Distill

Alright, so to date I've done print design almost exclusively. I did create my own website in Dreamweaver (www.idistillery.com) and I've dabbled with a few html e-mail templates, but that's the only web-work I've done (and that really evolved/is still evolving over time). I'm working out a quote for my first website for a client, and I'm taking into consideration how many DESIGN HOURS this will take. [Don't worry, the client knows I'm doing this for experience and I'm lowering my rates accordingly]

A hugely subjective question, I know, but how many hours would you expect a relative newbie to web design to take for his SECOND html site? Nothing elaborate, mind you, but respectable.

Am I kidding myself that I can do this in 40 billable hours?

Keep in mind that we're not supposed to discuss rates (or, I'm sure, project prices).

Thanks in advance for your help!

Gino

Yeah its ok to talk about how much time it takes u to finish projects, just no discussion of prices please. Well honestly i would not even do the website until you are more experienced of a coder.

I tried doing flash work for people here and there as a flash noob and its just so damn stressful and not worth the hours.

I would learn on your own and stick to what u do best to make money for now and then do paid coding gigs later on, but tats just me.

As far as hours it really depends on how big of a site the client needs. It could be really simple or like 200 pages with lots of pain in the butt coding.

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Distill

I agree about not doing paid gigs until experienced--I was hesitant to even quote the project, for a lot of the reasons you listed. But the client is one I've done print work for and who, apparently, has faith in my ability to deliver. I was upfront with him about my inexperience, so we're flexible on delivery date and I'm giving him a project quote--not hourly. I'm getting paid [something] to learn during my down time & he's getting a really good rate. Not exactly Design Business 101, but if he's willing, I'm down for expanding my horizons.

If all goes well, I'll post the finished product and you all can tell me if I'm nuts.

As far as site complexity goes, it should be as straightforward as design & slice in photoshop (or illustrator), use Dreamweaver to code the html & css. No more than 10 pages. No Back End. Anything glaringly obvious I'm missing?

Gino

I don't think ur missing anything, but just make sure the code is valid when your done if you can:

http://validator.w3.org/

http://jigsaw.w3.org/css-validator/

Also make sure you do some SEO stuff like in your header the META tags, such as keywords, site description, page titles, subheadings for content, keywords in the content, favicon for when the site is bookmarked and such could be done.

Some of these things though are prob not in ur original contract, since they fall under search engine optimization, but you should keep them in mind and mention them to him. If it was me I would charge extra for these services.

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Agilius

It depends on how motivated you feel. When I code/design sites I allways come across problems and lacks of knwoledge but I use Google to search for solutions. I made few websites (Desgin+Code) and I must say it allways takes longer than expected.

It's ok if it takes 40 hours. Next time it will take 38, 36 and so on. You will becaome better in time cose you will fill the lacks with useful knwoledge

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fumblies

I'm new to web design as well and for my internship I'm supposed to design a microsite for my school’s ezine, and I’m almost done with it, so far it has took me about almost 2 months on Dreamweaver. But a lot of the time was actually spent on sourcing the information and creating graphics.

Distill

Most of that SEO stuff I would've lumped in (and probably still will) . . . I didn't realize that was usually a separate consideration altogether (see, that's why this forum is so great for us independents). I appreciate the links to validators, thanks!

Since I'm looking at this as a showcase project (and the client's brand is one I really want to continue to do great work for), I'm very motivated to do this the best I can--even if it takes a while. Whenever I go overtime on a project because I'm tweaking it to meet my standards, I usually consider the extra hours as a contribution to my own marketing (whereas saying "good enough" probably would cost me referrals in the long run). You're right, Angilius, about this type of thing always taking longer than you think--learning Illustrator as I worked made my first few projects (all for myself) take forever!

Two months seems long to me (I'm reasonably well acquainted with Dreamweaver, for my purposes, and I'm not going to be doing anything advanced from a coding standpoint)--I'm thinking the process will take about three weeks (I hope). We'll see, I guess.

Thanks for the insight everyone!

Gino

I wish you the best of luck! Let us know how it goes.

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Distill

So here it is, my first website for a client who isn't myself . . .

www.eggertgroup.com

Just uploaded it last night. This is actually a temporary version while we hammer out more details (a blog, response form, links to relevant articles/postings, etc.), but it defined the graphic standard for everything to come.

What do you think? I'm always open to constructive criticism, so don't hold back.

And thanks to everyone who offered guidance for this first web project!

Aarlev

I like it. Good design overall. I think you should align the site to the bottom as well though so you don't have a gap. Also I'd make the reflection on the phone number more subtle.

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