Smashing eBook_ Professional Workflow for Web Designers - Luke Reimer [3]
Sample Initial Payment Reminder
Sample Payment Overdue
Email Templates
Email templates, while not necessarily legal documents, are useful to have on hand in order to automate your common communication tasks and reduce the time and effort put into administration. These should be used to whatever degree makes your life easier – and feel free to create more to meet your unique needs. I’ve put together the following which can be downloaded as plain text or email template files:
• Request for an initial meeting with a client
• Request for a subcontractor to do further work
• Declining a project
• Notification of payment due
• Notification of payment overdue
E-Mail Templates
Remember that you never want the target party to be aware of the fact that you’re using email templates (if you do choose to use them). To be sure of this, always customize it in numerous ways for each instance, simply using the original template as a baseline starting point – not as a finished copy where you just insert the name.
Tip: Use the “high importance” setting on email clients carefully. I reserve this for late invoices, web server emergencies, or the like. Be sure to mix in phone calls with emails appropriately rather than using one or the other exclusively.
Release of Copyright
When you’re creating a free resource for a community, or if you’re required to hand off all rights to your work when dealing with a client, you’ll need to make use of a copyright release form to verify this action. A Release of Copyright is a statement acknowledging first that you are the rightful owner of the original copyright, and second that you release those rights to an individual or to the public. This allows them to make use of the materials without restriction, and also protects them from your legal wrath at any point in the future if you get antsy about the situation.
Included in this document are rights left over that the original author will hold, after the copyright has been transferred. Feel free to modify these to ensure that you have some use of the materials – such as using code snippets in future projects, or featuring the work in your portfolio.
Sample Release of Copyright
Web Site Documents
So far the documents discussed have been of use in client and subcontractor relations and fall under a business operational context. The following two documents are more concerned with the public’s interaction with the web sites that you create. Using these documents not only protects yourself as the creator of a web site, but also the end client who will retain ownership of the content and operation.
Legal departments of web client companies can often have a hand in reviewing and/or modifying these documents, but are certainly pleased at their inclusion from the beginning – which speaks to your awareness of legal issues and professionalism as a designer.
Terms of Service
Terms of Service of Terms of Use documents outline a general agreement between the web site owners and the public or end-users. The basic purpose of this document is to exclude the web site owners from any liability for user-generated content, incorrect use of the web site, or other detrimental scenarios that may result from the public’s use. Secondly, it reinforces the copyright ownership of all web site content and restricts the use of such content by the public. Lastly, it outlines that the web site content may change at any time, and that its accuracy is not ensured.
This type of document can often be the exact same for any number of web sites – and it’s far more beneficial to include one than not. Remember, legality in the web design industry is about protecting you from possible future worst-case scenarios. It is the warm blanket of overly complicated vocabulary