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Interview with Chris Godby about Online Web Design Tools!

Posted on 9th Feb, 2010. Posted in: Freelance, Fun

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Exclusively for PM Design Blog readers, an interview with Chris Godby – owner of CG Inspired. What started out as a one man show, has now become an elite group of freelance designers and developers providing top quality work to all types of companies and individuals. Chris will be asked about his work, passion and Web Design Tools Online!

Tell me about your work / company and your experience in Web Development. What do you do for living?

My work is primarily web design, but a lot of my clients also require matching branding such as print material (business cards, letterheads, brochures etc) which I also work on. I work with a small network of freelancers so I can provide a complete solution to my clients (e-commerce and other development work). I am a sole trader, under my company name, CG Inspired, which means I do all my own advertising, tax, billing and project management.

What existing web tools do you use (if any) while working and why / how often (generators, optimisers, etc.)?

I mainly use the following:
• Lorem ipsum generator during the design process for text filling
• sitemap generator for submitting new sites to search engines
• privacy policy + copyright generator
• used to use an online web browser tester, but now use my own offline one
• CSS compression
• HTML tidy
• Competitor backlink checker for SEO
• Adwords keyword tool for SEO and keyword optimization

How this affects your job performance?

Saves me a lot of time, not sure what I’d do without some of them!

Are you satisfied with existing web tools available online?

Yes, although it took a while to find exactly what I required as there are so many derivatives of the same thing. Some of them, especially link diagnosis are invaluable in providing really useful information.

What you can say about customers you build applications for and their expectations (deadlines)?

Every customer is different, but on the whole, before even starting a project I get them to tell me if they have a deadline (some don’t have one at all), if they do I’ll tell them if I can get the work done in that space of time. This eliminates any real problems about deadlines. Like any service you pay good money for, clients are allowed to expect a decent, quality output on time – web design is no different.

What do you think about the idea of the service that would provide all necessary tools for you in a one place and how you would wish it to work?

This is an interesting idea. It would have to provide the best of all the tools, if even one of the tools did a poorer job that you can get online, it would defeat the purpose of the service. I’d also prefer if it to be offline – ie not SaaS as, although very useful, I wouldn’t want to pay a monthly fee, this could be impossible with online tools, perhaps a onetime purchase/license option. Web designers can get pretty defensive about their favorite tools so I think it would be a tough nut to crack! For tools like invoicing and project management there are some huge competitors that already do a great job for a price – basecamp, freshbooks, invoicing machine etc.

What web tools would you like to use in your development processes? (in this service idea)

1. Lorem Ipsum Text Generator
2. Sitemap Generator
3. Random Password Generator
4. Invoicing and Customers Management
5. Privacy Policy Page Generator
6. Cross –browser tester
7. Google Checker – Search position of your website
8. HTML Tidy Services
9. CSS Tidy Services
10. Online CSS Text Styler
11. CSS developer playground – see what you get
12. RSS personalized reader – your personal news updates
13. CMS Services like CushyCMS
14. Back link Checker

Thank you

Thank you for your time and effort. It’s been great to talk to you!

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