Bulletproof Pixels

Our Contract Between us (Ken and Erin Douglass DBA Bulletproof Pixels) and you [client name].

Date: Today

I. Summary:

We will always do our best to fulfill your needs and meet your goals, but sometimes it is best to have a few simple things written down so that we both know what is what, who should do what and what happens if stuff goes wrong. In this contract you won't find complicated legal terms or large passages of unreadable text. We have no desire to trick you into signing something that you might later regret. We do want what's best for the safety of both parties, now and in the future.

II. In Short

You ([client name]) are hiring us (Bulletproof Pixels) located at P.O. Box 21, Villa Grande, CA, 95486-0021 to [design and develop a website] for the estimated total price of [total] as outlined in our previous correspondence. Of course it's a little more complicated, but we'll get to that.

What do both parties agree to do?

As our customer, you have the power and ability to enter into this contract on behalf of your company or organization. You agree to provide us with everything that we need to complete the project including text, images and other information as and when we need it, and in the format that we ask for. You agree to review our work, provide feedback and sign-off approval in a timely manner too. Deadlines work two ways and you will also be bound by any dates that we set together. You also agree to stick to the payment schedule set out at the end of this contract.

We have the experience and ability to perform the services you need from us and we will carry them out in a professional and timely manner. Along the way we will endeavor to meet all the deadlines set but we can't be responsible for a missed launch date or a deadline if you have been late in supplying materials or have not approved or signed off our work on-time at any stage. On top of this we will also maintain the confidentiality of any information that you give us.

Getting down to the nitty gritty:

III. Design

We will create designs for the look-and-feel, layout and functionality of your website*. This contract includes one main design plus the opportunity for you to make up to two rounds of revisions. If you're not happy with the designs at this stage, you will pay us in full for all of the work that we have produced up to that point (based on the percentage of completion of the project to that point, that percentage applied to the agreed upon original estimate for the project) and you may either cancel this contract or continue to commission us to make further design revisions at the hourly rate of $50 per hour over and above our original estimate. You will be provided with a total estimate for this extra work separate from the original estimate and it will be added to the original estimate.

*

In our experience we have found that many clients prefer to 'inject' their own level of design ideas and/or expertise into the project**. While we appreciate the input, we feel that what we were hired to do is produce a website that all-around best suits your goals as a business. Web design includes many facets of attention that work together toward the completed product. These facets include, but are not limited to, information architecture, taxonomies, visual and functional design, etc. We are more than happy to share why we make the decisions we do regarding your project. While we strive hard at the outset of a project to understand you, your business, it's particular industry, and your competitors, we are fallible and invite your insight into areas where we might have missed something important.

**

There is an option whereby you can provide us your layered Photoshop design and we can convert it into a pixel-perfect implementation of your design, which would cost you less.

IV. HTML/CSS Layout Templates

If the project includes HTML markup and CSS templates, we will develop these using valid HTML5 markup and CSS2.1 + 3 for styling. We will test all our markup and CSS in current versions of all major browsers including those made by Apple, Microsoft, Mozilla and Opera. We will also test to ensure that pages will display visually in a 'similar', albeit not necessarily an identical way, in Microsoft Internet Explorer 7/8 for Windows as these browsers are not Web standards-compliant.

We will not test these templates in old or abandoned browsers, for example Microsoft Internet Explorer 5 or 6 for Windows or Mac, previous versions of Apple's Safari, Mozilla Firefox or Opera unless otherwise specified. If you need to show the same or similar visual design to visitors using these older browsers, we will charge you at the hourly rate of $50 per hour over and above our original estimate for any necessary additional code and its testing. You will be provided with a total estimate for this extra work separate from the original estimate and it will be added to the original estimate.

V. Text Content

If you have an existing website, we will assume, unless otherwise made aware by you, that the existing content will be transferred to the new site verbatim. If you wish to do any rewrites on the existing content, please let us know, as we will require that content as close to the beginning of our work, as a review of, or creation of, your information architecture is part of our service. Our quote includes the integration of your text content, whether new or existing, if delivered on time according to an agreed upon schedule to be determined in our communications. If you want to add content after that date, and it does not require design changes, we will happily do so for an extra charge at $35 per hour. You will be provided with a total estimate for this extra work separate from the original estimate and it will be added to the original estimate.

If you do not have an existing website, all text content you wish to be integrated into the site will be required to be delivered to us as stated above i.e. by an agreed upon schedule.

We are not responsible for writing any text copy unless we specified it in the original estimate. We'll be happy to help though, and in addition to the estimate we will charge you at $35 per hour for copy writing and integration. You will be provided with a total estimate for this extra work separate from the original estimate and it will be added to the original estimate.

VI. Photographs and Artwork

You will supply us photographs in digital format. If you choose to buy stock photographs we can suggest vendors of stock photography. Any time we spend searching for appropriate photographs or imagery will be charged at $35 per hour. Any licensing fees attached to photographs or artwork we find will also be added to the total cost of the project. We will ask at the appropriate time if you require these assets to be approved before any necessary purchasing fee is incurred. You will be provided with a total estimate for this extra work separate from the original estimate and it will be added to the original estimate.

VII. Changes and Revisions

We know from plenty of experience that fixed-price contracts are rarely beneficial to you, as they often limit you to your first idea about how something should look, or how it might work. We don't want to limit either your options or your opportunities to change your mind.

The estimate/quotation prices at the beginning of this document are based on the number of days that we estimate we'll need to accomplish everything that you have told us you want to achieve (based on a translation of 'man-hours' we have estimated the project will require). If you do want to change your mind, add extra pages or templates or even add new functionality, that won't be a problem.

You will be charged at the hourly rate of $50 per hour over and above the estimate we gave you. You will be given a total estimate for this extra work separate from the original estimate. Along the way we might ask you to put requests in writing so we can keep track of changes.

VIII. Technical Support

You may already have professional website hosting, you might even manage that hosting in-house; if that's the case, great. If you don't manage your own web site hosting, we can set up an account for you at one of our preferred, third-party hosting providers. We will charge you a one-time fee for installing your site on this server plus any other agreed-upon required software; then updates to the site, and management of that server, plus any support issues will be up to you. This is an extra charge over and above the original estimate. We can provide you with a quote for this fee once we have been able to assess what is required to do so.

We are not a website hosting company and so we do not offer or include technical support for website hosting, email or other services relating to website hosting. If you do require help with anything beyond the design and development of your site (such as content management*), we'll be happy to help and will charge you $35 per hour.

*

We generally build websites using PHP to allow us to abstract the content files away from all of the deeper technical coded parts of the site's structure. In doing so, this isolates your text content into the simplest HTML files, which are easy to edit in a simple text editor normally provided with your hosting account. We have had good success using this method with our clients. In addition, as part of the quote for installing your site on your host server, we will provide you with an HTML User Guide tailored for your particular site. Please don't hesitate to ask us more about this feature at any time. You may also view a sample HTML User Guide on our site.

IX. Legal Stuff

We can't guarantee that the functionality contained in any web page templates or a completed web site will always be error-free and so we can't be liable to you or any third party for damages, including lost profits, lost savings or other incidental, consequential or special damages arising out of the operation of or inability to operate this website and any other web pages, even if you have advised us of the possibilities of such damages.

If any provision of this agreement shall be unlawful, void, or for any reason unenforceable, then that provision shall be deemed severable from this agreement and shall not affect the validity and enforceability of any remaining provisions.

Phew.

X. Copyrights

You guarantee to us that any elements of text, graphics, photos, designs, trademarks, or other artwork that you provide us for inclusion in the website are either owned by your good selves, or that you have permission to use them.

When we receive your final payment, copyright is automatically assigned as follows:

You own the graphics and other visual elements that we create for you for this project. We will give you a copy of all files and you should store them really safely as we are not required to keep them or provide any native source files that we used in making them.

You also own text content, photographs and other data you provided, unless someone else owns them. We own the HTML markup, CSS and other code and we license it to you for use on only this project.

We love to show off our work and share what we have learned with other people, so we also reserve the right to display and link to your completed project as part of our portfolio and to write about the project on websites, in magazine articles and in books about web design.

We would also be very appreciative if you allow us to provide a link to our site (bulletproofpixels.com) in the footer of your site (in really small print). We will ask you about this at some point in the project and inclusion of this link is not always asked for and is not a condition of this contract.

XI. Payments

We are sure you understand how important it is as a small business that you pay the invoices that we send you promptly. As we're also sure you'll want to stay friends, you agree to stick tight to the following payment schedule. All payments are to be made by cash or check (or gold bullion if you prefer).

[Payment schedule]

XII. But where is all the horrible small print?

Just like a parking ticket, you cannot transfer this contract to anyone else without our permission. This contract stays in place and need not be renewed. If for some reason one part of this contract becomes invalid or unenforceable, the remaining parts of it remain in place.

Although the language is simple, the intentions are serious and this contract is a legal document under exclusive jurisdiction of U.S. courts. Oh and don't forget those men with big dogs.

XIII. The Dotted Line .........................................

Signed by and on behalf of [company name]:

________________________________________________

Signed by and on behalf of [client name]:

________________________________________________

Everyone should sign above and keep a copy for their own records.