|
Why
do you recommend A4 or ¾ A4 page sizes?
Most people who look at your website will only want to look
at what you place in front of them, and surveys show that
people seldom go down more than one or two screens, at most,
before skipping off to another webpage, or website.
We have sized our pages to accommodate the two most popular
screen settings, which are 800 × 600 and 1024 ×
768 (this is now the most common setting).
An 800 × 600 screen typically shows ¼ of an A4
sheet at a time, and the 1024 × 768 screen will show
up to ¾ of an A4 sheet.
As an illustration, if you look at the different pages in
our website, you should find that most pages are easy to
view, but would you choose to read through this FAQs page
unless you had a specific interest?
Top
of Page
Why
do I need a Domain Name, and why should I use a .co.uk suffix?
This is one piece of jargon that you will need to know,
but we will try to explain it in Plain English.
A domain name is the address of your website (e.g. our domain
name is www.imagewebsitedesign.co.uk)
The domain names is made up of 3 sections - www; yourname;
suffix.
WWW refers to the World Wide Web, or Internet
There are many different suffixes in use - the most being
.co.uk (typically used for businesses in the UK) and .com
(typically used for businesses in the USA). We firmly believe
in using .co.uk for all British websites, and we include
registration of your .co.uk domain name in our Pricing figures.
The main part of the domain name, is the important part
for you to choose - it should be self explanatory, and easy
to remember (anyone used to using the Internet will know
that it starts with www, and expects it to end in either
.co.uk or .com). There are millions of domain names already
in use, so you need to choose a name which hasn't already
been used - this won't be as difficult as you think. If
you are trading as Smiths, then www.smiths.co.uk will almost
certainly already be in use, but try www.smiths-of-mytown.co.uk.
As part of our service we will help you to choose a suitable,
and available, domain name.
Top
of Page
What
is Domain Name registration?
To ensure that you have exclusive use of your Domain Name,
it needs to be registered. We do this automatically when
we start to create your website, and the cost is included
in the website design cost. The initial registration is
for a 2 year period, and we will advise you before the expiry
of the registration period that renewal is becoming due.
Top
of Page
What
if I already have a domain name and/or hosting arrangements?
It
is always easier if you ask us to organise the acquisition
of the domain name, to avoid complications.
If you have already acquired the domain name you will need
to provide us with the original registration details so
that we can set up the website and hosting arrangements.
If
you have already organised hosting for your domain in the
past we will discuss the hosting arrangements with you and
advise the best hosting service for your needs.
Our hosting and on-going support charge is £20.00
per quarter (or a reduced rate of £12.50 per quarter
when paid by standing order), and is applicable whether
the hosting is arranged with Image Website Design, or with
a third party hosting company.
Top
of Page
Why
can prices of web pages vary?
Experience has shown us that not everyone wants the same
type of content in their webpage.
Some people just want a simple website, with no 'mini/over'
pages or special graphics, while others want "everything"
added into their webpages.
We feel that our pricing structure should be simple enough
to give you a clear idea of final costing, but flexible
enough to allow you to add in all the extras that you
want.
Top
of Page
What
is a 'mini/over' page?
Mini/over pages are small web pages. They are usually used
where you want to provide extra information which doesn't
need to go on a main page, and which could detract from
the main content of a page. They are smaller than the usual
page (typically 1/3rd of a standard page), less detailed,
and wouldn't usually have a page header, or navigation buttons.
As an example, you will find oversized 'mini/over' pages
on our services page - each of the bullet points is a link
to a 'mini/over' page. We have used these pages to provide
quite a lot of information, so we have created them as oversized
'mini/over' pages - a usual 'mini/over' page would be much
smaller.
Top
of Page
Can
you design my company logo?
Whether your company is large or small your corporate identity
is an important part of the professional image you portray.
Very often your logo is the key to ensuring a consistent
company image - and your company colour schemes, business
cards, letter heads, brochures, website, and all forms of
marketing materials will be tied together by your company
logo.
We use some of the latest software combined with experience,
flair and imagination to create the identity & image
you require for your business. We can work from scratch
with an open brief, or work with existing or part complete
artwork. Click
here for more information about creating
your company logo.
Top
of Page
Why
do I need to be concerned about copyright?
The copyright laws are continually changing. Many years
ago Copyright was believed only to apply to the written
word. International Copyright laws now cover text, photographs,
movies, music, etc. Your website is in the public domain,
and anyone looking at your website can see if you have infringed
their copyright. Similarly, you don't want others to steal
your ideas, so the copyright laws protect your website,
also.
We automatically hold copyright of all work which we produce,
and you will see the words "Copyright .... Image Website
Design" at the bottom of every website.
Top
of Page
How
do I receive e-mails from my website?
Having a unique domain name allows people to send you an
e-mail. If anyone sends you an e-mail via your website or
domain name, then it will be available for you to collect
using the online webmail facility, or any standard e-mail
program (e.g. Outlook Express).
We will explain the default configuration settings for your
e-mail program so that you will automatically receive these
e-mails. The default e-mail configuration (which has a catchall
e-mail address, and allocated password) is included in the
standard hosting costs.
If
you are e-mail conversant and wish to upgrade then we can
provide multiple POP3 e-mail accounts, password changing
facilities, e-mail forwarders,
and auto responders by upgrading the hosting package (2nd
level hosting costs a further £17.50/qtr for up
to 10 email addresses on a domain). Please ask for details.
If you are a more experienced user wishing to know some
of the technical specifications, the following may be helpful:
there is a limit of 20MB for your standard mailbox, and
a capacity limit of 500 emails on the email server at a
time, with a 5MB limit on individual outgoing emails.
Upgrading to an Advanced Mailbox (£17.50/qtr/email
address) provides virus scanning and spam filtering, and
also increases the capacity to 1GB space or 5000 emails
- the 5MB outgoing limit still applies to the advanced mailbox.
Top
of Page
I
don't have an e-mail program - will I be able to receive
e-mails?
We offer three choices for accessing e-mails.
a) Your mailbox can be accessed using any standard e-mail
program (e.g. Outlook Express).
b) Your mailboxes can be accessed using any web browser
using the webmail interface. This allows you to send and
receive emails in a basic webmail environment (similar to
the way in which you would use hotmail, gmail etc).
c) You
could opt for e-mail forwarding of e-mails from your
website to a named e-mail address (e.g. a Hotmail or Gmail
address, or an address at AOL, etc.). This choice involves
an inexpensive upgrade to your basic hosting package (stand-alone
Email Forwarding costs £20.00/year).
Top
of Page
What
is a firewall?
When your computer is connected to the internet it is vulnerable
to attack. A firewall is your protection against these attacks.
More information can be found on our page titled 'Buying
a computer'.
Top
of Page
Why
do I need an anti-virus program?
When you receive e-mails, it is possible that your computer
could receive a computer virus. An anti-virus program is
your protection against viruses. More information can be
found on our page titled 'Buying
a computer'.
Top
of Page
What
is meant by screen resolution?
This is the size of the screen, measured in pixels (dots
on the screen). Typical screen resolutions are 1024x768
or 800x600. The most common size is 1024x768 which would
mean that you would see a picture on the screen which is
1024 dots wide and 768 dots high. More information can be
found on our page titled 'Buying
a computer'.
Top
of Page
What
is Search Engine Optimisation
and Search Engine Submission?
Search
Engine Optimisation is tuning the website so that the search
engines are more likely to list your website when someone
searches for particular words. We
will use our knowledge and experience to gain the best results
possible by
optimising the content, but high rankings can never be guaranteed
because the search engines change their criteria continually.
Search engine results also depend on other criteria (e.g.
external linking) which can influence page rankings to a
great extent.
Search engine submission can be important if you are looking
for links to your website. We automatically
submit your website to more than 40 search engines &
directories, and as part of our on-going support we will
resubmit your website to the search engines periodically.
Search engine submission can be very time consuming and
to promote your site you may wish for submission to more
than 1000 search engines and directories, or to be submitted
on a monthly basis. If you require more search engine submissions
then we can offer several package alternatives which can
make your site more widely accessible. Please ask for details.
Top
of Page
Can
I make changes or update the website in the future?
When
we design your website, we hope that it will be the start
of a long-term business relationship, and we do not walk
away when the design work is finished. It is not unusual
to decide to change some of the content of your website,
or to add in extra pages, after a few months or after a
couple of years.
We will help you to improve or alter your website at any
time in the future. Usually the least expensive way to look
at alterations is by paying our hourly rate.
Some
clients ask if it is possible for them to make regular changes
to the website (e.g. updates to a calendar of events in
a club, or to a list of cars for sale in a car dealership).
At Image Website Design we believe that the initial design
stage is only the start and we will continue to make any
changes that are necessary - we do not walk away when the
design work is finished but continue working for you when
required.
A content management programme can be provided in which
we will periodically (weekly / fortnightly / monthly) update
your website with routine changes. Content management programmes
are inexpensive, and start at just £10/month. All
you need to do is e-mail a list of changes to us, and we
will enter them onto your website - usually within 24 hours.
All changes to the website must be done by Image Website
Design to ensure the integrity of your website.
Top
of Page
Any
other questions?
If you have any other questions please don't hesitate to
ask us, or why not send us your question using the form
on our "Contact Us"
page
Top
of Page
|
frequently
asked questions .....
