It has been a busy time of late, which is good, but it means I have not been able to write for Sun Live, which isn't good. Still, I hope this post will make up for it.

Because so much of my work involves business use of the web I hear lots of different stories about peoples' experiences. One area which generates a lot of passion is website creation.
It's a sad but true fact that the website creation sector is like any other business sector: it has its good developers and its total cowboys and like any other sector it has its great clients and its nightmare clients.
A few different web developers asked me to write a post about the bad habits of both parties, who they always seem to be cleaning up after.

One of the main issues I have identified is that too many clients seeking to have a website have a limited understanding of what needs to happen and just what is involved. On the flip side, I have noticed many web developers who are unwilling to spend the time to inform the client and give a solid understanding of the process at the beginning of the development. This has the result that two months into the development neither party understands what the other one wants to achieve – a total breakdown in communication. The client feels that they are getting "ripped off" and the developer tends to put the work to one side in favour of more agreeable work. This is where I get called in, in order to bring the development to completion.

Web developers should be giving their clients at least an hour to fully come to grips with what they hope to achieve and then give them a brief proposal based on the main points. If the client agrees, the detail should go in the agreement. If the client values what the developer is doing they should not then devalue it by insisting on lots of free work before they sign up.
Some firms go further and have a client liaison person. Their job is to look after the client and keep the developer working. There are pros and cons to this approach. If this person is an integral part of the development team, it will work. If not, it's often another layer of confusion.

It is imperative for the client to know what is being done and when it will be delivered. One of the complaints I hear from clients is, 'It's past the date they told me and they won't give me a new date." It's not good enough. It would be bad practice in any sector. Set a date and get it agreed in writing. I heard a story from one person whose developer had spent seven months on a two month project and then turned around and said the site was out of date, it did not cater to social media! On the flipside the client must provide information to the developer in a timely manner. Developers should give reasonable time scales for work and not exaggerate the time it takes. But also, clients need to understand what is involved and understand that developing a website is nothing like writing a document in Word. What may seem like a simple change may on one page require changes to a database and other pages. All of which takes time. I sometimes have to educate one while telling the other to be realistic, to not try to charge 20 hours for work which only requires three!

A good website costs money, like all things of quality. If a client's main deciding factor is the price then the outcome will reflect that. Client's often push and push for more ‘extras' for free or offers their brother-in-law's graphics to keep prices down. This is often where it starts to go wrong for many projects.

If you are a client looking for a development firm, check their portfolio, contact past clients and ask them how the work went, was it on time and did they find the developer professional to work with.
Get prepared for the meeting. I have created a checklist and included the link below. If the developer is on the same track, great, if not – run away. They have just wasted theirs and your time. By being prepared you show the developer you are not another potentially bad client with a brother-in-law in the family. That will go a long way to creating a good relationship.

You can find the checklist here.
http://blog.pointconcept.info/useful-things/