for the fact that are big and well know yet they still advertise you never can tell one ad placement might just give you that big hit you have been looking for

yawa-ti-de:

yeah pie1ct,

I think one way of being able to charge more for our services would be advertising. I have brought this up before on this forum and was basically laughed at. IMHO, if you advertise, you attract the big fish. The big fish will only go after "bait" that they assume can afford to put ads on the airwaves. In turn, you are able to charge such more money because after all, for one, you have to charge them for the ads you put out - transfer of cost. Of course, the only caveat is, when they start calling, you have the resources to handle all of them because they will come.

Yeah, when they start calling, you should have the resources to handle them. I agree packaging and presentation really does matter in this industry. But, if you are a small firm and you don't have an advertising budget, you should still be able to compete by networking and upselling. But one way or another, you've got to get yourself out there, make yourself or your firm visible to the "big fish".

If a firm feels it is too small to compete, then I suggest joining forces, with respect to skill sets they don't have and present themselves as a larger force. For example, I am not good at graphics and would probably lose out a great deal on jobs. Hence, I outsource that part to someone and concentrate on what I know best - coding.

This reminds me of that classic illustration where the Father brings his kids together and asks them to individually break a broomstick then hands them a broom to do the same thing. The more the merrier. There is power in numbers.

Wow, I seriously love the deviation in this thread. The sudden move just got me hooked this morning while going through posts on different threads.

The real thing here just as you all have said is advertising. I personally didn't make that great move to do real adverts until this tail end of the year when I tried though carelessly. The result just gave me an insight to what is yet to be harnessed out there in different sectors.

Here (Advertising) is the next step we should work hard to greatly think out and find a better means of achieving. It is a target and an icon to great untapped resources.

Happy News Year, folks.

Wishing you all a successful year and here's hope we get to see more professional Nigerian web products in the coming year ahead.

Here's my wishes for the year ahead.

Thanks for this wishes Pie.

Hope you enjoy the new year!

You can still greet all generally on the first thread on the section.

As my ogbomosho friend would say pie1ct, "shame" to you

To that web dev list, I would add "work smart and not hard" cos you could work less but still do it the hard way

Good luck to us all in 2009 and beyond.

@yawa-ti-de

Remember you've not sent out greetings to the section. Don't forget the new year's greeting in case you failed that of Xmas

https://www.nairaland.com/nigeria/topic-211535.0.html See the link please.

Oga moderator, na wa for u o

Okay, I don post for there. What's next, oh mighty one?

Next is ENJOY YOUR NEW YEAR !!!

IT IS GOD GIVEN.

We all have the cause to rejoice and be glad for this is the day the Lord has made.

Rejoice and be glad!