| What happens in the design process?
First of all (if you have not bought a domain name or web hosting) you will need to order it.
What is a domain name? - this is the name that you want to have so that people can find you on the internet (such as streamwebdesign.co.uk) The .co.uk bit is purely to denote what type of website you have i.e. for companies based in the UK they usually have the .co.uk suffix - worldwide companies might pay for a .com suffix. If you have a non-profit organisation you might have .org.uk but this is entirely up to you.
Note: Nobody polices the use of domain names and if the domain name is available then you can register it, however it can be misleading to have a .org name for a company selling for a profit - people expect a .org to be non-profit making ventures such as charities.
What domain name should I choose? - Again this is entirely up to you - most companies would require a domain name to reflect their company such as msn.com or google.co.uk - if at all possible it is best to keep the domain name short and reflecting on what you do (such as dogtraining.co.uk) although bear in mind that most of the snappy and non-regional or non-specific domain names will probably be used already. The company where you purchase your web hosting has probably got a domain name checker on their site so that you can see whether the domain name that you want to use is already taken - some of them also come up with alternatives that are available.
What is web hosting? - A web host is sometimes referred to as a web server and is where your web site is stored to make it available for 24hrs a day, seven days a week. Web hosting companies have a large number of data servers where they store websites from all sorts of companies and individuals. They should make sure that their servers are maintained properly and have back-ups if things go wrong and should have a guaranteed uptime approaching 100%. They also have other things that you may have to consider for your website, such as the ability to run databases or scripts (these are nor usually relevant to simple sites).
How much web space do I need? - Most hosting packages are based on the web space that you need. Most simple sites - consisting of a few pages of text and a few pictures would require the minimum web space that most web hosting companies offer (approx 5MB). If you want to place lots of video or audio on your site then you would have to consider purchasing a larger web space. Don't be fooled into thinking that you may need a large amount of webspace to allow for future expansion of the web site - most companies offer an upgrade path for you so that you can upgrade very simply at a later date.
Most web hosting companies have packages that you have to pay either monthly or yearly and for most of these they will offer a free domain name as part of the package (so you do not have to pay for it beforehand)
How many pages might I need? - Most simple sites require up to five pages (e.g a Home Page, a page about who you are, a page listing the services you do, a page about how to contact you - including a form that people can fill in and a page with useful contacts and links etc.) Each page would then have a navigation bar so that the user can go view each of the pages on the web site.
What is a page and how much information can it hold? - A page is what is displayed on the browser when a user visits the web site - this might have a scroll bar down the right-hand side to indicate that there is further information off the screen. Some people hate scrolling down the page and require everything to be visible on the screen - this obviously limits the amount of space where the content can go and consequently requires more pages to the web site (i.e. you might want to list the services that you do on one page or list each service on different pages.). I would suggest that the page is not longer than two or three screen lengths.
How do I get the content of the site to you? - You can write the content into a word document or as a PDF then email it to me. Or you can just write it down on a piece of paper and post it to me. Photographs and pictures etc can be emailed or put on a disc and posted.Most clients also have some idea of the type of site and how they want it to look - this often ties in with company brochures or logos etc. or I can work entirely from scratch. (Please be aware of copyright - it is your responsibility to check that all content, photos etc are not copyrighted - see terms and conditions)
What happens then? - Once I receive some of the site content I can start work on the draft web site. At all stages in the design process I will upload to my web server and send you the link so that only you can access the draft site. Once the site is completed to your satisfaction then I will request payment. Once the payment is cleared then I will upload the site to your web hosting company and submit the site to the major search engines.
How long does it take? - Most simple sites are completed within two weeks as this allows time for to-ing and fro-ing regarding any changes etc.
Maintaining the site - If you require the site to be updated in the future, I can do so at a cost of £20 per hour (or part thereof).
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