Interference

[soop]

My friend appeared out of the blue the other day (haven't seen him for a few months), and among the news was that he's starting.. I guess it's a business.  He's a carpenter, and he's gotten around to having a website made, business cards, even a fucking hoodie.

The thing is, as good as he is at carpentry, he's a total luddite, and he's got no sense of style.  His website is a fucking trainwreck.  It's got no metatags, it doesn't even have a title, and the main logo is some free clipart.  Whoever designed it (and I seriously doubt it was him) hasn't got clue 1.  And the domain name is 10 sylables and about 30 characters long.

So I sat down yesterday and started making him a brand new site from scratch, just using good old HTML and CSS.  It's got a decent logo, a concurrent theme, and a some neat effects.

But now I've made it, I'm having second thoughts.  I mean this is his deal, right?  Who am I to come barging in changing all his shit thinking I know better?  Like I said he's already got stuff printed, so he's invested money in this already.  Maybe it's a bit of a slap in the face.

You don't know him, but help me decide.  Do I offer him a website and some decent branding, or do I let him carry on the best he can?

[Arkhan Asylum]

Help him.

and then demand money, or beat him with a hammer.

[turboswimbz]

WTF? I can't follw a damn thing here.  A normal person just says "yo dat shit is whack" (or whatever you guys say across the pond something with bloke and bollocks) "if you want I can help you out make something a little better"  you don't just go behind thier back and make something. 

but seriously, Why not ask him if he'd like the help first?

[MotherGunner]

I would say tactically offer your services, "Hey I happen to have some ideas for your website.  If you are interested let me know."

If he truly cares or values your opinion he will accept.  From there figure out the best timeframe to migrate to the new design as he has already spent money on hoodies.  It may take for him to work at his carpentry business to get money towards investing in the website.

It really comes down to what his focus is.  You can rest easy knowing you at least mentioned it.

[Nazi NecroPhile]

I say leave him the fuck alone.  If your web mastering skillz are as lacking and aimless as your posting skillz, you can't help him anyway.

[soop]

I say leave him the fuck alone.  If your web mastering skillz are as lacking and aimless as your posting skillz, you can't help him anyway.

So much anger from one guy!

[Nazi NecroPhile]

So much anger from one guy!

Nah, I'm just yanking your chain.  If my own posting skillz were up to snuff, I woulda put in a smiley ( ).

But seriously, leave it alone until he asks for help or at least says he's unhappy with what he has.

[JoshTurboTrollX]

LOL-

we want links to this site.  (We shall JUDGE!!)

[RoyVegas]

I say leave him the fuck alone.  If your web mastering skillz are as lacking and aimless as your posting skillz, you can't help him anyway.

So much anger from one guy!

You should see his cookies!



Offer your friend the help but I wouldn't let him know you already did it.  Seems kinda stalkerish.

[soop]

Offer your friend the help but I wouldn't let him know you already did it.  Seems kinda stalkerish.

Yeah, he just called me and I pretty much did that.  Gonna meet up early next week and discuss things.

As far as it goes, the layout is pretty much done, but I've just started putting the content in today after just copy and pasting junk as a placeholder.  It's all CSS though, so if I want to completely change the look, it should be fairly simple.

Also it's not hosted yet, but if you want a look at it, here's a screenshot: http://tryimg.com/3/hnkn.png

There's a few things to iron out, like change "we" to I, and maybe change the font around a tad.
Also, those "polaroids" pop out when you roll over them, which is pretty much the only effect.

Going for a kinda blue and white blueprint scheme.

[GohanX]

Just tread carefully, some people I know who have done similar things gets stuck being the website admin for free because they are friends.

[soop]

Just tread carefully, some people I know who have done similar things gets stuck being the website admin for free because they are friends.

I'll kind of have to do that, but I'm fine with it.  It's not a complicated site, and I kind of like doing that sort of thing

[esteban]

soop, whatever you do, DON'T SAY ANYTHING TO HIM. I can't make it any clearer: under no circumstances should you mention anything about this to your friend.

Whew! I was worried you would do something impulsive.

[Tatsujin]

how about posting that website of his?

[PunkCryborg]

wwdwytd

what would donna want you to do

[esteban]

DON'T EVEN MENTION THE WORD "Website" to him, and certainly don't meet with him next week to discuss design ideas!