Contact me at sandra@vinyltangerine.com

Web Design

Getting started on your web site

I know the most important thing for most of us is "how much will it cost?" Well, lets just cut to the chase... My rate is $65 an hour and I can set up a simple home page for you for $200-$400. Ask about my 20% discount for small business.

The basics

A simple web page project will consist of:

• a home page design with content, logos and images that you provide
• a template page containing all the common elements of your design, that you can use to quickly add pre-formatted new pages as your site grows
• a CSS Style Sheet to quickly format new content so that it looks consistent across all your pages
• registering a name for your web site [eg www.yoursitename.com]
• setting your site up with a hosting provider

All creative/design and technical aspects of the project are included in this quote.

The extras

The following services are not included in the basic web page quote and are additional by the hour:

• sourcing graphics, graphics editing or creating a design from scratch
• web forms and simple java scripts
• content management interface
• layout and posting of content on pages other than the home page
• creating or researching content
• editing content that you provide

Once you decide what you would like, I can estimate each aspect for you, and you can pick and choose what you want on your site based on your budget. Check out my web portfolio for samples of sites I have worked on.

Other cool stuff

Add a blog to your site, or a PayPal shopping cart to handle your web sales.

Timelines

Once a quote is approved, I will provide for your review an initial draft for the look and feel of your home page within 2 or 3 days. You can request major changes to this draft. A second draft would then be sent within 1 or 2 day for final review and minor changes. It will take a few more days if your site includes any of the extras mentioned above.

Your role

In order to deliver a site you love, I need a good idea of the "look and feel" you want. Examples of web sites you like is a good start. Also helpful are descriptors like hot, cool, clean, light, ocean, outer space, soft, cozy, way out, 50's, 70's, funky, calm - you get the drift. If you have particular colours you prefer, you will need to point me to examples of those also -- my version of "mossy green" could be your version of "pukey green"!

To help you choose your colours, I have set up an interactive colour selector page. Click away until you find a colour combination you love!

Content

You are responsible for providing content. If you have a web page editing software, you can manage your content and format it by using the templates and style sheets I will provide. If you prefer, I can manage your content and post your pages for you.

A name for your site

I can register a web site name with a Domain Name Server [DNS] for you. This costs about $12 for a .com site, and $25 for a .ca site and the name is valid for one year. I would pay for the initial set up and bill you on your first invoice.

When registering, I would put your name, address and email as the billing contact, and you would be notified when your contract comes up for renewal. You are responsible for making sure your domain name account remains current.

I would also forward you your user name and password so you can administer your own account if you need to.

Visit canaca.com for more info and to review the contract.

Hosting your site

I can set you up with web site hosting for $5 per month. Hosting is payable as you prefer -- by month, quarter or year, with no minimum monthly requirement - you won't find a better deal than that!

If you already have a web site hosting partner [ISP] I would be happy to post your pages for you -- you would just need to send me the login and password information. If you wish to transfer your ISP to the service outlined above, I would be happy to transfer your domain name and files from your current provider.

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Glossary

CSS - A style sheet works much like Styles in MS Word, where you put your cursor in the paragraph you want to format, and click on the name of the style you want to apply.

DNS - Domain Name Server - A Domain name is the name of your site. A DNS links your web site name to the location of where your web page files are located

ISP - Internet service provider - the company that hosts your web pages

A template can be associated with any or all pages in your site, so for example, if you change your phone number or add a new link, you just need to update the template page and all the pages on your site using that template are automatically updated as well.