Depends on what they want, how much time it'll take you (and thus how
experienced you are at PHP), and how much code you can re-use.
Break it down a bit. You'll probably want PHP to do a few things. It'll
probably generate the main navigation when you view the page, that's one
section.
You'll probably want an admin page so they can edit the HTML. That's
another section (that deals with writing files, and also lots of user
input). Maybe they can't edit raw HTML, and want a BBcode editor, or
even full wysiwyg editor, that's at least a sub-section.
Then there's photos. So they'll want a gallery. Does the gallery just
show next and back, or does it show an index page of thumbnails?
Will they be able to save comments? Will users be able to leave comments?
How will the customer upload, edit, and delete the images?
What about a news feed, if done properly it'll be a bit like a blog,
with an RSS feed, and postings, and archives. Will the data be pulled
from a database? Are you familiar with databases?
Also, what about an AJAX interface? some things, especially the back end
(and pre-loading the next gallery image), lend themselves to being done
in AJAX. Do you know javascript, and XML?
What if they want to upload a video instead of a picture? Will you just
get them to use YouTube and embed it, or will you work out the issues of
uploading LARGE files, using something like FFMPEG to compress it, and
then finding a suitable flash player to play them.
As you can see, there's a lot of things that could be done on such a site.
Personally I try it this way. I estimate the time it's going to take me
to do each thing, then double it (as I am habitually optimistic in my
timing), then work out the hourly rate.
I personally wouldn't work for less than $25/hour, even if it was a
friend, and that wouldn't be for something of this magnitude. I normally
charge AUD$45/hour, and most people think I'm undercutting the market.
Although my rates can be off as I usually have to do photography, and
film work for a client as well.
At the end, you multiply the number of hours it'll take you, by your
hourly rate and get a total.
The hard thing is, the first time you make such a site you'll probably
learn a LOT, and it'll take you a fair amount of time, then the second
time you'll probably re-program it because you know better (like to use
Object Oriented, and whole new programming and UI techniques), and after
that you'll probably just write an installation script that'll allow you
to create new sites within minutes. So do you charge the 1st person
$10,000 when they'll probably end up with the worst site, and everyone
else gets charged $200, or do you split the cost up over a number of
potential sites, and absorb any miscalculations?
But the real question you have to ask is if it is really worth all the
effort when you can simply use a plugin for something like Wordpress
<http://wordpress.org/> which will be 10x better than anything you'll
ever create anyway.
Michael Kubler
*G*rey *P*hoenix *P*roductions <http://www.greyphoenix.biz>
PS : Sorry to everyone about the long email replies... seems to be my
thing today.
Ryan S wrote:
Hey,
Got a question for you guys who make a lot of personal sites.
I got a US client who wants me to make a personal site, 4-7 "sections" (eg: about me, photos, whats new etc)
and have to put a yearly maintenance $$ amount...
I thought i'll make most of the stuff using php rather than plain html so the client can update different sections without me (eg: whats new, add pics)
What do you guys charge for something like this (dont count hosting and domain fees)
Thanks!
R
