Websites

notice

This page is a work in progress!

I am not quite ready to open for commission work yet!

Consider all information here tentative and subject to change!!

do you need a website?

I make websites!!

I made the website you're on right now, I've also been working on making websites for my friends too!

These commissions are primarily oriented towards people looking to make informational websites. This can range from things like displaying hobbies or sharing your interests to stuff like portfolios or even hosting your own commissions.

pricing

My general prices are based on a rate of $20 an hour.

Depending on the complexity of the website you're looking for, you can anticipate this to range anywhere from about 3 to 30 hours.

I expect the most common websites I'd make to fall into the 5 to 10 hour range, which means a roughly $100 to $200 price point.

My hours are tracked using a VSCode Extension called Time Tracker, which I modified myself to allow tracking the time I spend on individual projects.

Also worth keeping in mind is that websites are often a very back and forth communication process. There will likely be lots of small tweaks and decisions I'll need your input on throughout as I build them, mostly depending on how detailed your initial request is.

what are websites, really?

In case you aren't as familiar with how websites are made, here's a very brief overview of what exactly everything is!

Websites are primarily composed of three types of files, HTML, CSS, and JS.

• HTML - The Hyper Text Markup Language. It is essentially the standard markup language used to designate how websites are formatted in your web browser. Think of it as defining the overall structure of a page and laying out how it is organized. Wikipedia Link for HTML.
• CSS - Cascading Style Sheets. This is the styling language that determines how websites actually look in your web browser, it's where you tweak colors and sizes and borders and margins and all of that fun stuff. Wikipedia Link for CSS.
• JS - JavaScript. This is a programming language, and the primary one used by the vast majority of websites. It's how websites can dynamically be changed, for when you need interactivity, supplemental features, or sometimes just for convenience to do what HTML and CSS can't do alone. Wikipedia Link for JavaScript.

Websites consist of a combination of these types of files, along with additional assets like images, videos, music, etc.

expectations

what I offer:

• A custom website layout comprised of HTML, CSS, and JS files.
• Information and assistance on adding and editing the content of your website.

what I do not offer:

• Art/Assets. I am not an artist, I am a programmer! I can build whatever is reasonable for me to do with CSS. However, if you want your website to look really custom, you'll need to be able to provide me with your own art and assets!
• Hosting/Domains. It is up to you to figure this out, I simply provide you the layout to be hosted! Of course, one of the easiest ways to do this is with a free Neocities website.

For all websites I create, I request that credit with my name and a link back to my website be included.

dos and don'ts

what I will do:

• Informational websites built for individual use.
• Stylized layouts designed to mimick or reference other content, like games.
• Simplistic animation, if it can be done easily within CSS.
• Shitposts, if I think they're funny.
• Work which involves light JavaScript or minor custom features.

what I will not do:

• Work that requires heavy JavaScript. I would rather do this kind of work with more sophisticated tools, though that will change the context of the commission.
• Content which involves NSFW.
• Content which involves gore.
• Content which is hateful, political, or religious.

process

1. Commission Request - You submit a commission request, and I choose whether to accept or reject it.
2. Payment - We discuss pricing, the viability of your design, how it will work responsively on different devices, the sorts of things I will need assets provided for, etc.

   Payment will be expected before I begin work!

3. Creation - I will work to build your website layout as we discussed!

   This will start with an initial prototype and eventually lead into a looping stage of feedback and alterations until we are satisfied with the layout.

   Often, this process requires a lot of adjustments, and as such, necessary layout changes and adjustments are all included as long as they are reasonable and do not change the relative scope of the work.

   It may be helpful for us to schedule a time to do these adjustments, so that they can be done in bursts rather than sporadically.

4. Completion - Once the layout work is complete, I will send a ZIP file which contains the fully completed website layout for you to be able to host on the platform of your choosing.

   After the website is hosted, I will fix any immediate bugs that might appear which weren't able to be caught earlier (often the case with mobile devices!).

5. Post-Completion - After this, I will provide minor support for your website in the form of assistance with editing the content of your website.

   Requesting layout changes beyond bug fixes at this point will require additional charges.

design considerations

There are a lot of things to consider when it comes to how you want your website to look, so here are some of the things I'm immediately thinking about to help you in forming your requests.

It is okay to not know answers to all of these questions! They are meant to be a guiding framework to simplify figuring out what you'll want, and we can always experiment with different ideas to see what sticks.

• What is the purpose of the website?

  Is it somewhere you want to talk in-depth about topics, so it contains a lot of text content? Is it something like a portfolio that needs to really highlight images? Is it multi-purpose, so it needs to work for a good mix of both?

  An example: "For my website, I'd like to have a space where I can share my speedrunning notes, and I'd like them to be easily readable with a mix of text, images, and videos."

• How should the page look?

  Is there a strong color you want? Do you want to match the style of say, a particular game's UI? Have you seen other websites and like the designs of those? Are you able to find or provide assets to help with this?

  An example: "I really like Hollow Knight and I would love for my website to resemble some of its stylistic UI elements. I would be interested in seeing how it would look with one of the title screens as a background."

• How should the page be laid out?

  This is often in tandem with the prior question! If the website has several links, is there a navigation panel on the left? on the top? How many links are there? Will you potentially want more later? How might different sections of text be split apart? Do you want a fixed width area for most of the content with a background (that's what this website does), or do you want the full space to be used?

  An example: "I'd like my website to have 3 tabs for pages with the navigation as a row of links on the top below the website title. It might be cool if the page took up the full width and was semi-transparent so the background is visible, but I'm open to ideas."

• What fonts do you like?

  Every website needs to pick primary fonts for their text! In particular, you'll tend to see different fonts for titles, headers, and body text. I can of course try to suggest fonts, but it's easier if you've already picked out some to try (assuming they are licensed appropriately).

  An example: "I was looking at fonts and I think I'd like to try matching the fonts Hollow Knight uses, with Perpetua for most of the text and Trajan Pro for the title."

• How might your design work on mobile?

  Website layouts are often built to be responsive, meaning that as the viewport sizes change, the layout will shift to conform. If the design you have in mind is particularly complex, we might have to think more on how we can shift it to work for mobile devices. Ultimately, this question is less for you to necessarily know the answer, and more to just keep in mind that it will be something I'll have to consider.

  An example: "I'm not very confident in how well the layout would work for smaller devices, but maybe the navigation row could become a column? I'm interested in what you think about it."

Including images and references for the things you talk about is also really helpful! Having a sketch, while by no means required, can help me with visualizing your ideas as well.

Consider these examples to be a good minimum starting point, the more information you can provide, the better!!

send a commission request!

okay well, not yet I'm not ready BUT WHEN THE TIME COMES...

But first, you should read the Terms and Conditions for commissions!!

where to?