On Freelance, and Not Being a Jerk

John Gruber @ Daring Fireball linked this entry for a designer relating his horror story of a freelance job. The traffic appears to have killed his webhost, but you can still find a Google Cache if you're creative.

Look.

There's a basic rule in life: Don't be a jerk. It doesn't matter if the other person is paying you or not, whether it's a job, or a traffic accident: being a jerk to the other person will get you nowhere. Who populates design message boards? Bored, frustrated, angry designers. I know, because I'm one of them (I haunt NewsToday). Would I take advice from me on a board like that? Hell no! I'm on there because I'm bored, angry, frustrated, and anonymous. The worst case is you find me email in my profile and I get a mean note. Then I blacklist your domain and don't get any emails from you, ever.

Back in Black

Two tips for websites.

Does a certain behavior annoy you on sites you visit, often causing you to avoid that site? Say... popping an add on a new layer over the content you're trying to read? Yeah, that's annoying, right?

Well, don't do it on your site, then. Annoying your users is NOT a good thing. You can create noticeable ads or notifications without driving people away. A user who misses a minor callout is better than a customer who runs away.

When creating an 'easy' version of a tool, when you spend 6 rounds of IA and 2 rounds of design adding more and more features and data, then wonder why everything is so complicated... start removing things.

There is such a thing as too much information. If you're trying to make something simple and easy to use, less is more. Particularly if it's related to an already complex subject.

But how do you tell a client, "No?" In my fantasy world, it's easy.