Web Design – Documentation!!

By admin | Published: September 12, 2008

Web Design — Why it’s important to document!

Your client had a brilliant idea, usually around midnight, for a name for a new website. So she went online to check out the availability of the name, found it available and registered it. Then a few months later, she’s ready to put it on the web and calls you in to make her website. Or better yet, she set up the website that same night on a by-the-seat-of-your-pants webhost. Now she’s ready to put it onto a webhost that provides a wider array of opportunities that she didn’t have for her business before. You begin to ask “standard” questions, only to see a blank stare or hear a long pause on the telephone.

What’s one of the first things you ask her? Where is your domain registered? Uh — But that’s pretty easy to find out by checking the WHOIS listings, even through her new webhost.

Since you’re changing web hosting companies, you know that you will need to have new DNS(s) attached to her website for anyone to be able to see it and you have to be able to access the registrar to do that. So you ask for the login information at the domain register so that you can direct that change.

Here’s that blank stare or long pause again. There are a variety of ways to solve this problem, most of them taking much more time than they should or than you have right now. And this is one of the most glaring reasons why you need to document, document, document ….

For any of your personal or business websites, as well as for those of your clients, make sure that you have all of the following items well-documented in an easy-to-read and accessible format:

  • Domain name, complete and accurate
  • The registrar of that domain name, as well as the website URL and customer service phone number(s).
  • The username and password at the registrar’s website
  • The registration date and the expiration date of the domain name
  • The current webhost, along with appropriate username and password
  • The DNS (Domain Name Server) of the client’s website at the current webhost
  • The new webhost, along with appropriate username and password
  • The DNS (Domain Name Server) of the client’s website at the new webhost

Then when you have the website transferred to the new web host and everything is running smoothly, make a copy of the documentation for your file. Then print one on bright neon paper, give it to your client and make her swear that she will put it in the safe along with her business plan, her will, her insurance papers. Give her another copy, on a different neon colored paper, and tell her to file it with her bookkeeping records with the expiration date of the domain name highlighted.

Why is all this important? (1) Because she doesn’t want that expiration date to pass by unattended or she could easily lose that domain for which she has spent all this money and branding time, with two options: pay through the nose to a troller who has snatched the name when her legal attachment to it expired or have to start all over and notify everyone who has it bookmarked that it’s not hers anymore. (2) Someday there is going to be a web host company that offers even more bells and whistles and she’s going to want to change web host again. If she’s still your client, then it makes your life easier — oh wait, you’ve saved your copy in a file, too. If she’s not still your client, then there’s no use in making the next web designer’s life just as miserable as yours has been while trying to clear up the mess this time. You know — what goes around comes around.

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Web Design – Transferring Webhosts

By admin | Published: September 11, 2008

How to transfer to a new webhost

Sometimes the process of moving your website from one host to another is enough to make you run back to your original host. But take a breath and remember why you wanted to make that move. Maybe your original host didn’t offer enough services or the customer service department couldn’t understand what you needed or couldn’t communicate the answer in terms you could understand. Maybe the wonderful world of free markets have opened up a whole lot cheaper deals for web hosting.

Whatever your reason, don’t weaken. Just take a deep breath, bang your head against the keyboard a couple of times and read those instructions once again.

Step 1: Make sure that you have a copy of all the files for your website on your computer. This won’t be a problem if you use software such as Dreamweaver to edit your files on your computer. But if you edit via your webhost, make sure that you download all the files to your computer, including any database you may be using.

Step 2: If you haven’t already done so, select your new web host and buy a plan appropriate for your website. While you’re doing your research, test out their customer service. Do they have live chat capabilities? Do you get the same answer to your question if you ask it 2 separate times? How long does it take them to respond to an email request for support? Of course, getting a reference from someone you trust is a good idea.

Step 3: Set up your web account at your new host. Then carefully read the instructions for transferring your website to their service. And carefully follow the instructions for transferring your website to their service. Upload your files to your new account. Your files are at the new web host, so you’re done, right? Oh, no, no, no.

Step 4: This next step — “pointing” your domain name to the correct DNS — may be the most frustrating part of the entire project, mostly because you probably won’t have key information. Your new host will have its own Domain Name Server(s), or DNS for short, which will be entirely different from the DNS at your current web host. (Their transfer instructions will give you that information. There may be multiple DNS’s for your website, but it will read something like “ns1.webhost.com”.) Your domain name is managed by a registrar. That may be your old web host, but it may also be an entirely different company. If you don’t have the registrar’s name, try running a search for your domain name (the part after www on your website, eg., lizburrwebdesign.com) on your new web host’s site. You already know that it’s not available, but after you run the search, the web host will come back and say, “We’re sorry, but that’s not available. Would you like to buy it from the current owner? If so, just click on the link for the WHOIS data.” Click on that link anyway and you will find the registrar company and other contact information. Now you need to contact that registrar to find out how to tell them what your new DNS is. Be patient but persistent. You have to complete this step.

Step 5: There may be a delay of up to 72 hours for your new site to take effect. This is why you didn’t just delete all your files on your old website after you transferred them to your new web host. The reason it may take this long is all that “magic” going on between the web hosts and domain registrar. I managed one transfer today that only took an hour. But your website may have some downtime.

Step 6: Make sure that you have documented this entire process, including all usernames and passwords. Keep that information in a permanent file. Then the next time you find a cheaper deal, or a more efficient and upgraded web host, or you’ve had one too many conflicting responses from your customer service, you’ll have all the details you need – especially that pesky domain registrar contact information and DNS data.

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Communicating through the Web

By admin | Published: September 2, 2008

How to Communicate through the web

Our customers may want all the bells and whistles in the products we sell them, at a cost low enough to balance their company budget. But our company website must be clear and concise. Our company website must be (1) easy to navigate, (2) easy to read, (3) attractive to the eye. We want to communicate about our products and services.

Easy to navigate – Links to other pages and/or specific products must be easy to see. Just as importantly, they must lead the customer to the desired information with as few clicks as possible.

Easy to read – Both in the size of the font and the content, you need to know what your target audience is. Having loud music, tiny print and flashing “neons” on the company website may be great for a hip music group, but it’s not going to impress the target audience of a hearing aid company. (I know that’s extreme, but you get the point.)

Attractive to the eye – Several things coordinate to make your website attractive to the eye. The color scheme must blend, using bolder colors in that color scheme to highlight navigational links and other important information. Pictures much be crisp, quickly downloaded and part of the overall communication message. You need to balance the print with white space — enough white space to separate different points of communication, but not so much that blocks of communication look “lost” on the page.

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