Comments on: Responsibilities of a Web Designer

By: Joe Dolson

Joe Dolson — Tue, 02 Aug 2011 23:32:59 +0000

I can say without doubt that you should have access toyour domain and hosting accounts. You should have the ability at any time to get in and change your information; including to the degree of blocking your designer out of the account. Your web site should be your own property, under your own control.

However, from a legal standpoint, it’s a bit muddier. The specific terms of your contract should specify your rights. Primarily, the rights to the design itself and any code or graphics created for that site are an issue: unless those rights were specifically transferred to your company or the web designer was an actual employee of your company, then the designer has a legal claim to those elements.

So, from a responsibility perspective, you should have all rights — from a legal perspective, it’s not quite that clear.

My suggestion would be that you contact the designer and request access. If they either ignore your request for a significant amount of time or deny it outright, you should consult the specific terms of your contract with the designer and legal counsel to see what your recourse might be. That said, it may be that although they have not actually provided you with that access, they will have absolutely no problems providing it on request.

By: Pamela

Pamela — Tue, 02 Aug 2011 23:24:20 +0000

Thank you for the insight. I found this entry via a web search for web designer’s responsibilities. The company that I work for just finished a complete re-branding including a new website. We worked with a reputable website designer company and in the end are very satisfied with the results. My question is related to the responsibilities of the web designer and what rights we have to certain information. We have just noticed a bug in Google’s search results, specifically the snippet referencing our old company’s information listed under our new website. Our research revealed a fix via google, however, the designer claims to have no knowledge of this type of issue and wants to charge additional fees to research and remedy the problem. Secondly, the designer, as a part of the process, registered/purchased our domain (included in the fees we paid) and is hosting the site - the designer has not provided us with the details of either of these accounts. Although we have not asked yet, do we have rights to the information for both the domain and hosting accounts?

By: Alan

Alan — Thu, 03 Mar 2011 22:27:11 +0000

Thanks for the input. Well at least he hasn’t cashed the final check yet, but he asked for another $60 to make the site live. The contract says “FTP upload of site (live),” but he said that he simply assumed that his clients would automatically use his hosting. So sick of dealing with weenies. I had few options after 2 days of failure to upload the site, so I told him to go ahead.

By: Joe Dolson

Joe Dolson — Wed, 02 Mar 2011 22:48:11 +0000

That is *not* industry standard. To be fair, I’m not sure there is a true ‘industry standard,’ but that’s not it, if there is. Speaking for myself (and also for every web designer or developer I know,) launching the site is part of the process. The project isn’t complete if the web site isn’t launched. I don’t even submit my final bill until after the web site is live.

By: Alan

Alan — Wed, 02 Mar 2011 11:51:40 +0000

My web desinger won’t publish my website through a hosting company other than his. And I’m having a hell of a time figuring it out. Is it industry standard to not offer help to make the site live?

By: Andrew

Andrew — Tue, 27 Jul 2010 06:10:32 +0000

This has been a big help with an irritating assigment ive had, I was wondering if you could answer my question. How at all have interactive websites changed the work practices, procedures, and decision-making processes of individuals, organisations, and communities?

If you could that would be ‘icing on the cake’ so to speak

By: Joe Dolson

Joe Dolson — Tue, 20 Jul 2010 15:28:40 +0000

@Jack That’s going to depend somewhat on the specifics of the contract between the web designer and the client, but in general a web designer can be held equally liable for copyright infringement as the client. It is not explicitly the designer’s responsibility to ensure that any materials provided to them are free of copyright infringement, but they should absolutely guarantee that any materials they use are either original or appropriate licenses have been obtained. And it is wise, in some cases, to double check the licensing of provided media.

By: Jack

Jack — Tue, 20 Jul 2010 08:41:38 +0000

I have read through this and this is great information, but what would their responsabilities be towards the use of various forms of media? such as copywrite laws and so forth.

Thanks for the rest of this great information

By: Taina P. // Sitegrinder

Taina P. // Sitegrinder — Fri, 08 May 2009 11:07:57 +0000

Thank you for the information in your article. People who are just starting out in the web designing field are going to find this helpful. Most website-making companies actually don’t implement all of the precautions and things that you should do, they’re just focused with the money that you’re giving out to them. companies or designers like those will need to take more effort out of them for them to rise up and become a good web design company.

By: merlia

merlia — Fri, 16 Nov 2007 08:56:40 +0000

Being as a web designer, always be confident that you could probably do anything that is out there. When you have your first meeting with your client, give a lot of suggestions and be honest about how you feel on certain things. Make sure that your client gets an impression that you know the stuff. Also important there should be a proper planning always to finish up your work quick and easy….