[thelist] help! client bought Photoshop!!

[Ron_Senykoff at BEAEROSPACE.COM]

<snip>
Anyway, this seems to be a an example of people mistaking having
a tool with having the skill to do the job.  If you bought some
accounting software, would it be okay for you to take over doing
all of the company accounts?  If you bought MS Word, do you have
all you need to write good promotional copy or if you bought a
video camera, could you now make decent TV ads?
</snip>

Yeah, it's like thinking that you simply need to give a 3-year-old a
chainsaw and they become a lumberjack.

<snip>
Rather than trying to scare them off with a long list, don't
even present them with a list because that tells them that there
is a possibility (it's a "maybe"; when people really want
something, a "maybe" is as good as a "yes").  Instead say, "sure,
and here's a list of courses I've compiled so that you can learn
the basics before you can start".   You shouldn't give the
impression that the job can be quantified with a list of issues,
because web image manipulation isn't that easy.
</snip>

Agreed.  The laundry list idea was not something I wanted to hand to them,
but rather a bit of evidence to back up my argument.  If it were as simple
as a list, they could just go through it and check the items off and claim
to be an expert.  I'm hoping to show them that I want to work with them,
but that because I am responsible for the site, I must be responsible for
all graphics.

I've since had a discussion with them and they've agreed that to take
responsibility themselves would be too large a step for now.  I've provided
them with info on how I would like the images supplied (as big as possible
and .tif if they have it).  Everyone is happy.

Thanks everybody for your help.  I enjoyed the discussion a lot.
I will follow up with the list I put together from the posts.

-Ron