Top Ten Things to Make Your IT Experience Better

Today, we share our top 10 suggestions for making your IT, and more specifically Web Design and Development, experience easier for all parties involved.

  1. Communicate - Communicate with your IT people. When they ask for something, don't hesitate in giving it to them. There is a reason behind asking, and it will only speed things up if you follow up. Don't be afraid to tell someone when you like something or don't like it. It will save time, and money.
  2. Trust - When a client is told something, there is a reason for it. Trust that your IT Rep is telling you something that is more or less "life or death" of the project. They won't tell you something you don't need to know.
  3. Be active in the development and design - Don't hesitate to be active, or even overly-active, in the design and development. As creative members, we are always looking for another set of eyes to suggest something. We are perfectionists, but not perfect. Let us know your thoughts.
  4. Respect - Respect what your IT Rep is telling you. Again, they aren't going to lie to you, and as a "Subject Matter Specialist", they probably have more insight into the situation, standards, and methods than you may think of.
  5. Don't Assume - Don't think that because we are creative, we know exactly what you are thinking. We all know what assuming does, so let's just stay away from it. Be open and honest about what you're thinking, instead of speaking in an encrypted manner.
  6. Listen to Recommendations - This goes along with the respect. There are going to be things that you may want that may not be following the standards set forth by the governing body of the internet. Or, they just may be bad ideas, such as putting background music on a website that has nothing to do with music.
  7. Be Open to Suggestions - This goes along with #6 and #4. We're going to make suggestions, not orders, of something that may be better based on the situation. Odds are, there is a reason.
  8. Be Prepared - For anything, including setbacks, cost increases, and site defects. It is a work of art, and needs to be perfected.
  9. Support rather than blame - Your IT Rep needs support, too. And it's easier for him/her to get his/her job done if you help, rather than point fingers. It's hard enough to be able to know exactly what the client wants without being directly in their head. If we're wrong, just tell us.
  10. Do your homework - Know what you want, content you want, features you want, everything, before we start. It's easier if you're homework is done before class rather than during. It will speed the project up exponentially.
Open Source? What's that?
Open source is a great alternative to what is called "Proprietary" Software. Examples of proprietary software in the web world would include things like Adobe's© Cold Fusion© , Microsoft's© ASP.NET©, and the slew of EllisLabs© options. So, what's open source, and why should you look for it? There are many reasons. I will cover a few.

  1. Community: The community in the world of Open Source (O.S.) programming is bigger, usually friendlier, and much more willing to help than some of the other proprietary companies. Think of this: If you have had Microsoft© Windows7© for 2 years, and you want some sort of technical support, if it's not on the website, you'll have to pay for it when you call Microsoft. Open Source alternatives are not like that. There are several websites out there that provide information for you for free. It's a great alternative.
  2. Adaptability: O.S. is a lot more adaptable than the other. To run PHP scripts and mySQL scripts on the internet, you can have either a Linux (O.S.) web server, or a Microsoft© (Proprietary) server. If you want to run asp or asp.net, you need to have a Microsoft© box.
  3. Cost: Probably the most important to a lot of people, especially in today's economy, is the cost of O.S. options. It's free! Much better than having to pay for the other. So, you save cost right there. And since it's free, there are quite a few more programmers out there that know php than asp.

So, to recoup, O.S. is just a better option. S.F.W.D. programs solely in O.S. languages.

Adam J Campbell
Owner/Web Developer
Why Web Development and Design

So, a lot of people lately have been using online "tools" or outsourcing their needs for web design. They utilize things like Intuit's® site-builder, or hiring someone from India to do their design, development, search-engine registering, SEO, and Yellow Book registration. All of this for either a ton of money or hardly any money at all!

So, what's the big deal, you ask? The big deal is that these people that are using these resources and tools are taking work away from honest, hard-working, local designers and developers, like myself. That being said, on to the true meaning of this blog, why Web Development and Design.

Everyone knows that Web Development is important. You have to be able to have the content, and the different aspects of the site, to make it attractive to other people to come and look at. Development is a huge part of a new site, as it is responsible for every interactive portion of your site. From the simple display of a few graphics and tables, to the complete slideshow of photos, to an interactive blog or comment block. Everything that you may interact with is thanks to a Web Developer. Web Development is important, because it provides the opportunity for the client to have what they want put in to their site. It gives us a chance to display our knowledge, know-how, skills, talents, and abilities.

So, what's wrong with bringing in an outsourced company to do my web dev for me? Well, there's not necessarily anything "wrong" with doing that, but you lose a lot of personable touches that a local person or company could give you. If you were talking to a local person, you would have the opportunity to meet with them face-to-face. You would be able to have a conversation with that person in one sitting, probably only having to repeat yourself so your developer (or designer) could take notes. You would be able to call them whenever you wanted, and e-mail them with any changes you may need. Could you do that with someone from, say, India? Or Mexico? Or China? Would you only have to repeat yourself so that they could take good notes? Or would you have to repeat yourself because English (or whatever language is your national language) isn't their first language? I would assume the latter of the two. It's hard to communicate with someone when English isn't their first language, because they don't understand a lot of the "slang" terms that we use.

Now, let's not leave out Designers. The 2nd part of this huge thing is Designers. A lot of people now-a-days are thinking "Hey, I'll just go to this site, where there are already templates I can use, and just throw a site up within a few minutes." That's great, if you like cookie-cutter style websites. I don't know how many sites I have been to that all look the same, just with a few different colors. The navigation is the same, the displays are the same, even the layout is the same. And these are completely different businesses. So, in come the designers. I have some designer friends that all like to have fun, and create these off the wall lay-outs. They are amazing! Would someone use them for their site? Who knows, maybe. But, they also have the ability to make plain, simple, functional displays, too!

Imagine you go to a site, and you see something you like about that site. You see something you enjoy on another site that is different from the first. Then, you go to a third site, and you're WOWED at the layout, color schema, and all-together flow of it. Now, could you call up whoever creates these templates for Intuit® or anyone else, and say "Hey, I want you to build me a custom template that combines these aspects of these 3 different sites"? No, there is absolutely no way they would do it, and not charge you an excessive amount of money to do it. Designers are not that way. Designers will jump at the chance to get their creativity flowing, their skills in use. Designers are an amazing breed, and you can't go without designers.

So, put together the Developers that are local with the Designers who love what they do, and you have a heck of a team. Support local, stay local, and buy local. And by local, I mean within your home country, if not state/city. That's my take on it, and please, feel free to comment with your thoughts!

Adam J. Campbell
Owner/Web Developer
Semper Fidelis Web Design