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General Discussion

Michael Plemmons
Michael Plemmons
9,393 Points
Posted by Michael Plemmons
Michael Plemmons
9,393 Points

Sharing Website

I'm slowly building a website for a friend of mine who wants to promote his video producing/ editing skills. He's 4 hours away and no knowledge of programming. My question is: is there a way for him to view it from long distance to see how the progress is coming or if he has any design input that he can give me for how he wants it or is the only way (besides deploying it live) to just email him the files and explain to him how to view it in his browser? I'm hoping there's a web sharing software or something that we can collaborate on this with only us 2 having access to it.

4 Answers

Kevin Korte
Kevin Korte
28,149 Points
Kevin Korte
Kevin Korte
28,149 Points

Not that I'm aware of. If it's a static site than the HTML files can just be viewed in the browser, otherwise a cheap or free shared server will make it live.

The other option, is what about using remote or screensharing software that 's not specific to web? Teamviewer and join.me come to mind and could help here.

Michael Plemmons
Michael Plemmons
9,393 Points
Michael Plemmons
Michael Plemmons
9,393 Points

hmm a free shared server might be a good option. I don't really care if it's live or not but I don't want to pay for a domain and hosting for a website that's not even close to being finished yet.

Screen sharing might actually be an easier way to go. I think Skype does screen sharing.

Thanks for your advice.

Richard Nicholls
Richard Nicholls
1,301 Points
Richard Nicholls
Richard Nicholls
1,301 Points

Depending on what you pay for the domain and hosting. Personally I think if the site is live then you will crack on with it. I just shared my first website, the hosting cost $25 for a year and the domain was $4.00 for a year not much really

Allison Walker
Allison Walker
17,137 Points
Allison Walker
Allison Walker
17,137 Points

Well, it's not difficult to share a website. You just send the URL. Is the issue that you're not exactly clear on the requirements for the site, including what measures of success your friend has or his aesthetic preferences? Or, is the question, you want to share progress of the visual design, prior to launch? In the 2nd case, you will still have to send the URL, so he can see what it looks like in a live site.

There is a Treehouse course on freelancing, that sort of goes over the initial part of digital projects. Hopefully you have a creative brief and you've collected all the information you need to make design decisions. When you're ready to begin sharing your design, you can just send PDFs and have a conference call with him, while you both review the images at the same time. That is the simplest way to do it. Then, give him a few days to send you feedback, before you go on to the next phase.

When it comes time to view the live site, typically, developers will not share the test/dev site URL until it's stable, which means that you (the two of you) will need to set a deadline on the calendar for when each feature or page will be released. Then, the same process, you have a phone call and go page by page, together.

I don't know if this answers your question, but I hope it helps.

Michael Plemmons
Michael Plemmons
9,393 Points
Michael Plemmons
Michael Plemmons
9,393 Points

This helps a lot. Yeah it was the circumstance where I want to share progress of visual design prior to launch. He's not a designer, he's a video editor who wants a site to promote his job. He didn't really give me any design ideas, just told me his goals with it. So I'm designing it to have the elements he wants. Then, he can look it over and give me some ideas to improve it little by little.

I think the freelance course would be very helpful in this case, because I'm practicing with my friend as if I was a freelancer and he's my client except I'm doing the work for free for the practice, experience, and to start a portfolio. It'll be my first website ever. (well plus the sample one I built with Nick in the HTML course)

Thanks for everyone's help in this.

Allison Walker
Allison Walker
17,137 Points

Another Treehouse course on Brand Identity Basics might also be helpful for you to help fill in the gaps for what you need in terms of getting design direction from your client. The instructor gave examples of his process in coming up with a design, including some of the questions to ask. http://teamtreehouse.com/library/brand-identity-basics

FYI, the freelance course will advise you to not work for free. It might be too late now, since you've already started, but maybe you can work something out. Maybe not money, but something else of nominal value.

Good luck!