- Planning For The Future:
Think about what you want the Internet to do for your business or organization in the next two to three years, and pass that information along to us. Like building a house, if you anticipate additions to accommodate growth in the future, it is better to plan for them now. You need to leave room for the foundation and have the necessary frame work in place. By doing this now, when it comes time for the addition we won't have to tear down what you already have. Thus saving time, expense, material, and disruption of your site.
- Sharing The Knowledge:
If your company or organization has printed material showing what you make or do, send us copies along with the rest of your information. The more we know about your business, organization, product, or service, enhances our ability to design and build accurate, informative, and functional Web Sites. Though Print and Internet versions of information dissemination are different, it helps us in construction, to know what has been working for you prior to your decision to go on the Web.
- Sharing The Files:
If your "print" or "other" company/organization information is already on a computer somewhere, why pay us for the time to recreate it. Send copies in the form of "ASCII Text Files", on 3½ " floppy disks, or Iomega Zip Disks (preferred, as it makes getting digital information back to you allot easier). Providing this information (which you have already paid for at least once) saves billable hours retyping, or having to scan/ocr/save/proof/correct, to make useable for the Web. Both of which options can get expensive, rather quickly.
- Providing The Logo Graphics:
When sending Company or Organizational Logos for reproduction, a clean, camera ready copy on a clear, solid, and opposing background color (the larger the better for reproduction) is always better than printed letterhead, or business card logos. It will present better, and requires less clean up time with a graphics editor. If another graphics firm created the file, make arrangements for them to send us an original file.
- Providing Photography:
For photographs, we prefer to have the actual photos as opposed to personal or company scans. As a general rule, "Print Quality Graphics don't work well on the Web, and Web Quality Graphics don't work well in Print." Photos need to be manipulated to varying degrees and formats to work correctly on a given Web Page. It is sometimes difficult and labor intensive to work with another persons scans and file type saves.
Photographs should be on glossy paper if at all possible, as matte` finishes add texture and unwanted shadows. Photos should be either numbered with a list telling what each is or have a white label on the back of it with this information to avoid bleed through during the scanning process. If photographs are copyrighted, you should maintain a copyright license on file as long as the picture is shown on the Web Site.
- Links To Other's Web Sites
Keep your "Off Site Links" to a minimum, and keep them on one page if at all possible. Web pages on other Web Sites, have a tendency to move around, or get deleted by Webmasters who don't understand, or care that others "Bookmark" these pages, or make links to them from their own Web Sites. It is necessary to verify your "Off Site Links" links regularly. Broken links reflect badly on your Web Site, as well as your company or organizations image, and no one likes getting the "404 - File not found on this server" message.
While we discourage the use of "Off Site Links" on any Web Site, (discussed on our FAQ's Page) we recognize the need or desire for some Web Sites to use them. If you do intend to use them, you will save money by going to the Web Sites you want linked, once there, highlight the address line, then copy and paste the URL "Address" into an e-mail to us. By doing this:
- You have verified the page is what you think it is
- You have sent me a correct URL with no typos on your end
- You have allowed me to paste it into your Web Page with no typos on my end
- You have saved yourself billable hours
- Planning For Updates & Revisions:
When a Web Site is in its "Construction Phase" you are sure to notice as we do, things that looked "Perfect" on paper, just don't look or read correctly on a Web Page. It can be very frustrating for both the client (you), and the designer (us), during this process.
A Web Designer is initially concerned with "Overall Presentation and Function" of a newly created Web Site, and tends to leave the "finer details" (spelling, punctuation, sentence structure, font case, exact pictures to be used, etc.) until very last.
The client on the other hand tends to see these "finer details" first. While these "Details" are very important to notice and correct "Right Away" in the "Web Site Template" which is the foundation for the Web Site; they can substantially add to the cost of construction if they are required to be dealt with before completion, and final review of the Web Site.
What we are saying is. Review the Web Pages as they are built, write down things you notice that need correcting, but hold off on sending them to us until we ask you to review the Web Site for acceptance. At this point you are sure to notice that most things you have written down for correction, have already been taken care of.
As in construction of your Web Site, when requesting updates or revisions, plan to make them on all pages they are required. It doesn't take much more time to update two or three pages at once than it does to update only one. This is also true for scanning documents or pictures.
