Nathan Levesque

I got a little email in my inbox the other day that frankly, surprised, irked, and amused me simultaneously. The email was from CSSFlash telling me that my site had been added successfully to their gallery. This puzzled me for a few minutes until after looking at their site I was able to vaguely remember submitting this site about 3 months ago! Now, I can understand that for a site that updates every 90 minutes with new CSS sites that they have to be about as loaded down with add requests as can be. So I figure OK, they were very busy, didn’t have until now to get to me.

Not quite true. Apparently CSSFlash simply took a screenshot of this site 2-3 months ago, queued it up, and it took until now for it to appear on the front page. I’m happy I was accepted to a CSS design site. But I redesigned this site back in November! And frankly, the design back then wasn’t that great. So now my opportunity for some free traffic is for nil.

But wait! The email they sent me said I should simply email them back if there were any problems! So I did. I even gave them the courtesy of taking a screenshot myself for them to use. No response. Thumbnail on their site hasn’t changed either. Much annoyance on my end.

I would have just hoped, that for a site like that they would be serious enough about it to have some quality control over what comes out. All it would have taken would be to click on the link to see something wasn’t right…

Update: As of 2/23/08, I have received no response nor has the image been updated. Seems the owners of CSSFlash have all but abandoned any responsiveness to their emails.

I have come to the realization that markup languages are the bane of any evolution developers and  (especially) designers want to see in the web in the near future. With some of the new features coming out for Flex 3 I have begun to wonder why we need to still be dealing with markup languages. Markup languages have been around in some form for the better part of 30-40 years. HTML itself is nearing its 20 year old birthday. Of course, there will be all the people screaming that things have changed since the first HTML specification, namely things like JavaScript and CSS which sprouted other methodologies such as Ajax. I am certainly a fan of both JavaScript and CSS but doesn’t the problem lie with the fact that we need these technologies in the first place? Flash has been reported to have reached 99.1% of all desktop Internet users.

Now, I have become a bit of an Adobe fanboy recently, but even if that wasn’t the case I would still have to say that right now programming website with Flex 3 and AS3 is looking far more promising and headache free than anything else I’ve seen. Who else other than Adobe has offered web developers a way to render their sites the same way on many browsers with no additional effort through Flash? Sure, bookmarking and SEO have been issues in the past, but the Flex 3 release will begin to fix much of that.

Next on the list of arguments is those that argue that Flash content can be a costly download to those with slower connections. Well frankly, the people with dial-up should know that in most areas faster ISPs are available, often for less. The fact is most ISPs these days are not dial-up and as a result most dial-ups simply can’t compete in the price wars anymore and still stay in business. The onus is on the individual to be a savvy consumer.

So what’s the roadblock?

• We need browsers to treat Flash files no differently than text files.
• Keep going on making Flash internal bookmarking more effective.
• More Flash SEO.
• More Flash security. Certainly there’s no thing as 100% secure, but that doesn’t mean we can’t aim for 99%.

And the final, big one.

• We need to put the pressure on the consumer to WANT flash sites. We want anyone going to look at any XHTML/CSS site to give it the same sour look any web developer would give a 90’s era Geocities website.

Hopefully, we can begin to see some changes toward a more multimedia based web experience within a few years.

This is the first in a series of articles describing how to start yourself in freelancing. Each article will focus on a few main points that are important to consider as you start this new branch in your career. Specifically, it will focus on Web Design, as that is where I started my freelancing career.

Have a Plan

Above all else you should have a plan for what you want to do. They are many ways to make a plan, but at the very least you need a simple goal, such as “I want to have 5 steady clients within the first 18 months of operation.” It’s a good idea to plan for both long term and short term goals. The main goal here is to not set yourself up for disappoint or to over exert yourself. Make plans and goals that are reasonably attainable within the time frame you give yourself. It’s also important to reevaluate these goals as your business develops.

Operate Like a Business

One thing people are often looking for when they hire a freelancer is a more personal interaction with you. While this is a fine way to do business if it works for you, it does have occasional pitfalls:

• You may get communications at odd hours. If you work from home it is a good idea to state your hours (or at least your phone-answering hours)  upfront. Also, using a mobile phone for business is a good idea since it can be turned off and provides a separate line that can’t so easily be connected to your residence. This can help keep the family/spouse at ease.
• Personal business relationships can encourage unbusinesslike behavior on both sides. It’s best to keep things at least semi-formal.
• A lack of professionalism can sometimes be scary for a client. It makes him/her hesitant to sign off on that contract.

Of course, you need to find what works best for you, your personality and the personalities of clients and their businesses. However, if trouble ever comes, it’s much easier to manage through with professionalism

Contract, Contract, Contract

Unless you’re doing a website for your mother or best friend, always have a contract drawn up. I’m not going to go into examples of these, as there is plenty of information around about it. A contract will protect both parties and can help reassure a client if they have not worked with you before. Most people hesitate to use contracts when they enter freelancing for a number of reasons the main one being that they feel like it hinders developing business relationships with client. I beg to differ however, the contract, when used properly, defines the relationship between client and service provider (you). It’s clear, specific, and signed by both parties. If there were to ever be a dispute or misunderstanding, you and the client should be able to go back to the contract to determine the best resolution as defined by it.

Important things to include on this are payment, payment schedules, deadlines, rights to intellectual property and  distribution of these rights to the client. Include whatever additional clauses you find necessary but try to be direct and don’t try to sound like a lawyer if you aren’t one. Offer to your client to put in any clauses they would like (and that you agree to, of course).

That wraps up the first installment. Keep an eye out for future ones!