Design By Tim

Rule number one: Never fail the customer! Unhappy customers are worse than no customers. Using ideas from Jakob Nielsen’s The Increasing Conservatism of Web Users I have created a list (we all like lists right?) of ways to impress the clients while destressing your deadlines.

One of the limiting mindsets in web development today, is the sacrifice of practical concerns in favor of theoretical constructs. Generally the client isn’t concerned (as much as you should be) on the technical details of the project, so a 15 page disertation of why XHTML and CSS are best will most likely not land you the contract. This leads us into reducing the customer’s expectations of the site to nothing more than how it will affect their business. The critical success factors of a project are to give the client what they want - giving them extra helps give the perception of value in the relationship with your clients.

Free aftermarket scope creep - Adding a tasteful Flash animation in place of a static image can put a smile on your client’s face. Whatever you provide - the key is creating that perception of free scope creep, it is vital that this is brought into the mix after the price and features are nailed down. Also if the customer doesn’t expect it to happen - don’t make this a routine or you’ll be promoting scope creep. In your proposal account for this extra feature, but just didn’t mention it to the client. This gives to perseptions - one is that you are able to work with the budget to help the customer - it makes them think you are on their side against the billing dept… as well as looking out for them when it comes to delivering a successful project.

“Un”-expected savings - this principle works well with billing: quote higher than what is needed and when the project is done, come back with an ‘unexpected discount’. If you can work this customer in as repeat business it helps to scratch their back, take a hit in the short run if they’ll fill your pockets repeatedly. I use this when I design a site for a customer who hosts with me - not only does it look good on the invoice that you’ve helped the customer generally they can’t help themselves from sharing this money saving “vendor” with others. In the end only use this if it will blow your business off the handle.

Speed up your delivery - another way to use this principle is with delivery dates. Help the client’s expections by forecasting it will take three weeks, and deliver in a comfortable two. Doing this will give you a buffer, just in case something goes wrong or (hopefully,) you can deliver the project that much quicker, impressing your clients.

The best advice I can give for making happy clients - learn to read them. If you can’t read people you shouldn’t be trying to do business with them. Remember that in business everyone is trying to make a quick, easy and fast buck. If you show them something different the morals of some personalities will give back in return. Don’t let yourself be taken advantage of. Think like the client and deliver how you would want the transaction to take place. If you move first you can command the project. And most of all do not ever forget to communicate, customers like this.

Bruce Lawson’s article on Epicycles: are complex css layouts the new nested tables? is a great exploration into the fade of creating tableless markup. He expresses his concern that “the fact that we have to resort to such contortions to produce layouts that please the eye (in such a simple, basic way) makes me wonder if css - as we know it today - is up to the job at all.”

I want to say at this point that I’m not criticising any of these elaborate layouts, or any of their creators, all of whom I have absolute respect for. This is a brain dump of an internal dialogue I’ve been having for a while. I haven’t arrived at a conclusion and would welcome discussion. - Bruce

Personally I am of the same belief that CSS in its current form isn’t up to the job in a way most developers would like it to be. While CSS has done wonders I think that it must mature further needing to focus on those who can be helped by the technology, rather than the people who are doing the developing.

I attempted a simple throw together of the first step to what I think is sematic markup - however the limitation is that it is a single column. See the sample (my resume). While it cut down on table use (100%) the style sheet is littered with lots of declarations of positioning. While I like this format it does not bode well for those less experienced with css or even just simple edits. I think CSS has come far enough to be useful but has yet to mature into a styling markup that can truly seperate content from presentation.

The comments on Bruce’s article were very stimulating to the viewpoints or what should be included in CSS3. While table layout in generally is “easier” to build - I think the easiness wears off as one is exposed to more css solutions and layouts - it comes down to who is more important - the viewer, the designer, or the procedure? Personally I think the viewer is the ultimate - for the sheer fact that they are what pay the bills. Semantics are very important for scalability, and consistancy. I also hate working with the code in table layouts. Like it or not, design and aesthetics nearly always requires the neat lining up of columns and boxes - something that tables make easy.

I want your viewpoints and examples who uses table designs with css, no css, or 100% css?