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How to Hire a Web Professional [Web Visions Portland 2012]

Hiring someone to build or work on your website is extremely tough, especially if you don’t grok code (or even recognize “grok” as a word). How can you tell a solid web professional from a mediocre or bad one when you don’t know a whole lot about what they do?

AaronGustafson
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How to Hire a Web Professional [Web Visions Portland 2012]

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  1. How to hire a Web Professional

  2. How do you know who’s mediocre & who’s amazing?

  3. WaSP wants to make it easier

  4. Before you sit down ๏What is the purpose of your website? ๏Who is your audience and what should they be able to do on your site? ๏What is your budget? ๏Do you have a deadline?

  5. Question 1: Can you walk me through your process?

  6. Process ✓ Wannabe ⚠ Professional Is organized Is disorganized Has a process Promises immediate results Can explain it & it makes sense Doesn’t ask for your input Has a place for you in it

  7. Question 2: How will you ensure my users have a great experience?

  8. User Experience ✓ Wannabe ⚠ Professional Will discuss user goals in relation to your business goals Will want to start designing right away Is confident the design they come up with will work May propose interviewing your users Will discuss research informing design Doesn’t discuss user goals or key tasks May propose testing the site with real users throughout the project

  9. Question 3: How will users find my site?

  10. Findability ✓ Wannabe ⚠ Professional Will discuss the importance of well-written content Promises you a #1 Google ranking Will focus on “meta” tags and keywords Will explain how proper coding makes a site easier to index May suggest multiple landing pages with duplicate content May want to talk about URL structure and link text

  11. Question 4: Who will write the content for my site?

  12. Content ✓ Wannabe ⚠ Professional Will recommend authoring new content for your website Will be happy to take content directly from your brochures May offer to write copy, recommend a copywriter, or simply provide guidance Will offer to update the site for you if you give them a call May recommend a Content Management System

  13. Question 5: Will my site look the same on every computer?

  14. Browsers ✓ Wannabe ⚠ Professional Will discuss the fluidity of the web as a medium and explain why sites will look different on different computers May promise an identical design in every browser May try to talk you into only supporting a handful of browsers or screen sizes Will focus on design consistency over pixel-perfection May bring up progressive enhancement

  15. Question 6: How will you make my site accessible to all users?

  16. Accessibility ✓ Wannabe ⚠ Professional Will discuss the importance of well-written copy May seem confused May try to brush off the question Will explain how markup enriches your copy May simply declare that everyone will be able to use your site without explaining how they will achieve that May bring up color contrast, font sizing, video captioning & transcripts, and/or WAI-ARIA

  17. Question 7: How will my site work on mobile?

  18. Mobile ✓ ⚠ Professional Wannabe Will discuss creating adaptive layouts that flex to the dimensions of different browsers and devices May dismiss mobile browser usage May suggest building a separate mobile site May discuss hiding content on mobile Will talk of prioritizing key tasks May try to sell you on developing an app Will explain how they test your site on a variety of devices

  19. Question 8: What tech will you use?

  20. Technologies ✓ ⚠ Professional Wannabe Will refer you to their developers if they don’t know or they will wax philosophical about HTML, CSS, and JavaScript Won’t know Won’t mention CSS Won’t be able to tell you which version of HTML will be used and why May mention progressive enhancement Will say they design in Photoshop and then generate the code automatically May mention that they hand-code every site

  21. Question 9: What will this cost?

  22. Cost ✓ ⚠ Professional Wannabe Will be able to give you a ballpark cost estimate and rough timeline based on similar projects Will be non-committal when it comes to price May quote you a figure that seems incredibly low (e.g. $1,000) May not commit to a price until the scope is fully understood May not require payment until the project is complete Will require a deposit and establish a payment schedule

  23. Question 10: Who owns the code?

  24. Ownership ✓ ⚠ Professional Wannabe Will be able to discuss issues of copyright, ownership, and licensing May be unwilling to assign copyright to you May be unwilling to hand over source files Will assign copyright (or a license) to you upon receiving final payment Will be willing to provide source files as appropriate

  25. Feeling a tad overwhelmed?

  26. Don’t be nervous, it’s gonna be fun!

  27. biz.webstandards.org

  28. How to Hire a Web Professional by Aaron Gustafson @AaronGustafson Slides available at http://slideshare.net/AaronGustafson This presentation is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 except where otherwise noted flickr Photo Credits http://www.flickr.com/photos/aarongustafson/galleries/72157629656520796/

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