danoshops

It's been a while since I last posted here. I've been happily busy with a new job. I'm now working as the web developer for IFSA-Butler.org. It's a super-cool gig and I work with great folks! I'm learning gobs and gobs about Joomla and hope some day to be a Joomla guru.

Since my last post regarding Geovisitors my website (dano-dna.com) has had a handful of hits again... If you are one of these visitors, please send me an email via my contact form: dano-dna.com/contact.shtml

• "Near Las Vegas, NV" lat=36.1515, lon=-115.2048


• "Satellite Beach, Florida" lat=28.1737, lon=-80.5997


• Northwest,  lat=47.7948, lon=-124.2643


• "France... somewhere" lat=48.5, lon=2.5667


• "Near Frankfurt, Germany" lat=50.1167, lon=8.6833


• "Poland... somewhere" lat=51.4, lon=19.6833

I'm really interested in the few hits on my website (dano-dna.com) that I've traced to a general location via Geovisitors that I have in the footer of my website. Once someone was apparently viewing my website from their car in a parking lot near Las Vegas. Another time, more recently, someone was viewing my site from somewhere NE of Witchita, Kansas. Does anyone else have experience using Geovisitors or similar mapping tools? Please send me a note for recommendations.

This is a great resource for anyone doing web/blog design if you're budget is lacking and you need "something". With just a bit of poking around, photos seem to be pretty high quality. If you're going to open an account make sure you read the terms, so you know what you'd be giving up. You do retain copyright but anyone can download and use your image freely... again, make sure to read and fully understand the terms.

I found phaselight.com [phaselight.com] via MacUpdate when I was looking at a cool tool called BannerZest. BannerZest's author site has a list of sites using it's Flash banner creation software – here ya go: aquafadas.com/en/bannerzest/reviews.php [aquafadas.com/en/bannerzest/reviews.php]

I just found a Wordpress plug-in resource that I might have to invest in, The Wordpress E-Commerce Bible. I'll wait until the next version (4) comes out though, since that's what I'll need to fix my shop... artshop.dano-dna.com [artshop.dano-dna.com] . Has anyone else used another Wordpress plug-in for E-commerce?

Thanks, Dan

Freelance Folder Birthday Contest - Entry:

I have been freelancing for only a short time and so far things have gone pretty well. In one instance, we'll say my third client (and still active with a project underway since April), has been a real challenge due to communication issues. I bid on the client's project via Get A Freelancer and won. During the bidding process, after viewing the requirements of the website redesign and proofreading project I was very careful not to overstate what I would do to complete the work; I put a lot of effort into the bid with the hopes that we could clarify up front what was expected. The client's native language is not english, so since all of this took place via email and other electronic communication it was a challenge. Anyway, she was elated that I was in the US (as is she), stating that her last experience was with a design group from Pakistan who did not provide her a completed site.

Well, the client liked what I had to say about the project and awarded me the bid. Then it took a while of waiting for the client in which I spent my time organizing/forming my LLC, DanO Design LLC, web design and consulting. When the client was ready to go I sent her a contract (one document) and project specifications detailing what she said she needed and what I would do (another document) to review. When I sent her the documents I requested any further clarification of what I put into the specifications document. She requested a few new things which added a little more to the project budget, so I amended the contract and specs accordingly and resent them. After I received her signed copy both by fax and snail-mail, she very non-chalantly started requesting more, new requirements via email. One very big new request was a rather clear indication of the language barrier; she now wanted me to write the content for her website. I quickly took great care to explain that there is a huge difference between writing content, copywriting, and proof-reading. I gave her resources, etc. that explained in further detail and told her I would proof-read what she could provide but that our contract said nothing about copywriting which requires another type of professional service, not me.

Lesson learned? It took a bit of convincing but the client is now having her site professionally copy-written. I have been done with the design work and am awaiting the rest of her materials, so I can finish up the job. This job has been on my plate for a long time and the client "expected" something more, so I can only guess that the feeling is mutual: this project is taking way too long!

So my big tip to anyone writing specifications for work to be done for a client is that you need to write super-explicit project details/specifications. I had specified that I would "redesign" (with all the steps spelled out) and "proof-read" her site but I had not gone an extra step to state what I would not do, "I will not do copywriting for your website". This (and a few other items) will become a new clause in future agreements. I hope this helps someone out there.

Last week I updated two of my e-commerce sites, one listed in the previous post and another hosted by Spreadshirt.com dano-dna spreadshirt shop. The second one, dano-dna spreadshirt shop, I am still tweaking as there are many styles to manipulate in my custom CSS with their base templates. If you are at all interested in T-shirt artwork, I think I have some very eye-catching options, so please check them out and review my shops.

I am also working to add more and more to my shops at dano-dna spreadshirt shop and at CafePress.com (my shop). 
 

Over the past few weeks I've fine tuned the appearance of dano-dna.com and the 'artshop'. These used to be close in appearance but now they are almost exact. I'm not sure I'll go all the way and make them exactly the same. Right now I don't see the point.
One sad note about 'artshop' is that I was a bit too hasty to use the new Wordpress automatic upgrade feature. It has squashed my ability to add more artwork to my 'artshop'! Wordpress 2.6 is the new version but the e-commerce plug-in is not yet compatible... It worked fine with WP 2.51 but the update killed that. I'll wait patiently for the the update to e-commerce which I hope happens soon.