Web 2.0 a designers nightmare

designdude

I’m hoping to get some feedback on an issue which I seem to keep come up against.

I’ve been a freelance web designer for about 3 years now. Started off doing nice little HTML sites. In the last year or so there has been a lot of demand for dynamic sites with databases behind them. Mainly because of the “self-service” element to them, but Im happy developing these sites because they generally fetch higher rates.

No problems there, did a few nice sites and the future looked peachy.

However about 6 months ago clients asked me to redesign an online app to work "more like on Google”, e.g. Gmail, Google calendars etc.

Its gotten to the ridicules stage now, where recently a client wanted a rich text formatter with features close to Word.

I don’t want to sound like a moan, I can develop these app’s and have done, but is it really necessary?

This is starting to bug me big time. I know people are getting more web savvy but to expect such high levels from developers with VERY MODEST budges is annoying.

Now I know what your thinking, bad expectation management and I’d agree. But this really isn’t the case, people’s expectations are just so high.

Web 2.0 truly is a wonderful maturing of the web but as somebody who earns a living producing these sites it is started to become very daunting indeed.

Ph3n0m

You dont have to develop squat - chances are someone has already done it for you.


Point in case, "rich text formatter with features close to Word"

www.fckeditor.net

designdude

ah sure If i didnt use open source stuff I'd be lost. problem is alot of these require ajusting to get them to work with the database.

for example oscommerce.com open source eCommerce solution, while good is a nightmare to customise.

just my view though, as I know it works like a charm for friends.

secret_squirrel

You've got to take a more proactive approach at managing your clients.

Remember if you are doing your job right you should be the one seperating the useful bits of Web 2.0 from the utter hype and bull**** thats being generated along with it.

You should be questioning both what your clients want and why they want it.

Webmonkey

Well I can tell you now that FCKEditor is the easiest thing to use. It only a few lines to embed, infernous they done a good job. You can just threat it like a regular form object.
Need a hand, give a PM, even though my time is scarce!

DJB

Implementing advanced features on apps/websites isn't really a big deal to be honest. I'd be happy that my client is coming back for an upgrade to their work. If it wasn't in the original spec, then you get to re-quote for the additional work. So, I don't see the problem you are facing.

I'd agree that alot of web 2.0 stuff is out there in open source. I don't know of anyone who has written their own WYSIWYG Editor... they just use the open source ones. FCK is quite good but I found "tinymce editor" better for xhtml output. They are all p*ss easy to implement!

If there wasn't a hype about and advances in the internet and it's technologies, everyone would get one website and never get an upgrade. Let the hype drive your customers back to you for repeat business. I found that in the web industry, repeat business can be few and far between. Normally companies stick with a website for a couple of years before upgrading (especially SME's). If you can get them in for an upgrade after 6 months than "happy days" is my view!!! It's easier to keep a client and service them than try find new ones!

Rgds,

Dave

CuLT

More features = more money.

I don't see the problem. I hope you're not making the mistake of not differentiating between "maintainance" and "upgrades".

MyPeopleDrankTheSoup

Yeah, tell your clients that those rich text editors mean more work, so charge 'em more! Sorted.

designdude

Hi All, lots of really great advice there. Many thanks. I feel I may have put too much emphases on the text editor though. Its just an example, annoying as it was.

True, more features is =more $$$

Let me say this though, as services provided by the like of Google become ever more sophisticated is there a danger that the average designer is going to be unable to satisfy clients increasing expectations.

I don’t care what anyone says there are some things that we cannot compete with.

A good example is Google calendar, as far as I can tell there is NOTHING open source developed that comes with in 10 miles of that amazing app.

Please prove me wrong.

miju

my bad double post

miju

theres a few open source apps like google calendar with a bit of customization can do the trick pretty much just as well

PixelTrawler

Designdude is right. Its getting harder to compete with big teams with big budgets with all the latest features. Sure you can implement an approximation of what they do, but you'll never match it and the gap will only widen going forward (if you can technically match it how long would it take you?).

The only saviour at the moment is a thriving open source community - there is a lot of quality code and components out there to help the little guy keep pace.

But no doubt its getting harder to meet peoples increasing expectations. People are seeing more and more quality apps out there and want the same. They dont always consider you're a solo guy though and the apps they've seen have been built by a big team with the resources...

Its getting a bit like the games industry.

Going forward, it will make more and more sense for solo developers to collaborate more on projects. After all this happens in other aspects of the software industry quite successfully.