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Do
your hosting plans include design? |
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No,
and with good reason. Charging a flat rate only proves to
be a losing proposition for everyone concerned, including
the customer. If designers and programmers worked on a flat
rate basis (which they don't) even the simplest of jobs would
have to be as expensive as the most complicated and time consuming
interactive form, image, or logo. In all likelihood, custom
work would be impossible without exorbitant flat rates. In
the long run, hourly rates are not only more fair but more
economical. |
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Can
you supply some information on designers at CloseRange? |
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There
several designers at CloseRange. While we just one of our
Mac designers, we gained one that is even more experienced
at design then the one we lost.
At CloseRange, however, all designers are experienced desktop
publishers and have professional understanding of the principals
of page design. Our newest designer has been doing professional
layout and design with for ad agencies for more than ten years
written articles that have appeared in national magazines,
won national awards, and he has taught design at the University
level, he prefers to known for his professional portfolio.
We work on both the Mac and IBM PC and are experienced with
PhotoShop, Quark, and PageMaker, Acrobat, Illustrator, Painter,
Freehand, and Corel(to name a few favorites). Add up the team's
collective experience, and it's scary, nearly half a century!
Yet experience isn't enough, because everything keeps changing
so very fast. So our team keeps learning new programs, and
new tools, but more importantly, the team has the craft to
use them. |
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What
does it cost to get pages designed at CloseRange? |
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We
charge an hourly rate for page design. The hourly rate is
determined by the type of work being done. If you contact
us, we can give you a fair estimate. |
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How
do I figure out what pages (and graphics) are needed on my
site? |
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Don't
be too hard on yourself if you feel you don't yet know what
you need. First of all, everyone's idea of what they need
should be constantly evolving anyway. Last month's fad is...
well, last month's fad.
Even the best of ideas get old when everyone starts using
them. We can help you get a handle on what's been over used,
or what you need to think about utilizing if you wish us to
consult with you in that manner. Or, you may wish us to design
the web site for you.
We often suggest, that if you don't know what you want, that
you go with what we call a "proven design." Some
people mistake this to mean that the site is going to be a
rubber stamp of some preexisting site with their name substituted
on it. That's not necessarily so. We can customize any proven
design with custom type, colors and graphics. When you do
this, the web site takes on an individual look and feel. |
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Can
I modify and use a design from someone else's web site? |
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You
shouldn't simply make a copy an existing site to reuse unless
you have permission, or unless it is based upon a template
that is for sale. You have to be mindful of copyright laws,
and vigorously be vigilant not to violate copyright laws.
You will only be sorry later if you get caught. It's never
a good idea to break the law, so must know what you are allowed
to do legally. And what you are not. But many people borrow
ideas instead of copying the actual site).
Buying or using templates that are intended for reuse, and
having permission to use them, is a good way to "borrow"
good ideas. Many people use templates, and designers do too,
or at least study them because a good template provides a
wealth of good ideas. And studying or incorporating templates
is a good idea for those who don't know where to start with
web design.
Not all templates are based upon "proven," designs
(successful designs). When we suggest using a template, we
are suggesting using a quality template, which are usually
not the variety found in the bargain bin (the 500 templates
for $25.95 variety). Good templates are regarded as "good"
because they are based upon professionally designed pages
and are based upon ideas with a proven track record.
There are two good reasons for using good templates. The first
reason is that its less expensive than starting from scratch.
The second reason is that they are "proven" designs,
designs that succeed.
In addition to having good aesthetics, good templates have
excellent functionality, meaning that the web site will be
easier to navigate and have a layout that is "intuitive,"
rather than being confusing. This creates a favorable impression,
and certainly makes it more likely that visitor will like
your site, and either buy something or return to take a second
look. That's a big achievement, don't underestimate that.
Proven designs create more traffic, membership and profitability.
That's something we strive for in our web sites, and we aren't
ashamed to draw upon a good idea if it's a good one just because
we didn't think of it first. You shouldn't shy away from doing
that either. Don't let your desire to be completely original
hurt your ability to borrow good ideas from others. |
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Can
CloseRange design our site if we have no idea what we want
it to look like? |
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We
won't think any the less of you because you aren't sure what
you need. In fact, we take it as a sign of intelligence that
you are open to having a professional design your site for
you. In fact, we'll be happy to design your site for you.
Let's talk! |
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Can
you design a logo for our home page? |
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Absolutely. So, if you
need a logo designed for the web, or for use off of the web,
let us know. You'll probably be using that logo on your stationary,
if not immediately, then after your web site becomes successful.
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What
functions or add-on elements do you provide clients? |
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When
it comes to page design, e can provide just about any type
of web element, or artwork. For those that wish to pay for
customized elements, just about anything goes (within the
bounds of taste and decency). Customized elements include
graphic images, buttons,bars, icons, animation, forms, e-commerce,
and interactive CGI, Java, and Active-X driven routines, sound,
video, slide shows and more. You should probably start off
of with something modest, and slowly build on to your existing
functions. |
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If
we already have pages developed, can we use them? |
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Absolutely. We are only too happy to host your pre-designed
pages! |
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Are
you willing to work on our existing web pages, and fix or
improve them? |
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Yes.
Sending us the pages for an estimate does not obligate you
in any way. If you like, we'll give you several alternative
design routes at different price points so that your new
face also has a smile to go with it.
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Is
Java or JavaScript used to have an interactive site?
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We
use these scripting languages, but use them sparingly. Some
amount of interactivity is always nice to have. However, too
much of a good thing will detract from your web site, and
make visitors wonder if you were considering their needs or
your need to impress when loading them down with all those
"new fangled buttons" and what not. Simplicity and economy
are two principals that drive some of the most elegant looking
site on the Internet.
We might suggest using a well designed rollover or small Flash
movie in place of a Java applet. Less is more. |
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How
import is it to have an Interactive web site? |
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It's
not critical, but it is becoming increasingly more important.
Certain types of site will need something to keep pages interesting
for visitors. Toward that end, it's probably more important
to change the content on your site regularly than it is to
have something that's interactive. Good content (useful content)
is always preferable to any kind of glitz or flash. |
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Is
it true that I should change the content on my site regulary?
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Yes,
as often as possible. It's safe to say that as long as your
content is informative and valuable that you can't change
it too frequently. The more you change informative content,
the more likely it will be that your online traffic will grow
(provided that people find you in the first place). |
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Would
it be advisable to change my content daily? That seems like
to much work! |
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It
is a lot of work to change content every day but it is true,
that changing content every day is at least six times better
than than changing it every week. And it is also true that
changing it every week is many times better than chaging
it once a month. Changing content several times a year is
certainly not going to do much for you, but even that is
better than not at all.
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What
is the reason that you recommend that content be assembled
from a database? |
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It
is not practical to do manually. Pages that change daily or
weekly are simply too time consuming and therefore, too expensive
to do manually. The database driven solution is the only managable
way to handle frequent changes. |
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What
do you suggest for dynamically built pages? Do you suggest
ColdFusion and Dreamweaver Interdev or some Active-X application
suit? |
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You
can use these products on any of our VPS servers.
You'll find our Freedom server is a better solution. |
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Why
do you say Freedom is a better way of creating dynamically
changing site content? |
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We
think that there are many reasons. Here are just some of the
reasons.
Firstly, it's a complete suite of products
that you don't have to install or administer yourself. That
makes it easy. In other words, it comes ready to use.
Secondly, Freedom costs much less money,
probably a fraction of
the cost of what it would cost to do a regular ASP site.
Thirdly, anyone can learn to use it
(you don't have to learn any programming in order to enter
and change content so that once it is setup for you, you can
even have part-time help keep the information current and
changing.
Fourthly, it's not only simple and easy
to use, but it's fast (you can import and export info from
Excel or Access database.You'll find the ease of use
enables you to control your own site. It's so easy, in fact
that you allow part time help with little or no computer experience
work on your site. That's certainly not true of ColdFusion,
UltraDev any other tool sets that we know of at the present
time.
Freedom is open source, has been created by intelligent and
forward thinking individuals, who deliver what they promise
when they promise it (including upgrades and updates that
are often ahead of schedule). |
