Archive for the ‘Clients’ Category
Team Viewer in Web Design
Friday, November 21st, 2008Web design throws up a number of challenges with client interaction. Ideally the client would be able to come to your office or you would be able to go to them to discuss any new designs or various challenges with a project. Unfortunately this isn’t always the case. This can lead to a number of challenges explaining to or showing your client what they need to see.
I have recently been using a tool called Team Viewer to remotely control my computer. In doing this I have found some software with a huge number of uses in the web design field.
Team Viewer allows you to remotely control someone else’s computer and vice versa. It works on both the Mac and PC.
It is a small file and a minor installation. The whole thing is pretty much idiot proof. (Unless your running Vista, then you probably need to run it as an administrative user)
Design Approval
Getting a design approved can be very difficult, to ease this it is common practice to either send a design with a message or talk to the client over the phone if you cannot meet them in person. Team Viewer can be a great tool to aid this process.
Imagine this, you are on the phone and instead of imagining what the client is thinking or looking at. You will be able to visually see what they are doing. To demonstrate your point or to talk them through the design you can move their mouse around. You can point to parts of the design and tell them why each bit is there, what it is for and why this design is the best for their website.
When a client queries something you can see exactly what is being queried and address any concerns.
Posted in Clients, Web Development | 1 Comment »
Website MOT
Thursday, October 2nd, 2008Once a year your car is taken in for an MOT. Its a minor thing, just a trained mechanic looking under the hood to make sure that everything is still operating correctly. Issues are identified and remedied. The car is safe to use. In today’s web environment where many sites store user information surely it is more important than ever that a similar system is created to monitor the health of a website.
As a result I have been thinking, its about time that a website MOT was introduced. This is for the following reasons.
- Security
- Helps inform other developers about the website
- Allows site owners who know nothing about their websites have a means of translating information
- Allows site owners to keep a website up to date.
I would like to begin this by talking about these 4 points in a little bit more detail.
Posted in Clients, Site Information | 4 Comments »
Find the right Developer every time.
Thursday, September 18th, 2008So, you have a great idea for a project. Who can you trust to make this idea become a reality? What are the qualities that you should look for? What questions do you need to ask to make sure the developer in question is up to the job.
Developers Portfolio
If a developer doesn’t have a portfolio then do not even consider them. Developers without portfolio’s fall into one of 3 categories… inexperienced, lazy or unqualified. None of these ‘qualities’ make for a good developer. By trusting someone without a portfolio you are leaving yourself open to all sorts of problems.
If your developer does have a portfolio. Look at the quality of their work. If the work is below the standard you require then avoid them. If they haven’t produced the quality you require up to this date do not expect them to suddenly change for you. If a developer has a strong portfolio and is creating work to the quality required then investigate further.
Communication
Contact the developer you are interested in. Use the telephone and get a feel for the developer. If you have trouble contacting them look for someone else. If a developer is not picking up their phone or answering e-mails then what will happen if there is a problem with your project?
When you are speaking to the developer, do they explain things in a Lehman terms? It is not your job to know the latest trends and programming techniques. If a developer cannot explain various concepts, methods or ideas in ways that you can understand then you may run into problems down the line.
Posted in Clients | 1 Comment »