Although I always welcome questions and comments, some are asked frequently enough to warrant a public response. If you can’t find the answer to your question here, please feel free to contact me for further clarification.

1. General
   • Why are you so concerned about proper validation? If it looks good, isn’t that enough? Why spend precious time adhering to some other entity’s standards?
2. Payment
   • What payment methods do you accept?
   • My project budget is limited on a scheduled release of funds. Will you accept payment plans?
3. Services
   • Will you sign an NDA (Non-Disclosure Agreement) before beginning any detailed discussion or work on my project?
   • I operate my own web development firm or company and we’re currently overworked and/or have need for temporary additional help on a large project. Do you accept sub-contracting jobs?
4. Tools
   • What tools do you use for web development?

Proper markup validation is often an unappreciated or misunderstood aspect of quality, long-term work. Since the Internet is a free-flowing entity with no strict governing bodies, there’s nothing to stop everyone from creating their own “standards”. The industry-accepted standardization body for web markup languages is the W3C (World Wide Web Consortium). Standards-compliant markup is more likely to display properly across multiple web browsers since the parsing engine doesn’t have to make assumptions about what you meant when you wrote the markup. Additionally, the markup is more likely to be future-proof; newer versions of browsers often drop support for proprietary or misused elements. This is a good thing. Evolving standards are less likely to change in such a way that a newer revision contradicts its predecessor.

I accept checks, money orders, and Paypal. When paying by check, I require that the funds clear before releasing the project for official use. If you have another payment method or terms you prefer, please ask me if I will accept it. I will review any other payment methods and provide you with a timely decision.

My project budget is limited on a scheduled release of funds. Will you accept payment plans?

Absolutely. I understand that some projects (especially non-profit organizations) are on a tight funding schedule and may not be able to afford an entire project in one or two payments. I will evaluate each payment plan proposal on an individual basis based on your needs prior to beginning work on the project.

Yes. I am willing to work with you on any legal agreements your project(s) may require.

I operate my own web development firm or company and we’re currently overworked and/or have need for temporary additional help on a large project. Do you accept sub-contracting jobs?

Yes, I accept most sub-contracting jobs, and they are treated no differently than others. I understand that many sub-contracting jobs also carry a clause that I am not allowed to feature the work I sub-contracted on my own website, performing the development equivalent of a ghostwriter. While clearly not desirable for me, I am willing to negotiate this term.

Much of my development work is done in applications which are little more than a basic text editor. I avoid bloated IDEs (Integrated Development Environments) when feasible because they can produce undesirable results and non-standard code/markup, as is typically the case with WYSIWYG (What-You-See-Is-What-You-Get) HTML designers. I prefer simple environments such as PHP Designer, EditPlus, or TextPad. Of course, I always use the tools most suitable for the project.

I test my work in Firefox with the Web Developer, HTML Validator, CSS Validator, Firebug, MeasureIt, ColorZilla, and IE Tab extensions. I highly recommend all of the above Firefox extensions for any web developer, as they will make your life infinitely easier.