You should have final decision based on your expertise. If you show a client two mockups and one has navigation down the left and one along the top and ask “which is your favourite?” you’re degrading your expertise. You should know what the best option is and be able to back up your design decisions.

From Lee Munroe – Why you should never present more than one mockup to a client

Hear, Hear!

via Veerle’s Design Bits

Now that is a great CSS3 experiment! Be sure to read about the experiment and how IE sees our universe as flat and boring

Trent Walton seeded the idea and asked me to make a Dribbble plugin, so I created a plugin that by default mimic’d the wonderful UI created by Dan Cederholm and Rich Thornett. After a couple emails with those gentlemen for their permission to use some assets and a day of coding, we got something we were proud of.

via Dribbble Wordpress Plugin post by Dave Rupert

I can’t wait to try that out!

Unfortunately, my first attempt at freelancing left me unhappy, in debt and desperate. I took several full-time jobs between my last attempt at freelancing and this one to teach me some valuable lessons and make my way out of debt.

I made many mistakes the first time around and, like any good freelancer, I learned from them and now I am a better, stronger worker. In this post, I’ll share some of the mistakes that caused me to fail as a freelancer the first time around.

Read the full article: Why I Failed at Freelancing

This is a really good article on starting out in freelancing without the experience of working for others. Often people ask if they should start freelancing right after school thinking they know everything ’cause they’ve got a few sites under their belt. I’ve always told people not to do that. Go work for someone else, learn the ropes, learn how to DEAL with people; either easy clients or the pain-in-the-ass ones. There are ways of getting rid of those (See Adii’s great article on Pulling The Plug on Bad Customers) but if you’ve never had to be the Boss, it’s hard to show authority and deal with them.

So what’s different now that I’ve left my full-time job again and have been a successful freelancer for a few years?

• Experience. After working full-time in the field for almost five years, I am professional, experienced and can speak with authority in my field.

Today too many blogs are being created, I feel lost in the information and inspiration. There can only be so many different showcases featuring (insert number here) Examples of Brilliant Illustrations. I understand the internet has endless information, and we are just trying to showcase that. I would just like to go to a few destinations to get all the information.

[...]

What I am trying to say is the blogosphere is being over saturated with design blogs. I am writing today to bring up a realistic solution.

Let’s contribute to already established blogs instead of creating new blogs.

Read the rest of the article: Stop Launching Blogs, Start Contributing

Another really good read.

Launching a really good web magazine takes a lot, and I mean A LOT, of work: getting authors to contribute, getting a steady stream of really good, relevant-not-outdated content, etc… It’s a steady job, not one you post to once, sit back and relax. If you decided to open up shop, you must know that you are competing against some really great ones out there.

Before giving John his quote, you ask a little more about the project. After chatting for a few minutes, you ask him about his budget. A fair question, you think. After all, you could approach the project in so many ways. Without knowing the budget, knowing where to begin is impossible. In your mind, building a website is like building a house. Without knowing the budget, you can’t possibly know how many rooms the client can afford or what materials you should use to build.

John, on the other hand, is instantly suspicious. Why would you want to know about his budget? The only reason he can think of is that you want to make sure you don’t charge him less than what he is willing to give. Besides, he doesn’t really know his budget. How the heck is he supposed to know how much a website costs?

Read the rest of this really good article: Is John The Client Dense or Are You Failing Him?

Finally an article that’s not about lists and crap other sites have already discussed! Great article for both the new freelancer and the old. Speak English to your clients! They don’t give a crap about accessibility or web standards. Just give them the site they need.

CSS has the ability to target HTML elements based on any one of their attributes.

Check out the post: The Skinny on CSS Attribute Selectors

Some people would have you believe that you aren’t reading this.

Why?

Because it’s not ‘above the fold’.

Read the article from Paddy Donnelly – Life Below 600px

Determining which prospects you want to work with is often considered a luxury. Don’t think of it that way. Even if the economy is in the tank and you absolutely need the gig, you should be very critical of the prospects you’re considering working with. These are the people who will become part of your immediate and potentially long-term future, and you want to make sure you don’t spend that time drinking schnapps to get through the day or grinding your teeth at night.

Remember: the prospect you’re considering is the client you’ll have.

Check out the full article: Getting to No

Search Engine Optimization is not a legitimate form of marketing. It should not be undertaken by people with brains or souls. If someone charges you for SEO, you have been conned.

Visit: Spammers, Evildoers, and Opportunists