₦airaland Forum

You might be in luck Nigeria: Niger Delta - Govt to Commit $160 Billion, Create 20,000 Jobs for Indigenes
http://allafrica.com/stories/200604190013.html

Back to your site,  all i can say is that the banner needs some "re-laying" are you a fan of Before and After Magazine? Teaches you (among other things) how to use simple 2-tone colors and layout to achieve works of magic.

Take a look at this site. i chose it becuase yours reminds me of it http://www.alumni.hbs.edu/

My issue is. people are usually not bothered about looks when it comes to a site like this, they are seeking info. this is were you will likely face your crankiest challenge yet. i say so because i work in Naija.

should you move to Naija (I think they made a mistake with the $160 billion but that is Naija for you) with your site gob-smacking good as it is, some dude will come up with something just as good but with more style and get the job ahead of you. why, people like function, but form is what they see and what they will most likely judge it by, (judging a book by its cover)

1) Low page weight
2) Page validates against XHTML strict
3) Page done in 100% CSS

my2cents, i like your standards-style approach. i think what will add more punch and marketability is style.

design is as important as coding standards.

I am not a core-IT person, infact you can classify me as one who stumbled into IT. I am not an afro-wearing, moniker-bearing, opensource fanatic. I am what you call your everyday user with a little curiosity and lots of motivation.

I can understand a site that delivers 100% function and i love it when everyone is tuned towards achieving well thought out standards, but guess what,  the Business-side drives innovation which drives IT and what drives the business-side is effizy (it is not what you do that counts but how you look doing it)

I think if we followed a strict-standards approach, we come up with the SAAB, efficient, functional but out of favour with the manufacturers themselves. why, cos it looked like a skoda next to a skoda.

I think we should be encouraging Standards with style and appeal (I don't mean sexy, just good-looking)

on your take of 100% CSS, I am still struggling with sites that use CSS to limit font size pixels that do not change with screen resolutions, instead, they have this unsightly widget that allows you to change font-size and background colors and other uneeded CSS tricks. why the extra effort when we should have just done the obvious and available.

I know i am not a magician and if not for poor insight (i should have been born in yankee,in a swanky literate-type suburb) and hyper-speed inflation.
I would be a perfect web-weaver/software-architect.

Anyways, here is what i have used on my way to the path of Salvation. you will thank me enough

1: http://www.asktog.com A site that focuses on good web-weaving (semantics, style, usability, accessibility, then features)

Here is what i have learned
1: Functionality is key (The site must not only do what it was designed to do, but must achieve the objectives set-out by the client. (and i do not mean things like traffic stats/Brand positioning/SEO and the other buzz-words we IT-types use to scope clients)
2: Usability: a very stubborn but wealthy software developer insists on duplicating a manual process in VB6, it takes exactly the same time it would in the real-world as it did on the ML370 Proliant Server with 2Gig of RAM, your website must be usable because people do not particularly surf to see beautiful websites, fine they like it whenever they do, but that is not their objective. You like google.com because it is usable and it is functional and meets your objectives (most times)
3: Accesibility: if you were born in the 70s youmust have seen the birth of DOS and word-perfect, all the hundreds of keyboard short-cuts and alternative tips. if i do not have a mouse, i should be able to use your website at least 50% of your website.

If you noticed, i do not mention anything about looks, why, FORM AND FUNCTION these two areas when developed to a good level will add all the beauty you will ever need

ask BMW and Honda

http://azuka.superihost.com/

it would seem somene beat me to it, but let's try the others

got it, will try it on all my sites

will look into it, tommorrow night, don't know why i prefer nights for these sort of work

Alas,  i  have done all the above in extreme fashion,  i once scanned a 30 paged brochure and used image-maps to create hyperlinks,  that website took an hour to load on a linkserve link of 1999. but all that is behind me now. i sometimes feel the urge to physically paint my monitor with light-bulbs and little flashign bunnies that scroll text in a marquee. drugs and special psychiatric  help has managed to keep the beast in me tamed.

so back to the issue.

Yes most naija websites are like that for the following reasons
1: The well-paying client usually knows what he wants and it must look like a sunny beach with lots of waves and bare-belly bikinis. so the web-designer eventually capitulates to designing for the client's eyes and ears.

2: Nigerians are hardworking and love the work of their hands no matter how ugly and disabled it looks,  a lot of web-designers (not developers) want to sit back and look at the squiggly lines they have just constructed with frontpage and a few javascripts. rather than take the best 5 international-standard websites and dubb the mutha off them,  they simply stick with their in-experiece and generate the crap you have just mentioned.

3: You get what you pay for,  if you pay N60 and expect to see Reuters.com youwill be sadly disappointed with punchng.com. so web designers just plonk a lot of effects pick up the cheque and move on,  Naija is not an easy place to work as a website designer.

Hopefully, a national competition will springup where web-designers will be encouraged to build better websites and win large prize monies. whay say you?

Hello, i do not see much green. i had a sense of peace and quiet when i visited the site, like nobody was there. it truly needs some spice, not the curry and pepper kind, the champagne and fireworks kind. (just kiddin)

Mr or Ms feyisara

I would love to give you tips but i prefer practicals, so what do you say, I want to give your site a make-over. you do not have to pay a dime. just help me with colors, corporate vision/mission and you really need to specialize in some area otherwise you end up being half-baked on all areas in your services page.

Soo what do you think. I'll also give you a logo that matches your vision/mission statement

remember, this is an awoof job, just sit back and watch the lemon spray that pepper thing into your eyes

PM me or send email to bisola_4@yahoo.com

well,  let me confess. i have done some nasty things to naija websites,  myself,  but not like defacing or hacking,  since you mentioned security,  here is a common security hole i used to exploit when Econet(now VMobile Trading as VeeNetworks) and some Banks had online SMS features.

1: register for the service
2: go to the form you would normally use to send your sms or request to view your customer account
3: Save it to your desktop.
4: Open it in frontpage or any HTML editor.
5: Change the POST form parameter to GET,if the form restricts you by way of limiting your choices using drop-down boxes and check-boxes, (For examle -you have only 3 sms left or select and account name to view) simply edit it and replace with your own, (use your imagination)
6: Submit the form, u should get a long list of parametes in the addressbar of Internet explorer that tells you about the system you are about to hack. (oops,  did i use the 4-letter word?)
7: Go back to your pyrated form and look for hidden form fields, make your changes and submit.

I got loads of free SMS from Econet and some credit-chopping pranks on buddies of mine. plus i kept watch on some of my debtors accounts to know when they got paid,  trust some webmasters to forget security when building bank websites

MY SOLUTION?
I am writing a script that checks whether a form was submitted from the domain it resides or some idiot lime me is trying to pull one off.

so if my site is www.pullmyfinger.com any script that processes form data checks to make sure that the form was submitted from www.pullmyfinger.com by checkign the referrer metatag.

Plus some other checks,  will clue you in when i am done

The customer is not always right, We have lost several jobs because we listened to the customer and sprayed the website with gratuitous flash, unneccesary graphics and needless javascript/dhtml effects, remember the swirly Swish text effects of years-long-gone?

So it was. after some smart compliant freelancer took one look at the site, did a make-over with sensibility and presented it to our client, he walked away with 3times the amoutn of money we charged and more business. we ended up looking like amateurs.

so stick with W3C-Compliant web designs

okay, send me a sample page and i'll do you a make-over, if you are pleased. its yours for a fair price,


what d'ya say? send me a PM

what!!. cigar, !! where, ohh there, it is a mont-blanc

but i see how it would come off looking like a cigar,

Does anyone know where to get an offline HTML Validator that is not for Sale?. maybe GNU

hmmm never thought about the sound thing,  it does sound over-used after a while,

I think i will remove the sound entirely,  the effizy effect is wearing off for most people who have visited the site. even for me too.

and my does it have a lot of HTML errors usign a HTML validator, well 3 frequent errors , images with no ALT tags, and somethign to do with flash EMBED tag, will look at it seriously, i think frontpage has somethign to strip all IE-specific tags


will check

After typing all this out i actually think it should be a new post but since we are discussing the subject, here goes
My people,  I greet you.

Like my boss would say back in the days,  "2 Things!" (it usually is 4 or 5 then trailing into a long lecture)

Fact: Businesses Small or Large are willing to pay for websites in Nigeria
Explanation: Any business is willing to pay for a service or product as long as its benefits will justify the costs significantly, in the short or long term. (reduce costs, new revenue streams, better corporate image, better worker efficiency and productivity, keeping up with international standards etc). those are values companies will pay for and history is testament to the fact that websites have generated billions of dollars, cut costs and done all the above mentioned.


Fact: There is a definite wave of competition in nearly every industry in Naija
Explanation: every business from pure water to Banks and Oil companies (Obj must be doing something right.) is actively looking for ways to get better with some level of differentiation either by flashy cars, new logos or websites. Websites are a welcomed tool for staying ahead of the pack or becoming industry leaders. (or at least looking the part)

Fact: (I know,  2 things, ) Most businesses in Nigeria (I would say all) have very little in terms of Online Strategy,  they have one for their normal business but it works differently on the internet and definitely differently for Nigeria. (now why is that strange)
Explanation: Every brick ‘n mortar business starts with a business plan (written or just common-sense thoughts). Online is a different ball-game and most businesses simply convert what they are doing in the real world, to an online version,  I know of a company that ignored its consultant and simply asked that their website is exactly like their brochure (everything we do is on it.). In the end they wondered why their yearly strategy session hammered on the importance of a good website among their competitors and why they now have to pay sooo much for just copying and pasting a single brochure.

Fact: Good and Bad web designers, programmers, developers, networking people etc (IT Consultants as they are widely known) are in "greedy-vicious-hawk" mode when going about the business of doing business. (we can argue that too, ).
Explanation: Yes companies outsourced IT simply because of cost reasons and service standards are the same but cheaper in India,  thus came the problems for IT in Naija, with our minute-sized thinking, leaders simply booted out IT departments for being cost centers and hired more expensive consultants to do the job, (this is were it gets better) IT consultants anywhere in the world are out to make money FIRST, then service later or forever if you still have the cash. No longer a cost center, they have devised means of remaining relevant to the client  such as monthly upgrades, calling a farm hoe a tractor, hidden charges, newer products (that are usually the teaspoon to go with that coffee cup or the fork you need to go with the plate of rice I sold you). That is why Naija websites all look and work the same (at least most of them)

Fact: Either party; IT dude and Prospective or existing clients: do not plan for continuity besides the IT dude sinking his teeth in and staying there as long as he can fathom up new problems to extend his stay and inevitably, cash. OR the company is ticked off “Corporate website” and is off to the new objective “High Networth” Customers or New cars for Marketing
Explanation: Because IT dudes and Companies look at websites like an objective, it value does not linger until Management decides the competitor has done an upgrade so must we. Websites are an ongoing concern and must look to continuously exist to make profit, deliver value and enhance productivity. The IT dude does not know or refuses to explain this because of survival factor or greed, or the IT manager simply wants a better appraisal each time a new feature is introduced,  OR,  the company does not know anything about websites so when they find out they have been shafted, the next IT dude who probably has better plans for them faces a huge mountain of objections from the recently IT-literate managers.

Summary suggestions
1: Meet every client at his point of need now and in the future: If you have a well laid out online strategy of how your client will make money or get value or beat the competiton,  then you have a good reason to say this is how much you will pay me. Because Value is Value whether it is in Calcutta or Ajegunle. If the client objects, tell them of their nearest competitor and how much they would get over them,  f’course you have to do things like Non-disclosure agreements to protect your research and plans.

2: Delivering VALUE FIRST is key. It is not a known Naija tradition, hardly encouraged until competition comes in (case in point, Multi-links was crap until GSM came in, they decided to up their standards). As an IT dude (or dudette). Seek real value because if you can build on the success of your client using your webified solution, chances are you can break off, and go solo selling your solution to everybody and making tons of cash. If your goal is to simply maintain a string of clients who are regularly paying you small amounts of cash every month, all it takes is for a smart dude with skills of a 419 website builder to create something nice-looking and there goes your client,  Remember, VALUE cannot be dislodged by EFIZZY.

3: Really,  really polish your skills in these areas
Technical Expertise: What you know about what solution you are proposing to your client. Companies usually believe you if they think you believe if yourself strong enough to sell them an the handle of a fridge separately from the fridge itself (lol)
Market Knowledge: Know your industry as well as your client’s that is why you are a consultant
Negotiation: Learn how to negotiate fairly and honestly because if you succeed in getting all the millions and do a shoddy job or your client finds out they are being shafted, having negative vibes from one company is the least of your worries, it is the other well-meaning IT dudes that get all the flak for your irresponsibility. On the flip-side, if your solution is working smoothly, then the irresponsible fees are okay. The client is happy
Project Management: Timely delivery more than often makes the client very happy, infact they often plan their business strategies on when you say you will deliver since everyone else makes up excuses for non-performance saying XYZ web developers have not deployed so I cannot market effectively
Wardrobe: Get a spanking corporate-class wardrobe and good shoes to match with that snanny perfume., a good PDA phone and a nice pen to go with the whole thang.
Grammar and business-speak:  I always worry when I hear the Naija IT dude with a spanking British accent. (American is fine) but I think the flat-upper-lipped, snotty nostrils and pancake face with a pocklington degree. Is couched to sell you snake oil. If you have not noticed many firms trying to sell a product for which there is little need or demand, get someone with a think british accent who is either very chubby or very slim, and they go on and on about how many top clients in the UK , Europe and Asia are using their product,  (So why are they not selling in Naija). Either way, learn to speak with impact, choose the right adjectives and definitely avoid such high sounding buzz words like portals, paradigm shifts and enterprise,  it would pay you very much to have one person with an accent preferably a girl(Trust me I know how Naija companies think emoptionally). But honestly,  get a book on presentations and connecting to people on an emotional level,  or better still get someone who is into 419 to teach you how to do it. (just being sly)

Client Relationship Mgt: Your client thinks a lot about you when you start giving them service,  You are the first port of call when they have problems, if they cannot reach you after a while, they start thinking poorly of your services even if they recently just had a virus attack,  nonetheless,  always keep them within a call’s reach.

Corporate Materials (Business cards, Letterheads etc) Get a good, creative and catchy design, that says, we are professionals so deals with us professionally

Get a good car: I know it sounds vain,  but clients think a lot of your successes when they see the car you drive or the clothes you wear or you perfume,  if you cannot get a good car,  invest in some money to hire a BORA and drive it to that important meeting or presentation,  let them see you in a different car each time,  get one of those Stickers you can place on the side of the car when. When you are done you can always rip it off without damage to the BORA material (I hear it is from mars)

Always remember the Karma in the IT business, if you shaft someone, your next IT brother gets shafted,

the logo and the slogan are the client's they also wanted their corporate colors and nothing else because they wanted it to match their brochures,  so we did not have anything really to do in terms of design, that is why the site is so minimalist. I was afraid webmasters might think it sucked,  the client likes it though, 

recieved suggestions.
1: change Flash Navigation to HTML based links
2: the flash animation is composed of alternate graphics that have a blurred and sharp versions. will use a single image instead and use flash blurred effects; then crop the width to fit the image only not the entire background, it should load pretty sharpish
3: you are right, estrolli should have their page load up in a separate window rather than carry visitors away fromthe main site.


Thanks,  i really appreciated your suggestions and criticisms

just re-lauched www.i-skillonline.com

please let me know exactly what you think and any suggestions to improve it, nothign spared.

thanks

expecting your valued suggestions

Hello all.

I have been asked to do a budget for a procurement portal that will in essence do the following
1: store contractor details
2: engage a criteria-based qualification system to select contractors
3: keep a subscription engine for interested service providers who wan to be listed on the portal
4: an auditing engine to keep track of all transactions (messages, alerts, RFPs, Enquiries etc)
5: policy-based security framework (in line with SOX preferably)
6: data analysis & reporting engine
7: document production (online pdf generation) and delivery engine

I think i have a good cost outlay N6 m, thanks

I don't know about the FBI or CIA but the SSS in Nigeria are very poor at pretending, or going under-cover,

I think they get paid a lot, because they definitely look fresh, which is why i find it odd that a broke arse area boy will have fresh skin and some sense to boot, or a talkative comedian will get drunk and spark up irrelevant football gist all month long and drive home in a golf instead of stumbling all the way to an okada, they just need to change the way they operate, i can spot them before they even leave home.

and they have a violent streak (maybe not generally) but majority, i think it is the training,

Anyway good luc, the ones i know are always playign bulletproof vest to Atiku, oops, di di just give myself away,

I think it is a good idea. i design websites, i don't think i have hit that sublime peak of perfection, but i do get a few kudos from clients.. I hope to do better websites that can take on the Standards Internationally and excel beyond those standards.. probably set new ones.. (in your dreams) but i am okay with satisfied clients.

HOWEVER.... however. just as philips consulting came up with webjurists for financial services companies.. i think there should be some clearing of the Ozone... (Templaters like me and half-breed web-designers,cum programmers who incidentally grab good jobs with whiz-bangs rather than functionality) so that clean, serious and practical web designers can truly rise to the top.

I thought about this idea 2 years ago.. some independent rating agency that showcases best websites and their designers and ranks them accordingly.. points given for toe2toe livingup2global standards type of thing.. (don't mind the grammar; think of the context)

In the end you get a ranking that allocates some baseline budget to designers, the best get bigger budgets so clients can fall or rise to the level they can afford.

and designers are gingered up to get better and better.. making life all the more better for clients, Nigeria, West africa, World, Milky way, Cosmos... maybe them get web designers for heaven.. cannot imagine no websites in heaven.. no footy.. no bballing.. just eternal singing and rejoicing.. no nairaland forums either..

Why is it that everytime we make it to a major soccer competition without adequate preparation, we go on about how well we did in the past and how good our players are individually..

Does it mean the whole of africa has puke talents and we have all the aces in one box?

I think not.. reminds me of how our sports commentators always miss the mark until after the first half. and still they miss the scoreline until after 90minutes.

Look here... sure we've got quality players, but we had quality players going into teh last world cup did we not.. and came off with a hairs-breath of a goal from julius.

Ma guys. the best we can do is third place.. why.. cos that is what we honestly deserve..

c'mon other teams trained hard and have talents as well.. just because we a Naijans.. does not mean we win this time

chain mails or forwarded messages or those cute stories about a little girl in china who needs just a prayer from you all bank on the fact that a lot of people this side of the planet (naija) knwo very little about eMarketing and how large corporations pay anythign from $1000 to $5000 for fresh email addresses to send their SPAM to

here is how it works

1: You get a message from someone out of the blue, you may or may not knwo thsi person
2: you read the message and forward it to everyone you know who in turn forward it to other people.
3: Why do they ask you to forward it?..
4: There is one or two email addresses belonging to the email harvester.. all the forwards get to him with everyones email addresses..
5: he proceeds to harvest them, then sells them to companies interested in selling crap products to people who have not blocked their messages usign anti-spam software..
6: it is like 419, if they mass market a $2 to 2% of the emails harvested, maybe 10,000 (which is very modest) they get large sums in profit..
7: you my finger-forwarding friend have just contribted to the scheme, by forwarding that stupid message

Rottweiler:
God has been very good to me! I have ONLY a diploma and I have been able to train all my siblings (6) to University level after my dad passed on. Certification or not, I am reckoned with in my chosen field (web design) where I work. With a salary of between 6.5M & 7M PA, who won't be happy in Naija?

My bruvva... hook me up instanta. 6.5 pa in Naija.

I am definitely interested where do you work.?

forgve my metaphors.. when i say 3-D i meant being able to turn sets of data into related parts so you can make meaning of it. i think it is part of a course in database design.

you have to be able to see data in relation to what each part means to the whole. (there i go again)


That is what i meant.. try doing it with mySQL not real 3-D/2-D Visualization

Lie in the real sense.? they make statements that can be seen as invalid from another point of view..

I think men simply embellish the truth.. in my days all you needed was N50 suya and cheap ice-cream and you got the goods,these days you'll be lucky to get a number without looking like 2million bucks with 5m to spare.. women love embellishments.. it is like fashionable clothing accessories, when men wear these lies (embellishments) they utterly trip (literarilly) flattery use to work to get girls to sleep with you.. (make her head swell soo much she does not notice she is already in the bedroom), now you really need to try other tactics

lies? no.. it is possible men can make good their claims in due course (yea right)

Same problem i had with mySQL.. it is simply not relational.. you cannot visualize data in 3D like MSSQL. verything is in a flat structure in ms SQL which was my major problem with it. you cannot link 2-3 tables and view the results. you have to aggregate everything into one table.. sucks.. hope it has changed with recent versions.. almost died getting a form to pick data and post to a database then send email. I know it is easy now... after 1 week of frying my brain cells.

php is good.. and you had to mention CGI.. for me I believe technology is growing to a level where ordinary people can work with it and turn out really funky stuff. Xample... I have written commercial class applications in VB, I know windows API and can decipher device drivers without any knowledge of C++, UNIX, CORBA or the other high level technologies Thanks to Microsoft (though I am still pissed I lost 300GB plus of data becuase windows re-wrote my MFT while trying to fix it.)

Quote From pendelite

Bravo lagerwhenindoubt......'
Is that your escape

I have found out that there is no rush in life cept if you are 28, female and single (30+ are okay, they have decided what they want in life)

When i need to get over a problem in this fast-paced and psychedelic Lagos environment, I drop everything... one bottle of ice-chilled Star, lay back for 30-40 minutes and the answer just presents itself.. (though I won't advise u do it if you have too many problems in a day... could be stoned for months)

Well.. my only advice is ... get some appropriate government official or wealthy private interests interested in it.

Why? simple, credibility, ownership and funds..

It is an idea well done (u could stick a fork in it) but i can tell you as soon as it starts picking up speed, somebody up there will notice and suddenly hijack or spin-off a parallel association sponsored by the government.. only there is no IT ambassador or the likes to run it, just IT-gaffed politicians who wish to use it as a medium to spend money.

If not for insight, money and clout the webjurist awards would be in the hands of some Ibrahim Mantu or the likes

Likely Candidates, Donald Duke, Jim Ovia, Gerald llukwe.

Why not lets do a position paper on it?

I am not a fan of full-fledged flash websites, but i have to say this one loaded up pretty quickly..

nice job..

You might want to consider a few htm pages with appropriate meta tags so search engines can index your site.. don't think Major search engines index flash content .. Yet.

Nigeriasn have really come of age in this web design thing..

I remember when Linkserve charged N5,000 per megabyte hosting and allowed only 3 images and 10 pages for close to N100,000

Had us then did they not?

is it before or after credit cards wipe them off.

they shoudlhave seen it coming, the credit cards will open up nigerian merchants to the outside world.. where Interswitch has a lot of processing problems

Nope.. Cost of Designing and hosting a Good Web Portal?!

Varies... anywhere between N15,000 to N5,000,000 depends on what you intend to do with it

Unless you want to match functionality for functionality and feature for feature with http://www.lagosstate.gov.ng/ I'd gve you a N150,000 bill to do it on Win2k3 platform ASP or .NET

But if you have a more richer vision, then you will need to review your requirements specifically and
do a brief that addresses

1: what is the purpose
2: how is content going to be sourced, managed and updated
3: what host to use, shared or dedicated etc
4: what technologies, Opensource or Commercial
5: suport and maintenance.. costs and availability
6: revenue building strategy...
just a short list.if you are looking in this direction, you will have

Also what exactly are your goals. even the lagos state "portal"  (that term is soo used and abused) has goals.. is to deliver customized content, search engine, education, health, would you be offering personalized services, would there be paid advertising, free SMS. community forum etc

A portal is different from a simple website (with pages and links to about us, our products etc) it must have a well thought-out business strategy If you have not done that already, Consultancy will cost you to do good research into the Industry you are targetting, likely customer-base and revenues etc

What I have mentioned are simply features and functionalities that portals have in common.
That is a good place to start, a general layout (web design) can be done for really low low cost, like $200 or N30,000.. if anyone tells you you can get the rest of the portal within $500, they must be using open-source but i doubt they will render service on a volunteer basis

Like i said, depends on your level of sophistication.. reliable hosting can go for at least N10,000 pa or N100,000 dedicated Server.

Just look at a minimum of N300,000 for something better than http://www.lagosstate.gov.ng/ or N1m for something like AOL http://www.aol.com I am not saying AOl built their site for that amount oh..