More Content Management Systems Websites, Less HTML

When It comes to designing and developing for the web I have notice that more and more users are turning to CMS’s(Content Management Systems) and less towards HTML/static web pages. I can not remember the last time I’ve coded a HTML website for a client and that was final. With the functionality of CMS’s and the ability to manage everything via the control panel, what’s the need to edit an HTML page via a code editor? Many people use content management systems for the following.

• Blogging – With the tremendous growth of blogging I can see there being over a millions blogs throughout the world in the near future. I mean its 2010 and who doesn’t have a blog? From a designer point of view we will all be running and designing websites for people who want or would like to start a blog.
• CMS – Unlike most people others like their websites to have the functional as a CMS. I can see designers developing more CMS’s for companies/personal projects and the near future.

More Website builders

With the rise of technology I can see many people turning to website builders. Website builders gives users the ability to update and manage their website without having any knowledge of code. Many normal people have no knowledge of HTML, CSS, PHP, JAVASCRIPT and etc. Also many people are not willing to come out of pocket and pay developers for the work they are willing to do so offering clients a service that is too much will lead to website builders. Website builders are also becoming very complex and are allowing users to do things that might take developers 3 days to do really fast.

Less Freelance, more corporate/personal work!

The fact of many people being cheap will cause the rise of freelance work to drop. Many designers will say that freelancing will be around for good but in my opinion the fail is coming very soon. With others countries willing to do work for less many designers will decide to either go get a job at a firm or company or work on personal projects. The Great part about freelancing is being able to be your own boss but the con of freelancing is not having a stable income and having to find work from month to month.

This is just a fourth of my opinion on where I think web design will be in the near future. I’m not sure if I’ll be right or wrong but I know change is coming to the web design community and am not sure if we’re ready. All I can say is time will tell and its just a matter of time before well know. I hope you’ve all enjoyed this article and would like to know your inputs on this topic.

Bidding Sites

Many of you may have already heard or have not heard about bidding sites such as Elance, Freelancer, and Odesk. Those are bidding type of websites where you would go and bid on a project with other designers or developers. Many freelancers claim they never or will never used a service of such because they want you to work for peanuts. My personal opinion is these sites are great if you know what you’re doing. When first starting these sites might be great for you. As a designer/developer you often do not need as much as you think. In the design world people charge what they think they should be charging when they really should be charging clients prices that will get them by. If you’re just starting off do not expect to take on large projects because most likely you will not get any considering you have nothing to show.

Winning Bids

It’s very easy to send proposal to a client on these sites but can be very difficult to win if you do not think out your plan. Many times clients want to hear words from the designer that sound more realistic to them. Like if you send the same proposal to every client there going to ignore your email. Make yourself stand out and approach the client as if you were talking to them via phone. Make them feel comfortable with you. After winning a bid try to meet your deadline so clients can give you a good review.

Building your Reputation

Building your reputation on a bidding site can be very hard if you do not have the correct mindset. When first approaching these sites try to think how you can build your profile from 0$ to $1,000 projects. Starting off small and working your way up to the top is the way to go. Yes you might have to work for small amounts but in the long run it is very worth it considering the more reviews you have the larger projects you can take on. Once you have a couple of reviews projects should continue to come your way and it goes up hill from there.

Conclusion

What I am basically saying in this article is that you can actually make good money from bidding websites. Many designers deny the fact that this is where they get some of their work and major leads from. I myself have tried out Scriptlance, Elance, and Freelancer and have gotten a project on there before. I now do not bid for projects but when I was in need of money I did what I had to do to get by. If you’re starting off freelancing or feel your income is not stable take time to join a freelance site and try to keep your income rolling in. Everyone
experience is different so giving it a try won’t hurt.

I lost a client?

Ever feel like it was the end of the world when you lost a potential client? I sure did when first starting off freelancing. I thought to myself I just lost X amount of dollars and another piece to my portfolio. I would be angry and try to contact clients back with lower prices and they would, most of the times try to go very low. As I got older I started to realize that I have to stand up for myself. Now that I stand up for myself I lose many clients. Now you’re probably thinking that is a bad thing but I will explain to you how it is not a bad thing.

So majority of the times a client will try to pursue you with one of the following lines:
1.

“The Economy is really bad and if you do it for X amount then we promise to bring you more work in the future”

2.

“My budget is very small right now but this would be a great piece to add to your portfolio”

3.

“I know a little bit of HTML so it should not take you that long. Probably 1-2 hours at the most”

So Above I have 3 quotes from clients that are trying to avoid spending cash. So how do I lose them? Well I usually lose them when I respond to their emails saying I am no longer interested in doing the job. Many times they say, “I’m sure I can find another designer” and my response to that is, OK!

I gained a clients

Gaining a client is the one of the greatest feelings in the world. I mean you have this amazing/fun project to work on and you have a client that is very loyal to you. So how do you gain a loyal client? Well gaining a loyal client can be very hard but is very much worth it in the long run. My tips to gaining a loyal client is listed below.

• Be Confident: – Being confident shows your client that you are very capable of doing the work.
• Give Reasonable prices: – How do you know when your price is too high or too low? You don’t so you have to go with what works best for YOU. This shows the client if you’re worth it or not.
• Give your opinion: – Clients love it when you give them an opinion(Some won’t). This let’s the client know that you care about their business and website and that you’re really there to help them.
• Don’t be afraid to say no: – Saying no is quite harsh sometimes and very difficult to do for some people. Saying no to client tells them that you love what you do and lets them know you will not be taking advantage of.
• Give them a general time frame: – Clients love when you can tell them when you will be completed with their project. If you can meet this requirement they will LOVE you. This lets the client know that you’re very serious when working and will not cheat them. Letting them know that they’re getting their money’s worth.

If you follow my tips above you should have great clients in no time. I mean I am not saying you won’t ever come across clients that will not drive you wild but just know that along your journey of freelancing you will find clients that will be very loyal and good to you.

Conclusion

Despite the clients I have lost I am very happy with the ones I have gained. I think standing up for yourself can be a good thing because that shows confidence. If you’re one of those designers that will work for peanuts that’s good for you. If you’re a designer that wants to change and start to get divine clients then I would suggest you to start being a braver freelancer and learn how to say enough is enough. I hope you all have learn something from my article today. Let me know if this worked for you.

Bookmarks:

As a Web designer we are always looking for inspirations, icons, backgrounds, textures etc online. When it comes to such things as listed before then it is very important that you keep those items organized. You might say that you’re already organize by having those items bookmarked but are they organize by group or just saved into your favorites? I organize all of my favorite sites by group and when the time comes to start a new project I then look back at my bookmark group and go to a site that best suites me. Saving websites to your bookmark and organizing your bookmarks is very time efficient because you’re not spending 1-2 hours searching for the right item. If you’re one of those unorganized designers then I recommend you start adding sites to your bookmark.

Frameworks:

Frameworks are very time efficient when it comes to starting a new project. Since this area is so broad I am going to break down all the important frameworks you can use to save time on your next project.

Photoshop Document(PSD)

Almost every website is design in photoshop before actually being turned into a live site. Many designers just get to work and other designer like me like to do mockups before actual designing is begun. To save yourself more time when creating a mockup or design in photoshop then you might like to design multiple layout frameworks. Multiple Layout Frameworks? By multiple layout frameworks I mean create many frameworks that best suites you. For example I have a photoshop folder just for mockup layout’s. Inside that folder are 2 column PSD’s, 3 column PSD’s, and etc. Having PSD frameworks are very good because when you design a website you are most likely going to use your most common settings. So for example I design most of my websites at 960px. So I would create mutiple PSD layouts with the width of 960px. If you use this PSD method then it will save yourself a great amount of time.

Html/Css/Javascript

Every website is created using some form of html/css. As a web designer we often slice our PSD then get ready for coding. Coding may be one of the most intense part of a web designer’s day. When actually coding a website many designers most of the time start out the same every time. By every time I mean that you’re constantly creating 2 column websites or etc. If you aware that you’re doing the exact same thing as before then why not create a framework for your html files. Creating and html framework will save you a ton of time considering most of your presets and basic codes are all ready to go. If you are wondering what to create
then I will explain below.

What to create:

• Site folder
• Javascript folder
• IE folder
• Images folder
• HTML File
• CSS File

Site folder – Contains all website files
Javascript folder – Contains Javascript files such as Jquery, Mootools, etc.
IE folder – Contains IE only stylesheets
Image folder – Contains images for website
HTML file – Basic HTML code
CSS file - Basic CSS markup and reset

Creating and setting up a HTML framework takes a bit of time but is very worth it in my opinion. There are some pretty cool frameworks out there that you can use. Check out this post via Noupe. Gives you a list of popular HTML, CSS, and Javascript Frameworks.

Keeping up with latest trend:

Keeping up with latest trend is very important if you would like to make a name for yourself or you work. By keeping up with latest trend I do not mean copy some else design or work. What I am trying to say is if everyone is creating wordpress themes because they see the potential in that market then why not start creating wordpress themes. Or if everyone is using table-less CSS layouts then why not use table-less css layouts. If you’re one of those designers that says “I like to be different” I do understand where you’re coming from. It’s great being different from everybody else and if you have great unique designs then people will know you different from everybody else. Just because you create a wordpress theme or a table-less layout doesn’t mean they all will look the same. Keeping up with the latest trends will save you a ton of time from trying to learn something months or years later.

Invoice systems:

Invoice systems are very good when you’re a freelancer or own a business. If you take your profession seriously and often find yourself getting work left and right then I recommend using an invoice system to keep track of payments and income. Yes you could used a spreadsheet if you have the time(free) but sometimes its better to invest in something that will later help you out in the long run. Also when the time comes around for you to file taxes then you will be ready since all of your work and payments are saved into an online invoice system. This will save you a big headache. Check out Freshbooks to learn more about invoice system.

Messenger, Email, Skype

Always being available or being available most of the time is very important when you are a web designer. Often I’m outside when I have no work to do but I always keep in contact with any potential clients I may have. As a web designer I recommend you always keep some form of contact up and available for clients to contact you. Whether it’s skype, phone call, email, aim or etc you are able to talk to your client. Many cell phones today have the ability to go on instant messenger chat, check email, and of course make phone calls. Often I am outside hanging with friends and most clients write me via email. I usually stay out but respond to their email via cell phone or give them a call if that was requested. If you are available most of the time this will help out your business or freelance career and will also help you build a strong relationship with that client.

Conclusion

There are probably hundreds of steps to helping you become a more efficient web designer. In the article above I’ve listed the main ones that I’ve struggle with over the last 4 years of doing web design. Many of us web designers face problems like not having a project ready or can’t find inspiration etc. I think if you follow steps and tips giving in this article you will become a more efficient designer. It might take a while to get going but once you’re going and moving you will be hard to stop. So what are you doing to becoming a more efficient web designer?

Mixing Fonts

When I first begin designing and coding for the web I would always mix my typography. For example I would use a serif font(Georgia) with a sans-serif(Arial) font. If you are just starting off you might think that those fonts can be used together but they cannot. Serif fonts are different from sans-serif fonts.

What fonts can I mix?

I bet you’re wondering what fonts you can use for your next design or web project. There are 3 main types of font categories

• serif
• sans-serif
• monospace

Serif fonts are commonly used by publishing companies or if you have ever been to a news site or magazine site you will often find that they are using one of the serif fonts.

Serif

• Georgia
• Palatino Linotype
• Times New Roman
• Book Antiqua

Sans-serif fonts are mostly used by all types of websites. I usually use San-serifs fonts for most of my projects.

sans-serif

• Arial
• Helvetica
• Arial Black
• Impact
• Lucida Sans Unicode
• Lucida Grande
• Tahoma
• Veranda

• Geneva

Monospace fonts are not used as often as Serifs, and sans-serif fonts but they are used.

monospace

• Courier New
• Lucida Console
• Monaco
• Courier

Line height

Line height is very important when it comes to making your text look neat and clean. Often if you just leave a text as is then it will look cluttered, and tight. When I first began working with text I never really understood how to change the line height of a text and what it actually did. To give you a better understanding of line height I will give some examples below so you could better understand what I am talking about.

There is no line-height below just the default text. So I applied 12px line height to the paragraph below and as you can see the text looks cluttered and not very attractive.

Arial Font(line-height) BAD

Marcell went to the skate park to train for an up and coming skate competition. He knew he had to practice considering there were many talented kids entering the contest.

There is a line-height of 24px applied the paragraph below.

Arial Font(line-height) GOOD

Marcell went to the skate park to train for an up and coming skate competition. He knew he had to practice considering there were many talented kids entering the contest.

Think of the line height as the lines on a normal sheet of paper. If you were to write paragraphs but not on the lines then it wouldn’t look so good. Now let’s say you wrote on the lines(as you would usually do). If someone were to read your paper(Teacher) then they find it very easy to read.

Letter Spacing

Letter spacing is something that should not be overlooked. Many times when creating different types of paragraphs we might like to have some spacing in between words or letters.

There is no letter spacing in the paragraph below.

Arial Font(spacing) BAD

Marcell went to the skate park to train for an up and coming skate competition. He knew he had to practice considering there were many talented kids entering the contest.

There is a letter spacing of 1px in the paragraph below.

Arial Font(spacing) GOOD

Marcell went to the skate park to train for an up and coming skate competition. He knew he had to practice considering there were many talented kids entering the contest.

So as you can see typography is very important when coding for the web. I have covers just the basics in this article but will teach you more in the other series. If you have a question just leave a comment below and i will help you there.

Ray Vicks

The Syndicate & Digital Product: Warriors

Tapemasters Inc: Codeine Hitz 8

DJ Scream & Dolla Boy – Dillon Saks

Jim Jones: Pray For A Hustla

Bigga Rankin & Big Bank Black: The Birth Of Big Bank Black

Lil Wayne: No Ceilings No Walls 2

DJ Quote: Quote TV Pt.6

Title

DJ 2Mello & Miami Kaos: Purple Reign

New York State Of Mind Pt.2

J-Haze: King of da City

Drake: The Drizzy Effect

Kanye West: No Manners

DJ Lux: Southern Supremacy 9

OJ Da Juiceman: Bouldercrest Shawty

Nero: Alive & Vibrant – Relive the Moment

DJ Smallz / Drake: Room For Improvement

Juelz Santana: Santana’s Town

Kid Cudi: Dat Kid From Cleveland

50 Cent: The Undertaker

Gucci Mane: Bird Flu Pt.2

DJ Hitz: The Fabolous Life

DJ Smallz: Best Thing Smokin Vol.6

Cambatta/DJ Nice: The Visionary

Donk Ryders

Southern Royalty: Bun B

Dub Floyd: The Worst Of Screamixxes

Roc n Roll

Chamillionaire: Mixtape Messiah 5

DJ Glew & Rick Ross: The City is Mine

The Nice Designer

Ever since I have been freelancing I have considered myself to be the nice freelancer. By nice freelancer I mean I was the guy that would take projects when the client said they have x amount of dollars and I would just be the best guy to all my clients. As a freelancer when most of us begin we are open to take on anything and every time an offer and thrown our way we accept it. I mean your making money so what is there to argue about? Right? Well that’s not the point. See I’m going to give you guys an example of a situation where I was considered the Nice Freelancer.

Note: Story is just an example

BEFORE:

TOM: Hey Marcell! Great portfolio. I’ve just received your emailed and you said that you could create that website for us for X amount of dollars and in X amount of days. Also what is this wordpress CMS that you speak of? Can it help our business?

Marcell: Thanks Tom! Yes that is correct, I could have your website completed for X amount of dollars in just a matter of X days. WordPress is a Content Management System that allows you manage your website from the back-end but still giving you the ability to control what happens on the front end of the site. WordPress is also very easy to learn via admin section. Yes it can help your business out tremendously because there are tons of plugins which allow you to add anything you would like to the site.

TOM: Sounds good to me. So what do you need to begin? Also I would need a hosting company do you know of any?

Marcell: All I will need is your FTP information. Yes I know of a hosting company. Try Host gator, or media temple etc.

Ok so above I have contacted Tom about a website that he wants created. Your probably wondering what is the problem. Well if you read below I will tell you the mistakes I have made.

Mistakes

1. I went on craigslist for a job
2. I told the client about WordPress(Indepth)
3. I am working for “$200″
4. I told client about hosting companies
5. I did not ask for a payment up front
6. I did not show client a contract
7. I did not ask client what websites he like
8. I am not thinking straight

So I completed his website and I told him if he ever needed help with anything just email me. HELP. Yes that is the problem! The main problem is that I setup the client website on a Content Management System where he no longer needs my help after he gets the hang of it. I mean wordpress is pretty simple once you mess with it for a couple of days. In as for upgrades he can update his website with the click of a button. I also gave him hosting companies name and without putting my affiliate links in there. So as you can see I did not handle this client correctly and yes I may have gotten paid and he may of been happy but what I am not prepaid for is a time when there is no client and no cash rolling in.

Hard times

Hard times can/will approach you if you let your guard down. By guard I mean slacking. Many freelancers do work and get paid then they wait until their money is gone or low and try to find work again. Yes there are alternate ways to make money like sell stock, and etc but do you really want to compete with others in 1 market? Whenever times got difficult for me I would think should I create a stock files or how can I make more money asap. See my problem was I were trying to make money asap now because I did not have any more money and I was becoming very desperate. I even entered those contest where many designers submit a design and the client would choose one. I quickly found out that submitting my designs or trying to create stock was not for me.

The “Nice” designer

As a freelancer we try to be as nice as possible to clients. I like to call my next technique the “nice” freelancer. As you can see above I have made many bad mistakes. In my new example you will see how you can increase your payment by hundreds of dollars.

Note: Story is just an example

After:

TOM: Hey Marcell! Great portfolio. I’ve just received your emailed and you said that you could create that website for us for X amount of dollars and in X amount of time. Also what is this CMS that you speak of? Can it help our business?

Marcell: Thanks Tom! Yes that is correct, I could have your website completed for X amount of dollars in just a matter of X time. A CMS also known as a Content Management System allows you manage your website from the back-end but still giving you the ability to control what happens on the front end of the site. Yes, I think it is great for business and business owners because you can do many things with it like add workers to site and so forth. You will not have to write one line of code since everything is updated via back-end. Also the only thing that may need to be done is the updating and maintenance of your site. It may not seem important at the moment but I strongly recommend updating and impatience your site at least every 1-3 months to avoid getting hack.

TOM: Sounds good to me. As for maintenance I would be very interested in that service. How much would that cost if included? What do you need to begin? Also I would need a hosting company do you know of any?

Marcell: I could do update the site and do maintenance work for X amount of dollars every X amount of time. Well before I begin I will need you to read and agree to my terms/contract then once agreed I will need a X % of dollars paid then I can begin working. Yes I know of a great hosting company. Try Hostgator. They are very good in they have customer support 24/7 so if something went wrong and I was not available at the moment then they would be able to assist you.

So above you can see that I have properly handle my client the right way. I told them when I can have the project done, I gave them information about the CMS but not too much detail, I offered a service that they will accept 90% of the time, gave them my contract so they can read/accept my requirements, then I added an affiliate link to the hosting service. See you are the same nice freelancer just a bit smoother.

Keeping a steady Income$

Keeping a steady income can be very difficult if you do not think situations through. Below I will list multiple ways you can sustain a steady income.

• Updating client website- After you have completed the clients website tell them you can keep their site safe and clean by doing maintenance work every 3 months or so.
• Tell client to spread the word- Tell your client to pass on the word about you to anyone he/she knows that may be interested in your service
• Keep work posted via design sites- Upload your work to places like flickr, deviant art, Creattica , and etc to showcase your work.
• Write for websites in your niche- Contribute a post or 2 to a website to get your name out there.
• Create stock files- Create stock files via Themeforest
• Post sign locally- Put up business cards or letters in your local area telling people about your service
• Pass out business cards- Pass out your business cards to people you think might be a potential client.
• Network with people-Network with others via social networking website and let them know what you do
• Make video blogs-Stay connected with your followers or bring in new followers
• Stay on top of your game- Always look for more work and when you have too much work sort it out so when you finish a project another one is waiting for you.

Freelancers make many mistakes and I must say that we all have had time where we would work for nothing, become desperately in need of cash and so fort. The important to remember that there are a colossal amount of clients out there they just do not know about you. By building yourself a name your building yourself to what I like to call a steady income.

Can you tell us a little about yourself and what you do?

I’m Chris Spooner, a designer and blogger who runs Blog.SpoonGraphics and Line25. I write random design related articles for inspiration, as well as plenty of tutorials covering Illustrator, Photoshop and website design.

Many people know you run multiple design blogs, how do you manage keep up with all of them?

Unlike many design blogs who publish daily, I only post one main topic per week (along with a quick/small news roundup), so this does help free up time to cover the management of two blogs. However these topics can often take a couple of days each to put together, so running my blogs has become a full-time job. Planning post ideas in advance and scheduling up topics according to my monthly calendar definitely helps my productivity.

When first starting your blog how long did it take for you to actually start getting a good amount of visitors, and did you ever feel the need to give up at anytime while working with your start up blogs?

I never felt like giving up because the main purpose of blogging was to give myself a playground to experiment. Visitors didn’t matter so much because I was enjoying what I was doing. My first blog over at Blog.SpoonGraphics has steadily grown since day one, with a decent level of traffic being present after around 6 months. Line25 on the other hand, has the advantage of being able to capture the interest of an already establishing reader base, so it has really shot up to almost the same subscriber level in just one year.

When did you first take interest in design, and what steps did you take to learn it?

I’ve always been an artistic type person, and followed the Art and Design topics right through school, college and university. I’ve basically kept an eye out for inspiration and experimented through my own passion for the subject. I’m still checking out new design subjects to grow my knowledge and experiment with new techniques after being influenced by the great work of others.

Considering there are hundreds or even thousands of ways to promote your website, what advice would you give to someone trying to promote a website of their
own?

First you need to take the time to produce great content that will entice people to view it, then it’s a case of casually networking and getting to know people in your industry. The more you appear across the net the more you’ll be associated with your work. Publish your work on Facebook, Twitter, Flickr, Behance etc and get to know the other users with a similar passion to yours.

Have you had any regrets in the past dealing with design or running your design blogs, and if so what would you have done differently to get to the point you’re at now?

Everything I’ve done so far seems to have worked out well, so there’s nothing I’d do too differently. Any mistakes have been an opportunity to learn. When I launched Line25, I was armed with the experience I had gained from growing my first blog, so it was great to be able to put all the new ideas into practice.

Many people are wanting to become designers each day and want to start up a blog of their own someday, do you have any advice for new comers who might like to run a design blog?

I always advise not to setup a design blog simply for the exposure or the cash, this way you’ll never succeed because it takes a long time and a lot of work before any results are seen. Instead, blog because you have a passion for the subject and want to learn through experimentation etc.

What do you think you would be doing if you had no interest in design?

That’s always a hard one because I’ve always been creative right from childhood. I don’t really have any passion in my life that’s as strong as the one I have for design, so I’d probably be in an average every day office job!

Thanks Chris for deciding to do this interview. The Webdevtuts community really appreciates it. Thanks for your time!