Recently someone asked me a bunch of questions related to getting their first web design job as an independent contractor – and so I figured an article was a good idea.

Tim asked:

Stefan,

With me being a newbie in the web design business, I have some questions. Long story short, I was talking with my friends wife one day and mentioned to her that I had thought about doing some web design on the side to make some extra money.

I live in a small town, with a lot of small businesses and I figure these businesses would have a use for a simple web site to help promote their business.

… So I’m thinking this would be something I could start within the next year or so, … two days ago I receive a call from my friends wife and she asks if I’m interested in doing a web site for her brother, who is a dentist in our town.

So, I say sure and she tells me that he will probably contact me soon to set up a meeting to discuss.

Now, this is great but I haven’t got a clue where to start. Hers’s my thought:

1. Meet with the client to discuss the site. How many pages, the content, etc. Maybe show some of my work.
2. Take the info from the meeting and come up with a quote.
3. Present my idea’s and the quote.
4. If he agree’s and accepts the quote, draw up a contract for him to sign.

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A major question that many Windows users are facing (who are considering the move to a Mac,) is whether or not they will have the choice of software on the Mac, that they have on Windows.

For web designers, this is typically a no-brainer since all the commonly used programs in web design:

• Dreamweaver
• Flash
• Photoshop

… have Mac versions.

That said, there are still some great programs that are simply not made for the Mac.

Runnings Windows on your Mac

Fortunately, there are a few options out there that allow you to run Windows only programs on your Mac. Actually, there are even a couple of options that allow you to run Windows itself on your Mac! This is all made possible because the Mac now runs on the Intel chip (which is the same processor that Windows uses,) so it is much easier to ‘translate’ between Windows and Mac.

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In the following article, using a question and answer format, I try to answer some of the common questions about how blogs fit within a business.

1. Can you describe your introduction to blogging, how you became interested how has it impacted you personally?

I first heard about blogging in about 2001 and dismissed it as another tool for people who didn’t want to learn HTML. A year or so later, I realized the significance of blogging and blogging software:

… it was going allow for the original vision of the Web to actually materialize, where anyone could easily get a website on the Web.

Blogs and the blog phenomenon, made me rethink my whole approach to web design as a web professional: blogs, CMS and other similar content formatting tools where the future of web design.

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Hi,

In my continued attempts to teach web designers how to program with PHP (now an essential web design skill,) I’ve just released part 1 of 3, of my video series on creating custom functions in PHP.

We cover the very basics and learn about one of the key advantages of creating functions in php versus just write straight PHP code to your pages.

The Video: Custom PHP Functions

Part 2 and 3 will be out soon.

Thanks,

Stefan

www.killersites.com

Hi,

I just released three videos on PHP functions that targets total beginners to programming and PHP.

The Videos:

• PHP Functions – part 1 (8:31)
• PHP Functions – part 2 (8:57)
• PHP Functions – part 3 (8:12)

I cover basic topics like how to spot and use functions, what are functions ‘returns’ and what are function ‘arguments’.

Thanks,

Stefan Mischook