Revised date: 07/11/2012
Between me [company name] and you [customer name]
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 I 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.
In short;
You ([customer name]), located at [customer address] are hiring me ([company name]) located at [company address] to integrate and develop a WordPress-based web site for the estimated total price of [amount]. Of course it's a little more complicated, but I'll get to that.
You: You have the authority to enter into this contract on behalf of yourself, your company or your organisation. You'll give me everything I need to complete the project as and when and in the format I need it. You'll review my work, provide feedback and approval in a timely manner too. Deadlines work two ways, so you'll also be bound by dates I set together. You also agree to stick to the payment schedule set out at the end of this contract.
Me: 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 me.
I will select and present between two and five pre-made WordPress templates (themes) to be used as a starting point. You will approve one and will indicate what changes, if any, you want made to it with respect to colour, texture and typography. Since I will not be creating a template from scratch, I cannot guarantee that it will fully adapt to the capabilities of all devices and screen sizes. I'll do my best to select a template that is as flexible as possible. After a template has been approved, the only changes I will make to it will occur during the final bug fixing stage; they will be minor changes only, specifically intended to fix something that is broken.
You'll have two or more weekly opportunities to review my work and provide feedback. If, at any stage, you're not happy with the direction my work is taking, you'll pay me in full for everything I've produced until that point and cancel this contract.
The site will have a publicly-accessible component: approximately 10-15 static pages as outlined in your preliminary site map. Some of these pages will include pre-made templates embedded into the text area on the administrator side of WordPress, so as to make it easier for site editor to enter content. Some of these pages will have custom templates developed for them due to the nature of content they will house. Some pages will also contain an interactive map with modifiable location pins, each of which will link to a page within the site, these links also being oepn to modification. I will use Google Maps or a similar web mapping service for this.
The site will have a privately-accessible component, open to registered users only. This private area will consist of a few (3-7) static pages with instructions and overviews of available data sets and variables that can be made available on request. The following workflow outlines the process of placing a request and making data available for the requestor.
- Requestor fills out a form within the site's private area
- Data manager is notified of this by email
- Data manager prepares the necessary information and uploads it to the site
- Once upload is complete requestor is notified by email that their request has been fulfilled
- Requestor logs in to the site and downloads the data set, which is available in form of a link in a pre-defined area of the page they land on after they've logged in. Data sets do not expire, they should remain available unless deleted directly by the site administrator. The files will be hosted either inside WordPress directly, or on one of the following file-hosting services: DropBox, Google Drive, or SugarSync. Whichever one I integrate will not impact user experience on the site in any manner. I want to keep my options open in case the first service I choose for integration proves to be extremely difficult.
The site will have two web forms, one for registration (publically-accessible), another for data set requests (accessible only to registered users). Each form will have client-side and server-side data validation. Second form will only send an email to a specified address, so as to notify the data manager of a pending request.
A special 'drafts' area where registered users can share documents will be in a form of a regular page, either editable directly by registered users, or exlusively by site administrator.
The site will have a functioning search that is included with WordPress out of the box. It is generally a text field located somewhere in the site's header.
I'm not responsible for writing or inputting any text copy. If you'd like me to write new content or input text for you, I can provide a separate estimate for that.
You should supply graphic files in an editable, vector digital format. You should supply photographs in a high resolution digital format. If you choose to buy stock photographs, I can suggest stock libraries. If you'd like me to search for photographs for you, I can provide a separate estimate for that.
You will provide the logo. I will make sure it fits into the selected WordPress theme as per your wishes.
I will do my best to deliver a template developed from HTML5 markup, CSS2.1 + 3 stylesheets for styling and unobtrusive Javascript for feature detection.
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.
I test my work in current versions of major desktop browsers including those made by Apple (Safari), Google (Chrome), Microsoft (Internet Explorer), Mozilla Firefox and Opera. I'll also test to ensure Microsoft Internet Explorer 8 for Windows users get an appropriate, possibly different, experience. I won't test in other older browsers unless you specify otherwise. If you need an enhanced design for an older browser, I can provide a separate estimate for that.
For this particular project, I will not test the site in any mobile browsers. If you need me to test using these, I can provide a separate estimate for that.
1 Gather and finalize requirements, then sign the contract. From this point any modifications to functionality will be treated as change requests. 2 Choose and finalize WordPress theme. 3 Install WordPress, theme and any required plugins (content can start to be populated after this). 4 Complete or acquire the logo. 5 Implementation of the data centre 6 Implementation of request forms 7 Implementation of the interactive map (are google maps ok?) 8 Testing, bug fixes 9 Finish documentation and perform any tutorials needed
I will be available for up to ten hours per month, six months from the date contract is finished and last payment is issued; this includes any non-hosting-related emergencies, questions regarding functionality, and bug fixes. Should you need to see any more of the beautiful me than that, I'll gladly provide an estimate.
Should something unusually weird happen and I don't receive any news from you in 20 days, I stop all work, keep all the funds paid out to date, free up my time for other projects, and if you ever wish to resume we'll need to sign a new contract.
I'm not a website hosting company so I don't offer support for website hosting, email or other services relating to hosting. You may already have professional hosting and you might even manage that hosting in-house; if you do, great. If you don't, I can set up an account for you at one of my preferred hosting providers. I can set up your site on a server, plus any statistics software such as Google Analytics and I can provide a separate estimate for that. Then, the updates to, and management of that server will be up to you. Same applies to updating WordPress and all the third-party plugins utilized to their latest versions. If you'd like me to make any updates and test these WordPress and plug-in updates, I can provide a separate estimate for that.
I know from experience that fixed-price contracts are rarely beneficial to you, as they often limit you to your earliest ideas. I don't want to limit your ability to change your mind. The price at the beginning of this contract is based on the length of time I estimate I'll need to accomplish everything you've told me 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 provide a separate estimate for that.
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 me 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.
Phew.
First, you guarantee that all elements of text, images or other artwork you provide are either owned by your good selves, or that you've permission to use them.
Then, when your final payment has cleared, copyright will be automatically assigned as follows:
You'll own the visual elements and code that I create for this project. I'll give you all the source code and files as well as finished files and you should keep them somewhere safe as I'm not required to keep a copy. You own all elements of text, images and data you provided, unless someone else owns them.
I love to show off my work and share what I've learned with other people, so I reserve the right, with your permission, to display and link to your project as part of my portfolio and to write about it on websites, in magazine articles and in books.
You are hiring me as an independent professional and it is understood that I am not an employee of your organization and will not expect to receive the same benefits as employees or should not be expected to be held to the same requirements as employees. Additionally, our relationship is a non-exclusive one and I am free to, from time to time, concurrently work with other clients and cannot be limited to working exclusively on your project.
As per our discussion, I am to receive remuneration in form of cheques payable to me, sent to my address by mail. In case of late payment (more than one month) I will pause work until we reach an agreement on how to proceed from there. In case of non-payment, which is a late payment of more than two calendar months, I will treat the project as an abandoned one. Sad.
I'm sure you understand how important it is as a small business that you pay the invoices that I send you promptly. As I'm also sure you'll want to stay friends, you agree to stick tight to the following payment schedule.
The money will come in four installments of 25% of the total after milestones 2, 5, 7, and 9 are deemed to be complete by both me and you.
Just like a parking ticket, you can't transfer this contract to anyone else without my 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 Québec courts.
Signed by and on behalf of [company name]
Signed by and on behalf of [customer name]
Date
Everyone should sign above and keep a copy for their records.