Website Implementation Service
Introduction
Here at Aardstorm, we believe in keeping things simple. We therefore specialise in the production of websites that are themselves clean, simple, and easy to use, yet still get their message across effectively. This simplicity also maximises the compatibility of our sites with a wide range of web browsers, and makes them easy for the search engines to read. If you commission us to implement your new website, we will therefore produce a site that backs up the visual sophistication, impact and clarity of your design with a simple yet effective functional structure.
In providing this service, we normally expect you to specify the detailed visual appearance of the pages of your new site, and how they are to behave in response to its user's actions such as resizing the browser window or using their mouse. We also expect you to provide most, if not all, of the text, pictures, backgrounds and other graphics that we will need to construct your site. We can accept your data in a wide variety formats, both electronic and on paper or film, and will then convert and adapt them as necessary to produce the pages of you new site. We can, however, also assist you with the production of these elements, for example through our document and picture services; please specify the extent to which you will be supplying these items when you request a quotation for this service.
This service is therefore particularly appropriate for creative professionals, such as artists, designers, or photographers, who either want to design their own website to promote their work, or who want to design a website for a client, but do not want to be concerned with the detailed technical aspects of coding and testing their design. Please see our website design service if you do not want to be so closely involved in the design process.
Once your new site is up and running, you (or your client) will then be able to direct potential and existing customers to it from other promotional activites to describe in more detail the activities, services and/or products of your (their) business or organisation. You (or your client) will also be able to accept enquiries and even orders through your new site. Through our associated hosting and management service, we will look after the day to day running of your site, and will handle any queries regarding your site itself, while forwarding other, business-related messages for you (or your client) to deal with. You will also be able to request changes to its content or even design as often as you like, so that you (or your client) can keep your (their) customers informed about your (their) activities.
The rest of this page describes our website implementation service, including a range of standard features that can be included in your new site, details of the information we will need from you to complete your site, and a description of how we will produce your site. See our fees summary page for details of our standard charges for this service.
Website Features
We can provide a wide range of features for your website to turn your visual design into a fully functional website. These features are mostly concerned with how visitors to your website move between its pages and interact with it. This includes both detailed page design features features, such as:
- how the pages react to changes in browser window size, including the division of individual pages into functional areas, such as header, footer, sidebars, and content columns, and how they change with window size,
- what controls are provided to link the pages to each other, and how they react to mouse movements and clicks,
together with major functional features such as:
- catalogue, library, or gallery sections, optionally derived from some form of database, which may be located either online or offline,
- shopping carts or other e-Commerce features,
- restricted-access areas, with password protection,
- newsletter or other mailing list subscriptions,
- competition or prize draw entry pages,
Our range of standard features is described in more detail here. If you require features that are not covered by our standard range, please enquire with details of your requirements (or request a quotation), and we will try to help.
Implementation Process
The implementation process used by Aardstorm to produce a website designed to your requirements will normally consist of the following steps:
1. Request Quotation
You request us to supply a quotation for the implementation of your website. At this point you need to supply us with sufficient information about your requirements for us to accurately estimate the work involved in producing your site. This will include such information as:
- The number and type of pages required, including an indication of likely page layout complexity (presence of headers, footers, sidebars, content columns, etc.), together with details of the extent that they share common design features.
- The type of navigation facilities and other features required, including details of any special features not covered by our standard range.
- The number of pictures or other graphics required, and an indication of how these will be supplied.
- The amount of text required, together with an indication of how this will be supplied.
- Any special testing requirements that you may have.
- What hosting and management services you require.
In particular, we will need to know to what extent you wish to control the visual design of your new website, and how you intend to communicate the details (including any page graphics that you will be producing) to us. We will also need an indication your anticipated schedule.
2. Supply Quotation
On receipt of your request, we will use the information you supply about your requirements to estimate the amount of work involved for us to produce your site. If anything about your requirements is unclear, we will request clarification from you. We will then produce a firm quotation and send it to you. This will include a firm price and schedule for the work to be done (subject to no significant changes to your requirements), together with a summary of your requirements so that you can check that we have understood your request.
3. Place Order
If you accept our quotation, and decide to commission us to produce your new website, you then place a firm order, and pay a deposit of 50% of the total implementation fees, plus 100% of any domain name rental fees (see our hosting service for details).
4. Produce Website
As we receive the detailed design information from you, we will implement your new website to your design, and progressively test significant features as they are implemented. We will test your site against a range of web browsers, and will exercise all input controls on any interactive forms to ensure that they work correctly. See the description of our testing service for more details of how we will test your new website.
As implementation progresses, we will will be able to accommodate minor design changes from you, even if they affect features that we have already implemented. Major changes to implemented features that mean that we will need to do a significant amount of rework will, however incur additional charges; we will produce a quote for such additional work and will not proceed with your changes until we received confirmation of your agreement.
Once your new site has been completely implemented, we will subject it to a final set of tests and place it in a temporary location on our servers. We will then notify you of the completion of your site, together with instructions for how you can view it in its temporary location. We will also at this point send you our invoice for the remainder of the fees due.
5. Approval
You should then carefully check the website we have produced to ensure that it contains no errors, and meets your requirements. We will correct any errors against your original requirements free of charge. However, if you now require something different, we will be happy to accommodate your changes, but will charge you extra for the additional work involved - we will provide you with a quotation, and will only proceed with your changes once you have accepted the revised fees. Once you are satisfied with our work, you then pay the remainder of our implementation fees (and initial hosting and management fees).
6. Website Goes Fully Live
Once we have received your payment, your new website will be moved to its final location on our servers. A link to your site will also be placed in the 'examples' section of this site, so that the search engines can find your new site. If you have also commissioned us to do more extensive search engine notification, this is when we will do it.
Communication
Throughout the implementation process, communication between us will normally be via e-mail; you will therefore need to supply us with a valid e-mail address that we can use to contact you. You will also need internet access for web browsing, in order to be able to view and approve new website design. If you require one or more face-to-face meetings, we are willing to visit you, but will charge extra for the travelling and subsistence costs incurred, see our fees summary for details.
Your Input
In providing this service, we assume that you will provide the detailed visual design of the pages that make up your site, along with most of the text, pictures, backgrounds and other graphics that your design needs; we then convert them as necessary to a form suitable for the web, and use them to construct the fully functional individual pages of your site. You can, however, also commission us to produce some (or all) of this content for your site to your specifications through our document and picture services.
We can accept the text, pictures, and graphics for your site in a wide variety of electronic file formats. These basically include those fomats readable by the Microsoft Office (2003 or earlier) program suite, and by the Adobe Creative Suite (CS3 or earlier) programs. If the amount of data you are to supply is relatively small, then these files can be supplied as e-mail attachments. Otherwise you can supply them to us on data CD-ROM or DVD-ROM.
We can also accept your text and/or pictures on paper or film (35mm negatives or transparencies only). However, supplying your data to us in this way will incur additional transcription or scanning charges, see our fees summary for details.