Im just curious about the web design process, the process that a freelance webdesigner takes.

There are a few things that i would like to know about it (not specificly freelance):

1. Once the site is made for the customer can they edit it (quite a noobish questions)
2. If they can would you have to build the site around a CMS or make a custom user interface??
3. Could someone please clarify the full freelane web design process, so like when the customer signs at mile points, Etc.

If anyone could help that would be amazing, thanks!

Right. Here it goes.

The first thing that should happen is a briefing with he client where they tell you what they need, their design ideas etc.

Next comes a quote and contract signing. In the contrac should detail the clients and the developers rights. Normally it would detail the detail the deadlines, the cost of not meeting them, when and how the client can request to change the brief etc.

Next the developer should go away and start developing, regular meetings should take place to ensure that the development is going well and the the design is what is wanted. Normally this will start with concept sketches and move onto working demos.

Once the deadline has passed for a change of brief the client MUST pay for the work even if they change their mind. They would have had pleny of opportunity during the design process to change their minds. Any new changes and a new contract should be drawn up, or new sections added to the existing one.

You should always keep content free from design so that if a design change is called for, you only have to write a new stylesheet, rather than restart the project.

Jamie

Thanks for that, any feedback on the other questions?

I think I clarified every point. If I missed something let me know.

By edit, i mean, (very noobish) once the site has been made and the site is hosted, would they have to know html to edit their content or would you make the site around a CMS? Or something else?

^^ Thats if for a non ecommerence site.

Ah right

It depends on the clients brief. If they want to edit the content frequently then a CMS is the right option. If the site is intended to be static then you can right into the contract that minor changes to content would be done for free for the first x months, or that any changes to the sites content require a fee.

It all depends on what the brief says.

Jamie

Ok, thanks, would it be worth building a custom CMS/User interface or would using say "joomla" be the best option? And if you use a free CMS as joomla would you have to pay for a licence to use it in business?

Most of the time I build custom, unless there is something which is perfectly suited for the job e.g. wordpress for blogs. I am unsure about licensing of third party applications, it would be best to check their usage policy.

Some more questions:

Is very a cms that i can buy to use for web design?

How does the customer tell the designer about the content, does the customer write it or give a brief outline then the web designer makes it?

Thanks