Private Web Design Tutor
What does it mean to be a Private Web Design Tutor? Here´s an example.
Two days ago, a person called me From my home town, Columbus, Ohio. He found me on Google, visited sillybilly.com, watched my video on how I conduct my sessions, then he clicked my contact button. In his message to me, he shared that he wanted to build a web site. He shared that he had the Adobe CS 6 Suite and he had downloaded some Adobe Dreamweaver Templates and some Flash Web Site Templates. All he wanted to do was change the images and change the links, maybe make some new pages, and then learn how to upload the files to the server.
In his message to me, he included this phone number so I gave him a call. We talked, I asked him about his knowledge of web stuff, about his template downloads and what he wanted to do. We set a time to get together for the next day. I suggested he zip up the templates he had downloaded and send them over to me via mailbigfile.com (that´s a free service for sending large files to folks).
We set an appointment for 9am my time the next day. The night before, I was looking over the Templates. The Dreamweaver (CSS, Html, JavaScript, and images ) template was a no brainer for me to review. But then their was the Flash Template.
There were two Flash Templates. Both were based on AS2 (Actionscript 1-2). Adobe Flash Professional CC won´t even publish an AS2 file, it has to work in AS3. Anyway, I´ve helped clients edit thousands of Flash Templates, but this one was a real advanced one, based on php and external xml files. Not a problem for me, but does this client want to learn how to control all of that.
The next day it´s 20 minutes before our first meeting using GotoMeeting.com. I send him the invite link. We sign on with visual and audio. No problems.
He´s looking at my desktop, I open the Dreamweaver Template, then open the main page of the web site in Chrome. I tell him that this is no problem to edit, but then I scale and resize the page. The page was not developed for responsive web design, not good for mobile devises or phones.
As we were talking, I launched my site, sillybilly.com, and made the browser big, and then made it very small and he could see how it was adapting for the smaller devices as the browser decreased in size. As a private web tutor, I shared with him the basic concepts behind responsive web design.
I told him that we could code that. I also shared with him that he want to do a search for templates that were built to be responsive.
Then I asked him, “ Why are you using this Flash Template?” He liked the sound and the video and the animation. I asked him if he had a cell phone. Ended up he had a Samsung, Galaxy Note 2. I have the Samsung, Galaxy Note 3. I asked him he could view Flash on that phone. He said no.
I asked him, “What kind of web site is this going to be and what are you using it for?” Ended up, he has a small business and he want to write articles, post images, include forms, and have many pages of information for his clients.
I asked him, “Have you heard of WordPress.” He said no.
I launched one of my clients WordPress sites, showed him how it was responsive for mobile devices. I showed him how to make universal changes with the click and drag of a couple of buttons, then I showed him how to make cosmetic color and size changes in the CSS file.
After 30 minutes, we concluded that WordPress would be a good solution for him. He is going to download WordPress and surf for free, responsive WordPress Gallery type Themes.
We came to the conclusion that after he makes the downloads and plays for a while, we would get together to cover the holes in what he could figure out, and what he couldn´t figure out.
Summary
If I had let him go on his original path, I could have made lots of money teaching him Dreamweaver (Dreamweaver will still help him out greatly in many ways, even with his WordPress site), and Flash. But I knew that he really didn´t know what his options were or the consequences of his decisions.
As A Private Web Tutor, and having taught major corporate designers around the country web design (as well as thousands of small business owners) I have seen a lot of sites, a lot of needs, and a lot of code. Given that, I help my clients get through the murky gray area called, “What.” What do I need. What should I spend my valuable time doing? How can I get it done?
I´m Bill the Geek, Private Web Tutor. What can I do for You?
