What do you ask customers?

[Rifter72]

Well, as I feel I now have a secure handle on HTML, and currently learning Javascript and PHP, I've had a couple of people ask me to design sites for them.

The problem is, I don't know what would be good questions to ask in order to properly design the sites. I would like to start with a good round of exploratory questions to get the feel for what they want but I'm not sure what to ask.

Any advise here would be nice. I would like to put together a questionnaire to use as a guide when putting sites together for people.

Thanks in advance for any help!

[PeOfEo]

Originally posted by Rifter72
Well, as I feel I now have a secure handle on HTML, and currently learning Javascript and PHP, I've had a couple of people ask me to design sites for them.

The problem is, I don't know what would be good questions to ask in order to properly design the sites. I would like to start with a good round of exploratory questions to get the feel for what they want but I'm not sure what to ask.

Any advise here would be nice. I would like to put together a questionnaire to use as a guide when putting sites together for people.

Thanks in advance for any help! what audiance are you going to get, like what types of people (you need to know ur audiance), what sort of layout do you want, something brand new and original, or something traditional and proven, what exactly do you want (message board, guest book, news blog, clanader, img gals so you can detirmine scripting needs).

[Rifter72]

Thanks for the help. I'm starting my question page right now.

[toicontien]

I usually ask most of the questions posted by PeOfEo. I also mention that content can dictate the type of design to a great deal. It also can dictate how "deep" the site is, how many pages it will be.

Ask them if there are additional things they want the site to perform, like storing company documentation. Not the sensitive stuff, but things like dress codes, office lunch policies. Simple stuff like that.

But you could store sensitive company info, you'd probably want a secure connection and server-side login capabilities.

Also be sure to ask them when they want it done. If it's a hurry-up-and-get-it-on-the-web project, you're design will need to be simple enough to get it up quickly. If you've got some time, then you can concentrate more on site aesthetics.

[spufi]

What kind of server and what version is being used? What version of PHP is being supported? What kind of browser support do you have to design for, ie fourth generation browsers like Netscape 4?

[buntine]

Make sure you know about the methods which they want to tackle marketing.
In the long run, Web Site Marketing will be a more important factor in your clients future apposed to a good design.

Regards.

[Aronya1]

What is it supposed to do? Educate? Inform? Sell? Entertain? They usually will not have thought that specifically about it, but YOU have to, so make them do it, too.

You are almost guaranteed to have to educate your client about a lot of things to do with their site, from domain registration, hosting issues, design, creation, upkeep, marketing, etc. I try to address all of these early on, so the client doesn't feel blindsided by something down the road when I tell them they have to pay up.

[Rifter72]

Thanks for all the input. I do not intend to do this professionally but for some extra dough on the side I still want to know what I'm doing! Thanks for the heads up on some of these issues. You guys are great, I appreciate the help.

[Robert Wellock]

Ask them how much they are willing to spend, what the aims and objectives are and how the expect the website will enhance their corporate identity and what functionally will be requested of the site.

Basically you have to perform Systems Analysis of the company and it's branding.

[buntine]

Agreed, the companies budget is very important. Its up to you to keep the costs down.
You cant spend two months developing a web site for a company which have several budgeting constraints.