Web Design Frequently Asked Questions

When running a business, you devote energy and resources to your marketing material to generate more business. You’ll have nice business cards designed to impress prospective clients. You’ll place brilliant ads in area newspapers. Perhaps you’ll even use Television or radio. Combinations of these items have helped businesses succeed for years.

However, none of these items are nearly as effective at conveying information about your business through a website. A business card can only hold basic details. Same thing with a printed ad. Space is both a limited commodity and rather expensive.

A website can tell the whole story about your business, your goals, your services and offer contact information. A website can act as a salesperson for your business, displaying available products and even allowing for the purchasing of them on the site.

There are many web designers and developers around the world with various skill levels and price tags, but when it comes to knowledge and experience across all portions of web design and development, it’s very tough to match my skill set.

I stand behind every website I’ve ever made, no two have ever been the same, and each one has been careful created by hand using the latest recommended techniques available.

I am very, very passionate about what I do and that’s putting it lightly.

We’ve built websites using every technology combination possible over the years. During this time we have strived to learn and use the best technologies for the work we do that will keep us in the forefront of our field.

Over time (since 1999) this has meant using: HTML, CSS, Javascript, Flash, Classic ASP, MSAccess, SQL Server, Perl, PHP, MySQL, PostgreSQL, Bash Scripting, ASP.NET, Prototype, Moo Tools, Actionscript and jQuery.

Currently, we focus on development using HTML, CSS, jQuery, PHP/MySQL and the fabulous CodeIgniter framework.

The combination named above offers the most flexible and forward compatible websites possible today. Websites that work on any browser, any operating system, any mobile device and, to top it off, even print nicely with the superfluous navigation and other unnecessary elements automatically removed.

Feel free to contact us with any questions on how we do things.

Good God. I started writing HTML back in 1998 and used FrontPage at the time. Sadly, FrontPage, Dreamweaver and similar programs generate pretty crappy HTML. The only way to code is by hand. I find it to be faster to tell the truth.

The programs I use for web design are: Photoshop for all design work, though I sometimes use Illustrator or Flash for vector graphics if the project calls for them.

These days I use Coda as the text editor for my pages. It has an FTP program built in too so it’s become my tool of choice for all coding.

When I first learned server-side programming, I used Classic ASP (a Microsoft technology) but these days I only use popular open source technologies like PHP 5. I build most sites on top of the open source Code Igniter Framework which lets me build complex things faster and more cleanly than would practical otherwise.

All my hand coded pages use CSS for presentation, Javascript for behavior and HTML for information. There are of course situations that can call for breaking those rules.

Sure thing. Chances are if you can think of it, I can make it.

No. Every web project is made right in our studio with our own hands.  We strongly believe that outsourcing hurts our local economy and avoid it at all costs. We do get solicitations constantly from firms in India and other places looking to get work from us. It’s never gonna happen though! We’re proud to be a family-run small business.

Being strong at both design and development enables me to build anything you can think of. If a better tool exists that we can use freely or for a minimal fee, I won’t hesitate to recommend it. For blogging, I now recommend Wordpress, though my own custom blog engine is pretty darn good!. For shopping carts, I recommend ZenCart and for photo galleries there are always plenty of options including my own. Both are mature, stable, free to use (I’d certainly want to modify them to your needs) and save alot of time and money everytime.

Go for it. You get what you pay for. Your visitors will know that you are using a $19.95 website too. The web is far too important to your business to waste time and money not doing it right.

Go for it. Just be sure to ask your cousin if he/she tests their sites on all browsers and systems, makes sure their code is standards-compliant and takes steps to make sure your page is search engine friendly and flexible enough to look good to those using most any internet device. Being able to do the above takes years of experience, making every mistake along the way and being the wiser for it. Don’t let your website be someone’s mistake.

Website prices are based on the complexity / size of the site, though this is not necessarily measured by the number of pages. Some sites are very simple to design and build, and require little in the way of maintenance. Other sites will contain information that must be continuously updated to remain relevant, in in these cases, often a custom content management system is put in place to serve the direct needs of the site. If you really want a number, websites start at $1500 and go up from there. That’s pretty cheap for the quality you get.

Timelines are determined by the complexity / size of the project at hand. I’ve produced sites in a couple days, and there have been sites that have taken a good 6 months or more to build. Chances are, your site would take a length of time that falls somewhere between the two.

The first step is to identify your needs and goals. Once a clear concept is established, a written proposal outlining everything included in the site and cost is delivered to you. Having a formal agreement in place, the design phase begins. This involves taking the information that will be contained in the site and organizing it to be most easily accessible through the website. A visual design mockup is then created around the information, and posted online for review.

Once a visual design is accepted, the actual construction begins. This involves taking the visual design that was created and coding it into a working page, then constructing the additional pages of the site, any client side / server side programming work needed plus database planning and construction.

During the construction process, you are able to visit a special web address you would be provided to check in on the construction at any time. This keeps dialog open throughout construction and also removes most surprises that could spring up and delay completion of the site.

Once the site is finished, reviewed, tested and accepted, launch time arrives. This involves putting the website files onto a public web server so the world can view the site at any time. The web server hosts the web files for you, hence the term hosting.

Other expenses you can expect are domain name registration fees and hosting charges. Domain name registration fees are annual (unless paid in bulk) and can be as expensive as $35 per year. Hosting charges vary greatly, but typically fall in the $20 per month range.

If you have us register your domain names, it’s $25 per year. There are discounts for multiple year registrations. Hosting is $24 per month or $229 per year.