Jason Knight , I resonate with your comments about frameworks because, quite frankly, I looked into Bootstrap at some point and found it to be overly complicated and near-sighted. It doesn't seem to consider the fact that a block of contents in a page might or might not be three columns in the future when it's time to redesign. Or, "a.button" link might not be a button six months later due to design changes. I would much rather give each section a semantic name that describes what it is so I could do all the style manipulations in CSS. That way, I won't have to change HTML code at all to make any styling and layout changes. Isn't that the point of Cascading Style Sheet? And those Bootstrap buttons, "Jumbotron," etc. Sure, I get the idea that they are trying to create a way for people to tag HTML to tell it to look like something. But, as a designer, I want every site to be unique. I can see myself writing a bunch of overrides if I used Bootstrap. That to me is like downloading some free business letter template and trying to make it sound like I wrote it. It just never works that well, and I don't know how that's easier and faster than writing several lines of standard CSS to make it look exactly the way I want from scratch.

Jason Knight , I'm relieved to know that it wasn't considered redundant and that I don't need to worry about it. Your comments about Sass is interesting. I looked into it at some point, but I just find it easier to edit CSS without them for some reason.

Well, I just feared that seeing #333333 in multiple declarations, albeit they are not identical, might still be considered redundant because they declare the same color. I'm figuring that it probably isn't the case at this point.

I'm sorry, but Mario is right; I don't want to use Sass or CSS Variables. I've been reading about the DRY CSS principle and I find it easier to accomplish that without those tools.

So, seeing the same #333333 (or #333) in multiple declarations that are not identical does not violate the DRY principle then?

jose manuel iriarte alarcon , Thank you for your insights. I agree, merely switching out images and texts in a pre-made template shouldn't be considered "development." Sure, we sometimes use some professional stock illustration materials to jump-start on a project, but we still spend ours building a new illustration (logo, etc.) out of that in Illustrator, using various techniques. The final product never resembles the original material in that case. I expected the same with the website project, but, after a series of discussions in this thread, I realize now that I was utterly mistaken.

Jason Knight , have you read the responses from the other guys in this thread? I find it hard to believe that anyone would think this supposed common practice is excusable somehow. And no, I don't know much about HTML coding stuff, but I know enough to put together a straightforward page with some headers, paragraphs, links, and images if nothing more. And I can tell that the second block of code is FAR simpler than the first one. I will pick that one any days of the week if it does the same thing the first one does! I appreciate all the responses and insights I got from everyone in this thread, but I find yours the most honest, no-nonsense, and the most likely explanation of the guys we hired (and fired, I might add). After reading through these comments, I am quickly leaning toward learning this stuff myself, at least just enough to build what I want (a simple portfolio site) so I won't have to ask another one of those guys to do it. I find it ridiculous that people charge a premium price for just tweaking mostly-pre-made stuff and calling it "custom job" and, somehow, I need to understand it. It's like saying my boyfriend hits me and somehow I need to understand where he is coming from, his anger issues and work with him. If that's how most people in this field think, I might as well skip paying them and learn to do that myself instead.

j , I'm sorry, no, it does NOT make sense to me at all. "100% custom" means just that; 100% custom. These guys said it was that except some "basic stuff that's always the same," whatever that meant. To me, what you are saying sounds as if asking to add extra onions and olives at Subway should be considered a "full-custom sandwich." I wouldn't think of that as "fully customized" as making a sandwich from scratch, baking bread exactly the way I want, and putting the exact quality and amount of ingredients I want. I might not grow veggies in my backyard to do that, but it is still a lot more extensive, precise and hands-on than merely changing some options at Subway. Don't get me wrong; I don't mind Subway or any premade stuff. I just don't expect people to tell me it is "custom" or "homemade" and charge a premium price for it. And, honestly, why should amateurs take a professional job as a pro if they haven't even mastered the craft well enough to carry out the task? Are you implying that it is my responsibility to tolerate them and help them gain experiences at my expense? How is that understandable? I am quickly learning that professionals in your field (web development, web design, whatever) have a completely different set of nuance and definitions. Thanks for your insights, but I am quickly leaning toward learning this stuff myself, at least enough to build what I want (a simple portfolio site) so I won't have to ask others to do it. I find it ridiculous that people charge premium for just tweaking mostly-pre-made stuff and calling it "custom job." I could learn to do that myself.

Jos Fabre , you "expect" something. This expectation was not clear to the developers. Unclear how? I don't know, maybe it has a lot to do with my unfamiliarity with the web design industry norms, but what you are saying sounds as if asking to add extra onions and olives at Subway should be considered a "full-custom sandwich." I wouldn't think of that as "fully customized" as making a sandwich from scratch, baking bread exactly the way I want, and putting the exact quality and amount of ingredients I want. I might not grow veggies in my backyard to do that, but it is still a lot more extensive and hands-on than merely changing some options at Subway. Don't get me wrong; I don't mind Subway or any premade stuff. I just don't expect someone to sell me those things as "fully custom products." Just tell me so if it's pre-made stuff. Don't tell me it's a "full custom product" when it's not. So, I agree that there is a communication issue, but I find it a bit odd that, in the web design industry, "full custom job" means something vastly different from the rest of the world. And, again, both of those guys did tell me that it was 100% custom job, except "just some basic stuff that's always the same." I find it quite puzzling that, somehow, I am supposed to guess it might not mean what it says and, somehow, it is my responsibility to figure out that level of discrepancy in communication. I appreciate your insights in any case. Now I know that you guys don't mean what you say, and "100% custom" means something vastly different from what most folks would expect. In fact, I'm so disgusted now that I might bite the bullet and learn how to do it from scratch in light of this whole saga so I won't have to deal with hiring a web developer, a web designer, or whatever you call these people.

j , how much should I expect to spend to get a "real custom job" then? It's confusing to me, because, in our graphic design field, even $500 logo design is a custom job, and we spend a few hours drawing many iterations of a logo concept in Illustrator, all from scratch, using our hand skills in Illustrator. We can't sell a stock template with just a few tweaks. Otherwise, why should people even hire us? They could buy an off-the-shelf loyalty-free logo for $10 if that's all they needed. Our design projects are mostly in $1,000 ~ $3,000 range, but we spend hours in Photoshop, Illustrator, and InDesign to come up with something from scratch, even if we might use a few stock images here and there. They said their work was going to be custom but then kept telling us how many things we requested were impossible. Don't you think there is a difference between building something from scratch using your hand skills and just tweaking a few things to customize?