With the Works

Archive for October, 2008

When I was studying web design, we were encouraged to offer our skills to a non-profit agency. That was more than ten years ago, when many organisations did not have a website and most people were thrilled to have someone do a site for free.

Sadly, many non-profit sites were done by people with limited skills and knowledge. Many of these sites could have been nominated for The Worst Web Sites on the famous “web pages that suck” site. What is more shocking is that some of those sites are still out there! Others have been replaced with sites done by another helpful volunteer eager to make a name for himself/herself in the web design world.

There are so many examples of how bad a site can be when you don’t hire the right person for the job.

Worse still are the sites people have done for family and friends. Like your grade 1 art project, they hang there on the internet for all to see, long after you stop being proud of your work.

I recently got an e-mail from a former client asking if I could help them upload a newsletter to their website. I thought this was interesting because their new volunteer webmaster had just written to me the week before asking for the passwords to access their server. Apparently, this volunteer had just taken a course and had learned everything about page design but had no idea how to get those files onto the server!

A few months ago, I was contacted by an executive director that I have done a lot of work for in the past. She has moved to a new organization and did not need my services until she discovered that her staff could not do simple HTML updates to their website. She e-mailed me to ask if I could do it. I found out that the site was created by a summer student who was studying computer science at University. I’ve never seen anyone create such a beautiful looking mess! It was coded in such a way that an addition of any text completely “broke” the page layout. I suggested they would save money in the long run by having me redesign the site so their staff could update it themselves. They agreed that that would be the best option, so I recreated the entire site. The client now understands that you really do get what you pay for.

Yet another example, is the site for a local wildlife centre. I had been there in 2005 for their annual open house. I mentioned I could make a website for them if they needed one. They told me that someone was already doing up a website, so I was not needed. Last week, I took a look at their website and was surprised that the “Events” portion of the site has not been updated since 2005. Other sections of the site are still “under construction”. Further investigation reveals that the entire site was created using Flash. I suspect that the woman who made the site may have done it while she was taking a course and that she no longer has access to the Flash software to make any changes. I think she is still very involved with the organisation and would be deeply hurt if anyone pointed out that the site isn’t what it could be.

So, if your budget is tight, be very careful when someone offers to do a site for you for free. It may not be what you need and you might be stuck with it for a very long time. Remember, free is not always the best option and you can (if you have the time and interest) make a great site for less than a hundred dollars a year by following the advice on my post called “Free and Easy Websites“.

I just read a fantastic post by Christopher Ross, designed to answer the question, “Can I get a website for under $100?” Mr. Ross gives detailed directions about how to get your site up and running for only $90.35. I could not have written it better myself, so from now on, I’m going to refer clients with a tight budget to his post.

Of course, I’d recommend the server company I use because it would cost even less. Lunarpages has a sale on right now, so going with them would cost less than $60/year!