₦airaland Forum

To ncpat:

Considering that everyone is conversant with googling for information, I commend you for taking the time to put this tutorial on this forum. MissEniola, I troway salute on the intermediate section as well.

To all:
In general, u may want to use actual hex codes to specify color as not all browsers interprete the english versions well. So use "#ffffff" as opposed to "white". Also, regardless of what u use, enclose the color in qoutes. It may still work otherwise, but its good coding practice to enclose in quotes. Same as telling someone who takes shots in soccer that though if his shot goes over the bar, it is still a shot, it would be better if it were on target to hit the back of the net

Again, good job to ncpat and MissEniola.

kajad:

Posts like this are the reason y i joined NL. The trust you have in ur fellow mates is wat made u post this.

I look forward to seeing more of this from us all

Getting back to the brass tacs, I just finished a website for someone back there , political one, that is. If interested, send an email to itoro@bellsouth.net with subject "Political website".

Thanks

smartsoft:

I think that by saying (and correct me if I hv read your statement wrong ), to paraphrase, that an independent person would do a better job than a big company is a generalization. I don't think this is the case across the board. In general, I would say that the bigger companies would be better cos they have the money to not only higher the cream of the crop, but also the money to send their employees on training. Where the independent person wins out is in price.

Again, generally spking, if a company had a choice of taking a risk on an independent person and going with a company that has been around and has the reputation, I think that company (including mine if I had one) would go for the latter.

So to counter this, an independent person should ramp up a serious marketing campaign, the aim of which is to appear like a 50-person company, for example, whereas it is just him coding under a mango tree

Make sense?

rock2:
I am not in naija and so haven't had that many jobs in the area. Having said that, I have coded 3 sites for pple over there so far and the charge (for static sites with b/w 5 and 10 pages) has ranged from N150K to N200K.

I haven't had a chance to do an SEO/Auditing work for folks in Nigeria. From my experience so far, I don't think some of the pple there appreciate its importance. I think once they see flash objects running around on the screen, they get so giddy that they forget about all their worldly worries

I hope this helps.

Timmy:
So when u say u just finished a 934 page site, does that mean actual pages or 934 pages that are all based on the same 1-page template? . I ask because I work for a company with over 50,000 pages (about 35,000 indexed on google), yet there are only but 50 or so actual pages that have code in it The rest are dynamically generated (?car=toyota&color=red&transmission=auto, u get the gist, am sure). If you did code 934 pages, no offense dude, but something is wrong somewhere. For one, if u needed to make a change, you would probably need to make it 934 times. Sure, u can do a general find and replace, but that will hog up memory and probably cause your PC to crash.

Finally, as loungr said, a 2 page site might end up costing more, *on average*, than a 934 page site. In the end, though it might not wet your appetite or that of other experienced guys here, it might be the right avenue for all the posters of "how to design a website/best place to learn how to design a website" to get their feet wet in the biz.

Coolmanlg:
LOL, the last time I saw 2 kobo (not to talk of use), was maybe 1980. Back when i could buy a bottle of coke for 50kobo (and with a 50kobo note as well). Hell, I had to go to the CBN website recently just to remember what they looked like. Having said that, yes, most sites out there aren't up to speed with respect to web standards. I jumped on the bandwagon last year. Once u try it, u definitely don't want to go back. If you (and others) are interested in seeing my work, YIM me (udotot25). My sites are 99.9% CSS (some aspects of XHTML are just too annoying for me to implement right now, so i use transitional). I mostly switch to tables for forms. I use little or no graphics/flash on purpose. My pages load, on average, b/w 8 - 10 seconds. I aim to one-up my work with each new site that I implement.

Spikedcylinder:
Thanks for the promotion When people promote me like this, there is too much pressure o! I no sabi if i go fit live up to the hype. I know what I know and not much else. Thanks anyway. Loungr and I chat every now and then. The problem is that based on where I am and he is, I might quote him a price that would b out of his range. So, in that case, I will yield to the homegrown talent back at home. I do intend to return one day to help groom that talent, so keep me in your prayers.

I believe I have thrown in a few kobo myself after that rant LOL

Panache:

Though what u r saying is true, to the trained eye, a template can be spotted from half a mile away. Personally, if I c a templated site (especially those from out of the box software like FP et al), I am turned off immediately. I will usually give them benefit of doubt by viewing the source. Moreover, such templates tend to add bloated, and often unnecessary code. On the other hand, if you were to develop a site from scratch and use that code as a template for others, there will be a noticeable difference. What I am saying is similar to using MS word clip art, as opposed to spending money on higher grade art on a CD, as opposed again to paying a designer to come up with something that is very professional.

Remember, and this may depend on where u r, a company like IBM is willing to spend thousands on their site. Believe me, they will not pay you that much to put a bunch of cookie-cutter html/graphics templates on their site, thus possibly ruining their reputation and damaging their brand, which is all a serious company has. I personally get turned off by Nigerian-based sites that have a bunch of photos of white pple or pple who though black, aren't Nigerian at all.

As always, my 2 cents

I believe if you were to do a google for "free web counters", some sites should come up. U wd then hv a choice of what counter you would like (text, graphic, size, color, etc).

I hope this helps.

First off, in general, if as u say pple like ur stuff, then by law of demand, ur prices should be higher than that of Olumide down the street

Here are my services, which dictate price. I will arrange it in ascending order:

Sites from scratch:
- Site Auditing (looking for bugs, violations of web standards, etc): I offer no solutions with this service

- Site Auditing with how to fix problems: I won't fix them in this case but hand the solutions to the client's IT department.

- Site Auditing: I would not only point out the problems but fix them as well.

- Static site (up to 5 pages)

- Static site (5 or more pages)

- Dynamic site (up to 5 pages)

- Dynamic site (5 or more pages)


In general, if they supply graphics/flash objects, it will b a little cheaper. I also offer templates vs custom-design. I charge flat rates. Finally, if I am coding from scratch, I will throw in SEO, accessibility, etc as freebies. However, if I am asked to add these to an existing site, I offer a fixed rate for that too.

I hope this helps. If not, let me know and I will try to explain some more.

yeah guys,

I think it has to do with the fact that (please note: I am not in support of the policy myself) certain "things" in our blood - malaria parasite/potential of there to be malaria parasite, hepatitis A virus, etc. Someone in the health industry, pls feel free to help me out

Bottomline, its insulting. Wanna know whatz even worse, at least to me? How about wen my Dad got here, I took him to get a driver's license. Naturally, he drove in Nigeria and all we expected to was to turn in his Nigerian license and get the Georgia version. We were told the DMV doesnt honor Nigerian Driver's licenses, yet they honor licenses from Niger Republic, Benin and Togo

Na wa o! Wetin we do dis oyibo sef?

Old Glory and Walel:

Una dey forget one thing: The asshole of the person, upon 24 hours (or less) of landing in prison, will automatically change from a one-way street to a heavy occupancy 2-way access road, if you catch my drift

Sorry guys, too long to copy and paste: http://www.cnn.com/2006/TECH/internet/07/19/google.logo/index.html .

He's only 28. Now, this guy is a true webmaster

Here's looking at you kid - old school movie

I'm not like other guys, I'm different - Michael Jackson Thriller (I used to use that line when chiking babes back in the day and it worked all the time - hint, hint )

Bring it on - Superman 2

Sorry, but my friend is kind of slow. It is actually that way - dumb and dumber

Where u from motherfucker. Do they spk English in "what"? - Pulp Fiction

Are you done? Well, allow me to retort - Pulp Fiction

You can't handle the truth - A few good men

I have tons more, but they will mostly b from Pulp Fiction. That movie comes highly recommended from me

Badman:

Na true talk. Also, cos it is nigeria, u never know, the survey could be biased. I for one don't c a country like Algeria with a history of wars being above us. Then again, they are in the mediterranean and closer to Euroope than we are.

U b real bad man

Walelead, let me make ur mouth water some more

Tis the rainy season, so you know what that means: Roasted fresh maize (I refuse to call it corn) with pear. Follow that up with some grade 1 mango. Then snack on some fresh boiled groundnuts and naturally ripened banana (not the carbon dioxide injected ones which u guys in the UK probably have as well).

is ur mouth dripping now?

Well,

It's been a while. Jobs have been slow coming in. At least I have my main job to put food on the table in times like these

I am currently working on: http://www.akpfonline.org/

As usual, check it out and tell me what you think. Right now, I would say the site is 80% done. That to me usually means that all I am waiting for is content from the client.

Let me know what u think please, thanks in advance

As some of you may know, I subscribe to "The Economist" magazine. I highly recommend it to anyone who is tired of the "who got shot/entertainment" news that seems to be the norm these days. Anyways, in the one I just finished reading (it is a weekly and due to being busy, I am just now reading the february versions, but I digress ), it made mention of something pretty interesting:

Nigeria ranks 8th among African nations (as of 2005) when it comes to cell phone usage at about 15 phones per 100 people. This actually represents a 105% increase from 2004

1st - 7th (respectively): South Africa, Tunisia, Botswana, Algeria, Morrocco, Kenya and Egypt.

What surprised me the most though was that Botswana was ahead of us (40 phones/100 people) and that upon all the hype about Ghana, we surpassed them (they came in 14th at about 10 phones/100 people).

As for the other countries below Nigeria: sorry but I don't hv the magazine right now and due to information overload, I didnt have enough brain cells to spare for memorizing the list. Sorry, but at least you learnt something new today

Nutter:

I blv the word you are looking for is oxymoron LOL

Jalal:

What you are looking for, I presume, is html hex(adecimal) codes, not necessarily background colors. U can apply these to text as well as graphics.

Here is the url i visit when I need some help with that: http://www.webmonkey.com/webmonkey/reference/color_codes/

In general, you could have gone to google and typed in the following as a possible search string "html hex codes". Also, to help u with choosing what colors go well with each other, try this site I use from time to time: http://www.webdevelopersnotes.com/design/14.php3

Of course others exist. Again, all u hv to do is do a google search.

I hope this helps

Oga Chxta:

Bad, very bad way to help someone. Just because you were born with a 1000 point IQ doesn't mean that everyone will be like u!

I for one, am a slow learner. Fortunately for me, once I grab the concept, it sticks. Perhaps a better way to tell him without telling him would have been to say, "Here is a brief intro, but in the future, you might want to do a google search". Then you give an example or 2.

There is a way u talk to someone and the person will go above and beyond the call of duty. On the other hand, there is a way u talk to someone and the person either recoils/withdraws or becomes rebellious.

Not a bash, just free advice. Jalal could be smarter than you in other areas of life. You just don't know. He would probably be the one putting up that graphic instead of you. How would u feel? As I often say, the only dumb question is one that is never asked.

A word is enough for the wise.

oga ckenneths:

Let me preface by saying (not because I want to announce but cos many pple who chat with many right off the bat make stupid assumptions and draw yeye conclusions ): Though I am not there, I visit quite often and communicate with those there and those who go/return from there quite often to know "what is on ground". Having said that, it is my opinion that though there is a Nigerian dream, it is disproportionately distributed. It is being realized by few who to make matters worse, *for the most part* want to reap the benefits alone.

Sure, the "dream" will only b achieved by individuals relying on their God-given talent (any talent that makes pple embezzle money or make money via ofala shrine means doesnt count ) and not handouts from the government. That notwithstanding, the govt needs to provide the conducive environment for individuals to develop the talent in them.

Just a thought

oga radsfield,

u cd b right. that notwithstanding, u hvnt answered my question. he is human after all and not immune to temptation. Remember Tai Solarin and how we swore never to wear suit in his life. As soon as IBB give am chairman of pplez bank, what happened?

All dis talk of Pat Utomi sef.

I don't know the guy myself, but are we sure that, assuming he becomes president, he won't fall for the same temptations as did wole soyinka (fed road safety) and tai solarin (may his sould RIP - pplez bank)?

Something to think about folks.

FYI:

Having lived in the US for 13 years, I have this to say: The American dream is just that, a dream. Life, irrespective of where you find yourself in the world (be it the rolling hills or Jos or the high mountains of Nepal), is what you make of it. America only seems better cos of more opportunities. However, many pple have made the ulimate sacrifice of going there (selling houses and land, marrying citizens, forfeiting their high-paying careers, etc) only to end up disappointed. I remember reading somewhere that yrly, $30billion worth of degrees leave their respective countries and go to the states where they don't get utilized . If you doubt what I am saying, y r there so many Nigerians, say, who are phD holders and are driving taxi?

Don't get me wrong, there are those of us making it in the US. However, I would strongly caution against the notion of a "dream", cos those usually don't come true. Speaking for myself, I live a comfortable life in the states (I pay my taxes and bills, pursue a few side-jobs and have a little left over to save and send home ) and I thank God for that, but my dream is yet to be realized.

Panache I hear u.

I will just agree to disagree on a portion of what you said (if i don't, then what is the essence of democracy and free speech? ).

Programming isn't rocket science, but it isnt for every Nwanko, Temitope and Abdulahi either. Just cos it may have been easy for you doesn't mean it will be the same way for someone else. I am not bashing you o! Just trying to clarify a little. Personally, I am a slow learner, but once I get it, it sticks. Speech like that gets me intimidated and withdrawn. I am sure there are others on this forum with similar xtics. Everyone's IQ isn't the same. Some learn quick, others take time.

I still insist on borrowing from both facets of the discussion. So go get some kind of formal training, no matter how trivial and get to mingle with the pple. Social interaction is key. Supplement that with "street education" and you should be good to go, over time. Just cos dayton, Bill Gates, Mike Dell et al did it, doesnt mean that okoro can do it too. Everyone has their destiny carved out for them. Of course, it is up to the individual to take their opportunity (which comes but once) and run with it.

Here's to success for us all!!

IMHO:

Nigerifirst - doesnt look appealing at all. In fact, it looks (no offense to the coder) 419ish

Nairaland - LOL, Seun, u dis bobo sef? Gotta promote every chance u got? No shakings o! Na capitalistic society we dey. Take advantage of an opportunity and *capitalize* on it

I am in kind of a hurry but would say:

1) On some pages, the right hand advert section is sticking out beyond the header. Click on the country sections

2) Some pages have way too much content, resulting in excessive scroll. Perhaps consider splitting such pages into multiple pages. At the very least, insert "back to top" after a certain number of lines.

I say:

If there is to be a yahoo for each of the 170+ countries out there, so be it. If there is a UK/US/Australia etc version, y not a Nigeria version? Abi Africa no deserve am?

It always seems that having something is good enough until it comes to having it in mother Africa. All of a sudden, there are enough of such things.

In my opinion, there is nothing wrong with having such a version. The more the merrier. Perhaps we can play with our own little sandbox

If you were thinking 1billion, think again
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,3-2270472,00.html

sorry for the dble post - my 13 month old daughter decided to do some typing as well. If there were a way for me to delete the post, trust me, I would

All,

Thanks for your input so far. Please keep it coming. I guess in retrospect I should have asked for a range. It is true that how much one is paid should be based on their level of experience. Then again, I did say "entry level" which should imply bottom of the barrel salary

Anyways, sorry for the confusion and do keep the numbers coming.

Thanks in advance.

oga cactus,

Unless I smoked the wrong crack this evening, I c no reference in the above to selling the said software. Even if he did say so, wetin consign bard with tootbrush? Na capitalism. Either you go to Leventis to buy at cut-throat rate, open market (where you get beat by the sun and rain) for less, or okirika.

In the end, the market will determine the price, which might even end up being no price at all