This
document is designed to educate the client about our services,
things to expect over the course of a Web Design Project, and
how the client will be asked to assist in the process of creating
his or her department or organizational web site.
The first thing you will notice about the Live Pages Web Team
is that we will insist on meeting you in person, preferably at
your office. During this first meeting, which takes no more than
an hour, we will try to understand your business and also offer
some insights from our experience on the best way to integrate
the Internet into that business for maximum impact and minimum
disruption. The meeting is free and without further obligation.
Should you agree to appoint the Live Pages Web
Team as your Internet publisher, we will then move into concept
development on your behalf.
This stage includes a detailed analysis of your business and its
potential for improvement by on-line services integration, together
with a more thorough search for the web
sites of your competitors, suppliers and customers
to identify areas for market enhancement and upstream/downstream
business integration.
The Live Pages
web Team also analyzes the graphic design and
programming that will be needed to develop your
web
site and obtains firm prices for these services where
possible. A detailed proposal is prepared and presented to your
management for approval. This phase of development
is chargeable at a fixed price, payable in advance.
Once the proposal is complete, including a thorough appreciation
of your business requirements and a detailed quotation for web
site development, we present the proposal. Again,
we look to do that in person so that we are able to answer any
questions and completely explain our concept.
The proposal details the structure
of the site, the number of pages required, the estimated number
of graphics per page, the workings of an order-form page or pages,
and any programming required to complete the
site. It also details immediate and ongoing costs of web site
management. We also provide you with detailed checklists of your
immediate and future responsibilities within the
Web Design Project.
The terms of engagement (listed
in the proposal) include a 50% deposit payment at the commencement
of the project, with the remainder paid at completion of the project.
Once you have accepted the Proposal, with or without amendment,
we will expect you to nominate one of your team members to be
our contact for the duration of the project. The contact person
must be available during normal business hours for both face-to-face
meetings and for consultation by telephone. That contact person
will also need to carry out the project tasks listed in our Client
Checklist and Project Calendar.
The amount of time the contact
person will need to spend on the project will vary according to
the size of the web
site and the complexity of its intended operation.
You should expect that for a small site of 3-4 pages, the contact
person would spend ten hours on the project in total, spread over
about one week. For a medium-sized site of 6-20 pages, the contact
person should spend about 15 hours on the project over about one
month. The time to be spent on larger sites will need to be estimated
on a case-by-case basis.
1. Web
pages are designed with accessibility in mind. HTML
tag support varies with each browser. We stay on top of percentage
of browsers being used as well as what HTML; CGI and scripting
languages are supported. We test all web pages on Windows and
Mac computers and view them in different browsers. We then make
necessary adjustments to graphics and/or HTML
to guarantee the best possible accessibility for your potential
viewers without compromising design.
2. Graphic
compression is done to minimize load time without compromising
the quality of the graphic.
3. We make Internet sites
"search engine friendly" that is, we
design your web pages so that they can be found based on the keywords
and phrases you provide us.
4. All web pages are developed
based on guidelines of Web Presence Council.
We understand choosing a design for your
web site can be a difficult decision. We offer professionally
designed templates for you to choose from (for sites having more
than 50 pages only), as well as flow chart assistance, including
some suggestions on how your web pages can link
and other design elements can be incorporated.
We can provide you with more
specific proposals if your design needs do not fit into any of
the Live Pages web Team's design
plans. We are committed to getting your web site up and running
as quickly as possible and will do our best to work within your
requirements.
Additionally, we can analyze
your existing web site and let you know how our design
team can improve the effectiveness and professionalism
of your Internet presence!
The Live Pages web Team
uses a phased development
process to maintain quality control throughout the project. First,
we develop the general "selling message" of the site
and the general "look and feel" of the pages for the
various sections. We call this the "template design,"
and we reuse this work on each page of the site during final development.
So you can get a "feel" of how the site will look and
perform, we upload the first draft stage onto our private host-server,
which is not available to general web traffic. Once the first
draft is on-line, we can work out any "bugs" and get
feedback from your team about its look and feel.
Your comments at this stage
of development will ensure that the final content, message, look
and feel of the site meet your expectations. Only when you have
"signed off" on the first draft design
will the major
elements be added.
Any forms, programming,
and database integration required to achieve
the aims of the site (e.g., sell products, collect information,
facilitate subscriptions, allow feedback, etc.) are added to the
design during this phase. This part of the development
of the site can only be done when the site is on-line. Final content
is added to the site and fine-tuning is carried out to test the
operation of the site prior to hand over. Once we are happy that
everything is working to our satisfaction, we will present the
final pre-launch site to your team once again for approval before
moving on to the proofing stage.
To ensure that your site is error-free,
we send the completed site to the University Proofreader for corrections.
Once we have made changes based upon the proofreader's suggestions,
you have the option of re-proofing before we send the site to
the Web Presence Council for final approval. Once the site is
approved, we are ready to open the site to the public and promote
its presence in the Internet!
Once the site is "switched on"
for public access, the Live Pages Web Team will
list its presence with major search engines and directories using
key words and phrases specified by your web
development team/contact. This will ensure visibility
of the site for those users looking for you or the type of products
and services you provide. We will also seek out "cross-linking"
with the web sites of your key suppliers and trade groups and
other web sites with a common interest or role, all of which must
be provided by the web
development team/contact.
Upon completion of your project,
you are allotted a limited number of hours in which our staff
may train you on the maintenance of your site. If you need assistance
beyond our basic training, we can point you to other resources
to further your skills. We are also available for site maintenance
at the regular hourly rate.
What is this site supposed
to do?
How does it fit into our overall business strategy?
Who is our target audience?
What is their level of knowledge and understanding?
How much information do we need to provide?
How can this best be accomplished?
What do competitor sites look like?
How do they accomplish these goals (that we have established)?
What information do we need to capture?
How will we monitor the site?
What maintenance will be required, and who is responsible for
this?
What kind of visual appearance do we want?
How much will it cost to build? Maintain?
How long will it take?
Can we build it in phases? Do we need to?
Templates or specialized custom pages
On-line forms
Linked to databases
Linked to response pages or e-mail transmissions
Image maps
Animated GIF
Flash Movies
Frames (WPC recommends against this)
Video clips
Audio clips
Other computer languages
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