Intro Box
The top box displays the most simple information about the project.
Basics - The project title, the freelancer's profile photo, and the freelancer's name.
Started Date - The day the project proposal was accepted.
Due Date - The client has the option to include a due date for the project. This date is not binding, but a statement of your ideal. You can make the date later by clicking the yellow pencil icon.
Budget - The hourly rate you agreed to.
Total Hours Worked - Number of hours the freelancer worked on the project so far.
Paid - The total amount you've paid so far.
Milestones Tab
In this tab, you'll see the status of all of the hour submissions the freelancer has sent for this project.
"Pay for Hours" Button
Click here to pay for any hour submissions that the freelancer has sent. Be sure to consistently communicate with your freelancer and see what he's working on during these hours. For more on this, see this article.
"Close Project" Button
When the project is done, you can click here to initiate the closing process. Be sure to discuss this with your freelancer.
You won't be able to initiate a close if there are any milestones that haven't been paid or are in dispute. Before the project can be closed, the freelancer will get an opportunity to post a final milestone for any hours he already worked. For more on this, see this article.
Milestone Banners
When the freelancer makes an hours submission, a white banner with all of the submission's details will appear in your milestone tab. Here's what you'll find:
Submission Number and Title - Every milestone is automatically numbered in the order that it is submitted, to help you keep track. Ideally, the freelancer should also give each milestone a title that makes clear what he did during those billed hours.
Invoice total - This is how much the freelancer is asking you to pay, based on the hourly rate you agreed upon for this project.
Dates - The date that the milestone is submitted will appear on the right side of the banner. After it's paid, the "Paid on" date will appear below it.
Hours Submission Description - This is an in-depth description of what the freelancer did during these work hours.
Attachments - If you're going to see any attachments - especially the work the freelancer completed - it will appear below the description.
"Paid" Status - If you've already paid for these hours, you'll see a green icon that reads "Paid" in the top right corner.
"Pay" Button - Click here to pay for the hours.
Messages & Project Details Tabs
There are two other tabs found on each project page.
Messages Tab
This tab offers the primary way for users to communicate during a project. You can search within your message history from the "Search Messages" bar at the top. You can share attachments by clicking the stylized paperclip icon on the bottom-right of the screen, next to the yellow "Send" arrow. This project's message history can also be accessed on the Messages page.
Project Details Tab
This tab displays all of the details of the project that you listed in the original post, plus any changes you accepted from the freelancer's project proposal. This tab is here primarily for reference, so both parties have in mind what was agreed to.
Of course, it will sometimes be appropriate to change some of these details during the course of the project, (i.e. the delivery date, expected hours, etc). As long as those changes are discussed and confirmed in the messages tab, they will be considered binding for any issues that could arise in a dispute.
That means, for example, that if the project was originally supposed to take a week, but then the users discussed extending the due date - neither user could later file a dispute based on the original agreement of one week. (As always, this is only as long as it was discussed on the ZehMizeh website... see our dispute policies for more on this.)