Thread

Also I really don’t know how the quicktime debate started in this thread. Would it be possible to have it split from this thread since I’d like to keep the original thread on topic as much as possible.

Les’s video response to your post started it: Transition to Professional Web Development

Split request approved! 😉

Also I really don’t know how the quicktime debate started in this thread. Would it be possible to have it split from this thread since I’d like to keep the original thread on topic as much as possible.

Les’s video response to your post started it: Transition to Professional Web Development

Split request approved! 😉

How did I miss that post. I’m honoured to have my questioned addressed in such a personal yet professional manner.

Leslie, Thank you very much for your time, effort, and consideration of this thread.

wow.

I’ve been slowly working my way through CSS mastery and have already learned a ton. Now I need the time to apply it. I’m planning on doing a complete, from the ground up, redesign of each of my personal sites come winter vacation to practice and get a handle on what I’m reading. I’ve also got two projects to work on - one is a colleague and the other is for my church. I definitely have enough opportunities to practice and improve my skills.

With regards to billing clients I have one question. How is payment customarily made. All up front, 50/50, or all on delivery? I’m leaning to 50/50, but would like to know what is most common.

If only I didn’t have to work, I could devote more time to developing my skills and contacts….

Thanks for your advice.

First of all, Leslie did a great job on that video and he is dead on.  Lots of people have the technical skills to do web development but few have the management skills to really be successful. 

@Billing

Whatever works for you and what you can get the client to agree to.  Different people have different methods but half down is probably common.  I am guessing that few people do 100% up front but for very small jobs there would be no problem with doing that (or even 100% on completion.)  A very large project might even be broken up further and be paid by milestones.  So different projects also might need different consideration based on size.  Another consideration is the type of client.  A government or non profit likely has other methods of payment and different hoops to jump through. 

Billing cycles can be 30 to 60 days or more depending on the client.  For the sake of an example, lets say you have one big project that takes you a month to finish and the client is slow to pay but the check arrives at 60 days.  If you didn’t take a down-payment then that project just took three months to bring in any income.

EDIT:  Yikes, I think I hit the submit button too early, fixed broken sentence.

With regards to billing clients I have one question. How is payment customarily made. All up front, 50/50, or all on delivery? I’m leaning to 50/50, but would like to know what is most common.

I’m not sure there is a “common” way…everyone seems to have their own method.  If it’s a client I’m very comfortable with I’ll just invoice every 2 weeks during development.  If I’m less comfortable I’ll ask for 1/3 up front, then every two weeks after those hours have been consumed.

I’ve found that more regular, small checks coming work better for us than big ones less often.

Just sort of diving in here, you don’t have to wait to get to where you are going (Canada).
Try doing a little networking now, some ambition and a few contacts can go a long way.
I got my start just having a sort of electronic resume up and posted, which included little design work, none really.
The resume webpage was the essence of it, but it showed some creativity and imagination, and a basic understanding of editing a webpage.

You may know more than you think you know now. If you have experience, you don’t have to freelance, try to find a firm that can put you on the payroll to start.

If you’re looking into books, I recommend the Sitepoint ones. I own several and they’re very practical and easy to follow.

I got sidetracked by a number of things and didn’t make much progress in developing my skills. However i’m back on track and have finished one of the site point books The Principles of Beautiful Web Design. This book is fantastic. It doesn’t teach coding, but focuses more on why things work and others don’t from a design/emotional perspective. In particular I found the sections on typography and color theory very helpful.

I can’t recommend this book enough - and it’s definitely going to be a big help once i start my next project (personal) in a couple of weeks.

I’m glad to see some activity in this thread again.  I’m also working on making an eventual transition into freelance web development (I’m more of a developer than a designer).

I was just trying to decide which Javascript framework to learn when EL announced support for jQuery in EE 2.0, how convenient!  So I’m a few chapters into a book on jQuery and my new book on codeigniter should arrive today.

Fortunately for me, there is some cross-over between my personal goal of moving into web development and what I do at work.  The skills I learn in the evenings I am often able to apply and practice during the day.

I’m in a similar boat to you, learning jQuery and Codeigniter. Even reading the same books 😊

Regarding Codeigniter, if you haven’t seen them already, I can’t recommend Elliot Haughins screencasts highly enough. Really good stuff in here, for free.

Also be sure to check out the picture of the dude dressed as a devil in the London underground which features in his Flickr screens 😉

Regarding Codeigniter, if you haven’t seen them already, I can’t recommend Elliot Haughins screencasts highly enough. Really good stuff in here, for free.

Thanks for the heads up on those videos. I’m fairly familiar with jQuery (love it) and want to familiarize myself with CI.

Just re-read this thread looking for a couple of things again. Watching the video leslie made again has reminded me of things to consider - especially networking.

Anyhow I just ordered a book on Javascript and I’ve finished CSS Mastery (2x). Things (theory) are a lot clearer in my head, now it’s time to put it all into practice.

I’ve managed to get a photoshop mock-up of my blog re-design about 90% ready. I’m wondering how much time would one alot for a blog design from zero to finished - photoshop mockup, css, xhtml, any javascripting needed etc? I realize that it’s not possible to be exact, I’m looking for an estimate.

for example my current blog minus the forums and wiki since I’m going to remove them due to lack of use. I’m not planning on using anything from my current templates or CSS since I want to create this site as if it had never existed - I figure this is good practice for me. I’ll be doing the same with a couple of other sites once I finish this one.

Come June 20 (summer vacation) I’ll also be putting together my web design site for which I got a fantastic domain CreateSean - say it fast and it sounds like creation.

Here’s a few things I wish they would have told me:

- Most projects with take you twice the time and effort than you estimate. Charge accordingly.
- In addition to Sitepoint, take a look at all the Friends of Ed books (like CSS Mastery).
- Don’t spend every waking hour on the computer. You’ll work better with breaks.

Good luck EFL Geek!

Success - I launched my first client site yesterday.