₦airaland Forum

On what grounds do you call them the longest serving? Is this a fact or some marketing ploy? Just curious

internetpo, I blv you can still SMS with a CDMA phone - I do it all the time, not only with ppl in the states but ppl in europe and Nigeria all the time

I blv you have answered your own question. Just in case you still don't get it, let me set up a scenario for you:

You are faced with a situation where you either pay N100 per hour (that doesn't include possibly taking public trans or even your personal car, or the fact that there might be no light and the owner is trying to cut cost and as such isn't using a gen, etc) to send emails to people who probably, for the same reasons like yourself, only check emails once every other day.

OR

You whip up your phone that is always by your side, send text for N5 or whatever it maybe (definitely not N100) and the person you send the SMS too not only gets it on the spot, he doesn't pay to receive the SMS.

Your call

MT:
This is why I don't call myself a "webmaster". There is more to it than writing code. For example, you have to know about server configuration, how to monitor site traffic, monitor database performance, etc. I am a web developer (not to be confused with web designer). And yes, it is good for you to know a little bit of everything and then concentrate on what you know that you know best. That way, you don't lose a job because you don't know one particular thing. Having said that, I am in favor of division of labor. Remember, "jack of all trades, master of none".

quadrillo:
I have read your original post up to 5 times now and each time I am more confused than the last. Are you implying, either literally or figuratively, that the different titles have anything to do with your education level or that one can't know all you stated concurrently?

Webmaster, web developer and web designer are all different in their roles and responsibilities. To that effect, it is possible to know them all or individually. Unfortunately, the different titles have been muddied up in the Nigerian context.

- Webmaster (in addition to the abv, wiki it)

- Web developer (css, javascript, xhtml, mid-tier languages (php, jsp, asp, etc), and maybe some backend languages (java, etc))

- Web designer (graphics (photoshop, fireworks, etc))

Because u shd

Of course you don't put this into the proposal. It is implied that you have taken care of all costs when you submit a proposal. To that effect, if you know your travel will cost 5K, you make it 25K, just in case

Clients should indeed make down payments because just as you don't trust them, they don't trust you. By making a down payment, it not only allows them to keep part of the proceeds which they can plow into their own businesses and hopefully yield profits off of it that they can use to, among others, hire others, it also ensures that they get their money's worth. Not to mention, given the country we live in, it is possible that someone gets 100% payment and bails.

Down payment's make perfect sense. Of course the next debate is and should be, how much is "fair" as a down payment. Tis best to lose a fraction than it is to lose it all.

it means you have a syntax error

What statement did you try to run? Also, did you try my SELECT statement?

hmmm, na wa o.

Within phpmyadmin, do a SELECT * FROM person where 1; in the SQL window. If that doesn't pull up anything, there is nothing I can do from my (remote) location. Sorry.

weeeelll,

Assuming as you said that the aforementioned code is indeed adding data to your db, then the reason why you aren't getting anything no your pages is the very reason Seun stated above - you use SELECT and not INSERT to return database results on your page.

For starters, just do a SELECT * FROM person in your code (you will have to connect to your DB the same way you did for INSERT) and refresh the concerned page to see everything.  After that you can pick and choose what to display using the WHERE clause: [b]SELECT * FROM person WHERE Surname = 'charliebiz'; [/b]for instance.

Please note, I haven't verified (and don't have the time to either) the syntax for the statement above but hopefully you can check that out for yourself if it crashes

This might be of help: http://www.w3schools.com/PHP/php_mysql_select.asp

as i said, and i only said so cos my naija clients accuse me of charging in dolars, "at least"

I recently did a site with far less stuff and charged 400K

how about we c ur code, and in particular your query string and a briefing on ur database structure?

The 9TH Lesson (CSS resetting) is also very helpful. I had abandoned the use of CSS for layout because of the reason stated, but now am going back for tables layout.

The book is definately not for beginners as you stated in the introductry page. its for us,  Wink  Wink

To make the e-book more user friendly you may want to add some links to it to creat a kind of navigation.

t-web:
Thanks for the compliments. Narrowing in on the 2 bolded portions: I would assume you meant you will go back to using CSS for layout as opposed to tables and point noted for next edition (for the first one, which was done in a hurry, I just converted from word to pdf and published) respectively.

smart:
you know my policy when it comes from who/what you want from me

Hmm, you sound as if your alumnus dues are in the millions In any case:

1: How much would you charge for a University Education Portal that does not have a budget

It depends on functionality required. I personally wouldn't go for anything less than N150K

2: Would you design in phases (evolve from information only to complex features/functionality such as communities, blogs etc)

Yes, and I am happy you said "evolve". Do it piecemeal (of course, state this in your proposal as well), measuring what is out there at a particular time, solicit feedback from users, then do more. Then repeat it all over again.

3: What will be your most credible points in your business case (what measurable benefits can you state to win the project bid)

The following come to mind: Your portfolio, recommendations from past clients, providing them with statistics on a regular basis.

4: What technologies would you use to build the portal (Opensource or Commercial)

You mentioned they have no budget. Granted it is none of your business (wetin concern bird with toothbrush? ), I would stay stick with opensource. This would also help your profit margin.

5: What CMS would you deploy (dependent on question 4)

Chances are that you will be handing the site off to someone less technical than you are at the end of the day. Based on my research, Joomla! would be my choice as the learning curve for a non-techie isn't that steep. Not to mention, it comes with a lot of plugins, many of which are free.

6: What time frames would you suggest

I think you should ask the prof this question first. If it is something you can't work with, then refer to my notes in #2. If he wants it in 2 weeks, you give him 2 wks worth of work then work in the rest. I believe in "meeting minimum requirements" and "under-promising but over-delivering". If you are pressed to come up with one, I would say nothing less than 2 months. This gives you time not to prove "how good you are" but to test (something that is lacking in many of us), gather info, etc. As you said, this prof is very influential. Think this in terms of going beyond waiving alumnus dues

Good luck!

You can start off by doing something that is very simple and relatively free - send them an xmas card and write a personal note in it expressing your gratitude for their business.  This card would preferably be one with your company name on it.  You could also do the following: Call them, telling them same, take them out to eat or even buy them a ticket to their favorite show or game.

You can offer them all the free forum, bandwidth, space, etc you want but nothing beats having a card you sent to them displayed on their desk in their office or the memory of their favorite football player scoring that perfect end of year goal

Here here, Yolu.

I *never* do spec work, demo or whatever you want to call it. The only way I would do it is if it is part of a prolonged web dev cycle for which I have been paid for a portion of the service. Why I don't do what I call demos?

1) It is double work
2) Chances of it being ripped off
3) I don't want to put the effort into doing something only for the client to bail on me. Time is money.

As you have said Yolu, check my portfolio page. One of the paragraphs I send potential clients reads thus:

"Here is a link to my portfolio (link here). If you like what you see and/or are convinced that I have the skill set for what you want me to do, get back to me so we can get started on the journey to give you a web presence".

Simple, short and sharp.

dayotee,

Make it an xmas gift to me - you now have 25 days to go

donkoleone,

I actually don't have a preference as I believe doing so would limit my marketability. Also, I am not a software developer but a web developer. If you were to put a gun to my head on this though, I would probably go for Java/JSP. My only reason though isn't based on anything convincing other than I have worked in a Java/JSP environment for over 90% of my career.

dayotee,

if my layman's definition doesn't work for you, i dont know what will

yolu:
Whenever I am assigned with others to hire people as web developers, you know the first thing we do? That's right - we view source. If I am opportuned to work in Nigeria and have to hire people, guess what the first thing I will do is? Again, you got it right. Standards as you have pointed out, are standards. However, they are there for a reason. Just like you probably don't care what brand of engine oil your mechanic uses on your car, it doesn't mean you don't care that it is good quality right?

smart:
2 year ago? you must have me confused with someone else. All the same, though we all reach VI at some point (I am glad you noted that you would be slower to get there than me ), some cars are natural head-turners and a head-turner my friend, is what I want be identified with

From my working experience, developers have often been promoted to be architects. Why? cos they have coded enough that they (hopefully) are aware of what to do and not do. In other words, having whined for years, it is like saying, "since you have been talking too much, oya, put your money where your mouth is. Come and show us how you would design this thing better".

For some, it is considered as a stepping stone. Again, this is based on my experience which may not be the same experience as that of others.

donkoleone,

Can you define maturity? If yes, could you look in the mirror and see how it applies to you?

lol,

Yes smartsoft, DW has been forced upon me at work and most of my posts above are in reference to my experiences with it.  Sorry but it sucks.  Give me Homesite, Eclipse or MyEclipse any day

hanen:
Homesite is not "most"

@poster

I think we need to put things in perspective - Is NL as a whole falling or only this particular section (webmaster) of it? I mean go to boards like sex or entertainment. Let Stephanie Okereke lose a nipple and you will see the posts that can generate. On the other hand, post something here about HTML 5 (or even the question I asked you on ULs) and see how many posts you generate

Bottomline:
In a world where the average person can pick p diddy from a stack of 1000 photos and not yar'adua, entertainment is what sells now. Do I think it is sad? You bet but it is reality.

If I have a software platform that automates my sites building and I just have to adjust one or two things why should I not sell cheap ??

You are a mass producer whereas I am a craftsman. Each of my clients want something different

and you said 50 sites at 1000USD and 100 sites at 500usd and you tell me I should make a choice. men do you think about the hosting fees every year from the clients ??

I am yet to meet a client that has made me pay more than $10. Even if I did, I could always pass that on to them as an added cost. The $1000 was just a reference point

in the long run my 100sites will feed my family every year more than you can get from the 50 sites.

Did you do the math for my scenario above? If you did, you would have noticed that the 2 scenarios generate the same amount of money

mambe,

50 websites at $1000 each or 100 websites at $500 each?  You be the judge.  Me? I will pick the former.  Why? Less stress.  Sure, the latter gives you more bragging rights but from experience, level of stress is inversely proportional to what you charge a client.  Could be different in your case but it has always proven correct in mine.

I don't think either MSFT or GOOG apply here either: GOOG's business model isn't based on you paying them to develop a site for you (which is what we do) and MSFT's main claim to fame is it's agreements with vendors which pretty much allowed them to claim majority market share so that at some point, we all got hooked, not to mention licensing fees (I stand corrected).  Yes, it's all about marketing but it is also about a target audience.  Toyota (mass production aka non-paying clients) targets the common man whereas Lamborghini (custom made aka paying clients) targets those with exquisite taste. 

At the end of the day, you take your pick and I wish you well with your choice. For me though, it's all about less stress. Sure, a high unemployment rate can make one compromise one's standards but it shouldn't be to the point where you have no pride in your work. It's that pride that gives you the confidence to present yourself in a way that will make your client's pay that extra naira (or cfa francs in your case )

God will help us. I will only encourage those keeping it real to keeping doing what is right, don't compromise standard, ethic and principle of creativity for cheap max production that will belittle you and your company in the future.

Set your standard and stand by it , little drops of water makes a valuable ocean.

I will rader have 5 paying client than have 100 non-paying client, because the only recommendation you will get from such clients will also be cheap. they will tell people of how cheap you are.

Yep, I have told a potential client that it would take me more time and expense to come up with something mediocre. Also,this year, I stayed from January to August before landing my first jobs. I would rather do that than do 100 N10K jobs as you have stated above.

Let people talk about your proficiency and creativity instead of how cheap and affordable you are, although we should be prudent in our charges less people loss faith in us.

True talk.

dayo,

At least you follow gree.  Make e no be say I get bad belle 

ROFLMAO bjs,

Your situation maps exactly to an experience I had with a would-be client a few months ago:

He asked me to redesign his association's website and I gave him my price but never heard from him again.  With Nigerians, sorry to say, that's standard practice.  A few weeks later, I meet him somewhere and he asks me again how much I charge.  This time I purposely jacked up my price.  I then ask what became of his site. He said, "we ended up redesigning the site but the webmaster is hard to reach".  I asked him how much he paid and he said, "the guy did it for free".  In my mind, I was sticking my tongue out at him and saying, "thatz what you get when you want cheap stuff or something for free".

I tell people, in my line of work, either you are an apprentice, a mass producer or a craftsman and I see myself as a craftsman.  Obviously a craftsman charges more because he takes his time to do quality work, though he might be slower.

All, please behold the free website and make your opinions known: http://www.anogusa.org/ - Mind you, this is done by an "american (actually a nigerian living in america) webmaster"

yes, you definitely get what you pay for.

ah, so u need a layman's definition? na so u for talk since

A website is like a sign post for your business. the only difference b/w the 2 is that whereas a sign post of your business at ore meta can only be seen by those who drive by it, a website can be seen by people all over the world. Often, such people will have hard pepper to buy your products/services which means you stand a better chance of making more money from them than you would from people in maroko.

Is that layman enough?

I use and have been using for the past 8 years, HomeSite. Having said that, my job recently switched to DW (as they say, be careful what you wish (or in my case, don't wish) for ). You need to see the blood capillaries in my eyes man. From auto-complete (hate it), to weird indentations.

Recently, I almost got rushed to the hospital. Why? Because all I wanted to do was search for something in my code but mistakenly hit "replace all (with nothing in the field)" instead of of "find next". Every single occurrence of what I was searching for got replaced. Sure, I could do "undo" but for heaven's sake why couldn't the "geeks" who made DW separate the "find" functionality from "replace"?

1) I wouldn't exactly call myself a pro, at least not yet. To me,words like "pro", "master" and "guru" carry huge responsibilities and as such should be conferred on those who actually are worthy of those names

2) As I said, after working in design view, switch to code view and delete/add from the code that is generated. That should do the trick.

donkoleone,

Actually, I think otherwise. How about trying to convince me?

By the way, what I prefer is a non-issue. You say Java rules and so far you are yet to convince me. In fact, I don't believe you have even stated a case

So in essence you want to cheat

Sha, I dislike DW with a passion and so don't use it. Having said that, I am sure you could use the code view (that means you will have to hand code) and get away with the above. Either that or code in design view (drawing and dragging things I would imagine. Again, I hate DW (I think I said this before )) so don't know how it goes), then opening the same code in code view and removing any erroneous code.