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@andrewgremlich
Last active July 1, 2017 00:55
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The latest version of my ‘killer contract’ for web designers and developers

Contract

Between [company name]

And [customer name].

Summary:

I’ll always do my best to fulfil your needs and meet your expectations, but it’s important to have things written down so that we both know what’s what, who should do what and when, and what will happen if something goes wrong. In this contract you won’t find any complicated legal terms or long passages of unreadable text. I’ve no desire to trick you into signing something that you might later regret. What I do want is what’s best for both parties, now and in the future.

So in short;

You customer name, located at customer address (“You”) are hiring us company name (“We or Us”) to:

  • Design and develop a Progressive Web Application

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?

You: You have the authority to enter into this contract on behalf of yourself, your company or your organization. You’ll give us the assets and information we tell you we need to complete the project. You’ll do this when we ask and provide it in the formats we ask for. You’ll review our work, provide feedback and approval in a timely manner too. Deadlines work two ways, so you’ll also be bound by dates we set together. You also agree to stick to the payment schedule set out at the end of this contract.

Us: I have the experience and ability to do everything I’ve agreed with you and I’ll do it all in a professional and timely manner. I’ll endeavour to meet every deadline that’s set and on top of that I'll maintain the confidentiality of everything you give us.

Details of Development

Design

I create look-and-feel designs, and flexible layouts that adapt to the capabilities of many devices and screen sizes. I create designs iteratively and use predominantly HTML and CSS so I won’t waste time mocking up every template as a static visual. We may use visuals to indicate a creative direction (colour, texture and typography.)

You’ll have plenty of opportunities to review our work and provide feedback. I’ll share a Google Drive folder or Github repository or development site with you and we’ll have regular, possibly daily contact.

If, at any stage, you change your mind about what you want to be delivered and are not happy with the direction our work is taking you’ll pay us in full for the time we’ve spent working with you until that point and terminate this contract.

Content

Free and open sourced static icons (namely icons for user interface and experience) will be used. The logo for the application will need to be developed separately if static icons do not fulfill your vision.

HTML, CSS and JavaScript

I deliver web page types developed from HTML markup, CSS stylesheets for styling and unobtrusive JavaScript for feature detection, poly-fills and behaviours.

Browser testing

Browser testing no longer means attempting to make a website look the same in browsers of different capabilities or on devices with different size screens. It does mean ensuring that a person’s experience of a design should be appropriate to the capabilities of a browser or device.

If a desktop version of the application is requested, it will be tested in primarily Google Chrome and Firefox. Safari and Edge browsers may also be tested upon request. Development for Internet Explorer compatibility will not be done.

Mobile browser testing

Mobile browser testing is essential in ensuring that a person’s experience of a design is appropriate to the capabilities of the device they’re using. I test designs in:

iOS 9: Safari, Google Chrome Android: Google Chrome

I won’t test in Blackberry, Opera Mini/Mobile, specific Android devices, Windows or other mobile browsers.

Technical support

I am not a website hosting company so I don’t offer support for website hosting, email or other services relating to hosting. Web hosting will be done with Firebase and I will use the services that Firebase offers. Firebase offers a whole arrangement of services from real-time database to user authentication. More details on their services may be viewed at their website, firebase.google.com. Any other service that Firebase does not offer will not be featured in the application.

Firebase provides a generous free-tiered service for web applications of low magnitude. That will be used during development, and any increase to a higher paid-tiered service that Firebase offers will not be part of this contract.

Any other web service or API's provided in making the base progressive web application will also be free, and any higher-tiered web services or API's will not be provided in this contract.

Search engine optimisation (SEO)

I don’t guarantee any improvements of SEO with the progressive web application.

Changes and revisions

I don’t want to limit your ability to change your mind. The price at the beginning of this contract is based on the number of weeks that I estimate I’ll need to accomplish everything you’ve told us you want to achieve, but I'm happy to be flexible. If you want to change your mind or add anything new, that won’t be a problem as I’ll be willing to negotiate and provide a separate estimate and work projection.

Legal stuff

I’ll carry out my work in accordance with good industry practice and at the standard expected from a suitably qualified person with relevant experience.

That said, I can’t guarantee that my work will be error-free and so I can’t be liable to you or any third-party for damages, including lost profits, lost savings or other incidental, consequential or special damages, even if you’ve advised us of them.

Your liability to us will also be limited to the amount of fees payable under this contract and you won’t be liable to us or any third-party for damages, including lost profits, lost savings or other incidental, consequential or special damages, even if we’ve advised you of them.

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

Intellectual property rights

Just to be clear, “Intellectual property rights” means all patents, rights to inventions, copyright (including rights in software) and related rights, trademarks, service marks, get up and trade names, internet domain names, rights to goodwill or to sue for passing off, rights in designs, database rights, rights in confidential information (including know-how) and any other intellectual property rights, in each case whether registered or unregistered and including all applications (or rights to apply) for, and renewals or extensions of, such rights and all similar or equivalent rights or forms of protection which subsist or shall subsist now or in the future in any part of the world.

First, you guarantee that all elements of text, images or other artwork you may provide are either owned by your good selves, or that you’ve permission to use them. When you provide text, images or other artwork to us, you agree to protect us from any claim by a third party that we’re using their intellectual property.

I guarantee that all elements of the work I deliver to you are either owned or I’ve obtained permission to provide them to you. When I provide text, images or other artwork to you, I agree to protect you from any claim by a third party that you’re using their intellectual property. Provided you’ve paid for the work and that this contract hasn’t been terminated, I’ll assign all intellectual property rights to you as follows:

You’ll own the application I design for you plus the visual elements that I create for it. You own all intellectual property rights of text, images, site specification and data you provided, unless someone else owns them.

I’ll own any intellectual property rights we’ve developed prior to, or developed separately from this project and not paid for by you. We’ll own the unique combination of these elements that constitutes a complete design and we’ll license its use to you, exclusively and in perpetuity for this project only, unless we agree otherwise.

Displaying our work

I love to show off my work, so I reserve the right for me and any correspondents of development to display all aspects of creative work, including sketches, work-in-progress designs and the completed project on our portfolio and in articles on websites, in magazine articles and in books.

Payment schedule

I'm sure you understand how important it is 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.

Payment details

Payment schedule

I issue invoices electronically. All payment request will be issued through Google Wallet or Paypal.

The small print

Neither of us can transfer this contract to anyone else without the other’s permission.

We both agree that we’ll adhere to all relevant laws and regulations in relation to our activities under this contract and not cause the other to breach any relevant laws or regulations.

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 Texas courts.

The dotted line

Signed by and on behalf of company name Signed by and on behalf of **customer name Date date

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

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