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Things people ask a web designer

Web designers get asked lots of questions from day to day. Here’s some of the more popular ones that come my way…

1. Do you use Dreamweaver and/or Photoshop for web design?
   The short answer is no I don’t use either. For the long answer I try not to use expensive big brand products preferring to support small and independant software developers rather than line the pockets of shareholders who don’t have to depend on the income to survive - it’s a point of principal. For my HTML editor I choose to use the excellent WeBuilder from Blumentals who are independant developers based in Latvia, it’s fast and does everything I want it to. As far as image editing goes I regularly use Photoimpact from Ulead, again it does everything I want it to.
2. Do you use a WYSIWG (What You See Is What You Get) visual HTML editor?
   No, I hand code everything using semantic (x)HTML and CSS (Cascading Style Sheets). Visual editors tend to produce bloated and incorrect code, and by hand coding I have 100% control over style, layout and presentation of the sites I build which is ultra important for a perfectionist like me!
3. Are you satisfied with the sites that you build?
   If I’m honest no I never am completely satisfied. I’ll always provide customers with my best work but being a bit of a perfectionist my mind is always thinking of better ways to do things, and quite often I’ll revisit a site that I built and see something I could improve on. Web design is like that, techniques and technology move so fast these days!
4. Have you worked on adult sites?
   A favourite pub question for some reason! Yes I do, so long as the content is legal under UK law. I’ve worked on numerous adult lingerie/toy shopping sites over the years, membership type sites and promotional sites created in conjunction with magazine/TV advertising.
5. Are you getting plenty of work?
   My mum always asks me this (thanks mum!). When I first started out all those years ago I had big plans to advertise everywhere to find work. Fortunately nearly all my work comes via personal recommendation and word of mouth so I’ve never had to place an advert anywhere. I must be doing something right.
6. What web browser do you use?
   My browser of choice is Firefox, not least because it’s fast, secure, and has lots of useful plugins and add-ons.
7. How much does a web site cost?
   The most open ended question of all time! Every site is different, has it’s own requirements, objectives and amount of time to build. A 10 page site might take 10 hours for one customer, but 80 hours for the next.
8. Will you build me a site for free in exchange for a % of the income?
   No!
9. Do you work from home?
   Yep I sure do most of the time, the age of telecommunting is wonderful because it allows me a great deal more freedom than being confined to an office. Mind you, I do still work on location sometimes when it’s convenient for the customer.
10. My computer is running slow, I might have a virus, can you fix it?
    I love this one. Just because I’m a web designer it doesn’t necessarily mean I know much about computer problems, yet people still ask as if I were a PC tech support guy! I probably do have a better than average understanding of computers and I do always try to help friends and customers out where I can. Thank goodness for 12 years experience working as a systems admin I say!