Let
me start by letting you know that I'm no lawyer. As much as I would like
to charge you 200-300 dollars for legal advice, I really can't (legally
that is). So, the advice in this article is no substitute for the legal
advice and assistance of an actual practicing attorney. Practice makes
perfect! Just feel confident that I've done some research on this, and I'm
passing it on to you.
First and foremost, a contract puts down into writing what is going to
(or is expected to) transpire in the relationship between the Web designer
and the Web designee. The contract should be explicit as to what is
expected of both parties in the agreement. It's advisable to not have one
"form" contract for all clients. Your contracts can contain
common clauses and provisions, but you should have a new contract drawn up
for each client.
Second, a Web design contract should lay out a timetable and pricing
that are
reasonable. Give yourself enough time to do what you need to do and test
your work. Be sure you think you are getting compensated fairly as
well.
Third, if you want to maintain the rights to your work, this is
specified in the contract. This includes code, programming, layout, and
design. You can provide your customer license to use your code, but
you'll probably want to retain ultimate ownership of your code and
related work.
You don't absolutely have to maintain the rights to your work, however.
You can develop what is known as a "work made for hire"
agreement with the site owner. Here, the site owner becomes owner of all
the work and design put into the site by the developer. Hand-in-hand with
this, the designer can include a non-competition clause stating that the
design and elements of the site won't be copied by the site owner for
other sites or other uses.
You'll
want to protect yourself from copyright infringement problems. If you
design a site using copyrighted material without permission, you, as the
designer, may ultimately be liable for copyright infringement.
It is important to specify that the contract will represent the
agreement between you and your client. This is referred to as an
integration clause. If it's in the contract, then it's part of the agreement. If
it's not in the contract, then it's not part of the agreement. It's that
simple.
These general guidelines should be enough to get you started. Your best
bet is to do some research and develop some ideas and an outline to take
to a lawyer who can help you draw up your contract. Remember that
contracts protect you and your client, and should be fair and agreeable to
both parties.
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