Setting the Right Expectations

Obviouslly your goal as a web developer is to make money. That also means you need to get paid for the work you've been comissioned for. Setting the right expectations for your client early on can save you a lot of time, money and less stress in the long term. Depending on the size and type of project you will want to make sure you spend the appropriate amount of time setting the right expectation.

The best time, and the easiest time to set expectations is before the project starts. That's before your client has made the final agreement to start a project with you. The more experienced web developers will not take on every project they have the opportunity.

The next most important time to set expectations is during the project. Mostly it's to keep your project in scope and to keep from doing something unexpected that your client didn't pay for.

How Much to Charge a Client?

How much you should charge a client is an extremely personal decision. It's best to start honestly answering a few questions.

What is your skill set? Can you program, are you a dreamweaver pro, or are you a wiz with CMS' like Joomla?
What is your experience? Here's the reality, Web Development is easy to get into, but the way Web Development industry is structured, there is a very sharp learning curve if you want to make some real money.
What is your proficienciey at these skills? If you managing a 2,000 product catalog and your client gives you 2000 pixel product images how are you going to resize them?
Do you have a portfolio? This is along the same lines as if you have any experience. However, if you have just done websites for your friend's quiltting business (nothing wrong with quiliting) then you're going to have a hard time convincing the CEO of a restaurant chain that you've got what it takes. Even if you really do.

Frontpage Slideshow Images not showing

If you're missing the image in your front page slide show, it's a simple fix. Just follow these three simple steps to display images inside your slide show.

1. Open 'mod_fpss.php' in a text editor for editing..

2. Find and replace:

preg_replace("/<img.+?>/", "", $image->ctext);

preg_replace("/a/", "a", $image->ctext);

3. On line 470 change, this:

if ($striptags) {$introtext = strip_tags($introtext, $allowed_tags);}

to:

// if ($striptags) {$introtext = strip_tags($introtext, $allowed_tags);}

Best Practices for Flash, Video or Presenting Something Animated

When Steve Jobs died, so did flash. A month after Jobs died Apple announced they would be suspending all future development of their Flash for Mobile. But that doesn't mean that there won't be need to tell a story on a website and it doesn't mean the end of flash as we know it. So whatever your story making desires require of you, you'll still need to follow the basic principals of creating a storyboard.

Here's a few things you'll need to get started.
Skill Set?
How Much Should you Charge?

Joomla Projects

Here are a few Joomla extensions that you might find useful. These are free and available for non-commercial use. If you're a large company, you need to pay for these modules.

Movie Time Module [Download]

This module was designed for people wanting to know movie times. This was designed after I searched high and low for a way to display movie show times. If you would like to see this in action please see aptos theater movie times example.

How to use Movie Times? It's very straight forward module, no special installation required. However, once you've installed you must:

Go to MrMovieTimes.com and search for your theater.
Copy & Paste MrMovieTimes theater URL into your the Movie Times Module.