Web Site Design

Initial Consultation

The initial consultation is free and without obligation to you, the client. The purpose is to establish your business goals, identify your customer base and decide on the approximate content of the web site.

Your web site might require some or all of the following elements:

Brochure pages, photography, clip-art, logo, banner, graphics, animations, maps, contact details, enquiry forms, booking forms, newsletter subscription, password-controlled pages, file downloads (text, video, sound), catalogue, shopping cart, payment module, guest book, content management, bespoke programming, discussion forum, advertising.

However, the chances are you won't need all these features. We help you identify which are relevant to your requirements. We also discuss options for layout, colour scheme and typography. We help you choose a suitable domain name and advise on site hosting.

Above all, the emphasis is on your business requirements, i.e. how a web presence for your business will improve your customer service, generate sales and increase profits.

Preliminary Web Site Design

We design the front page of the site to give you a clear impression of the final appearance. Note that our approach is consistency of design throughout, therefore the front page sets the tone for the entire site.

We also design the site map, i.e. how the user will navigate around the site.

We detail any special features of the site, such as forms, search facilities, specialised menus or buttons, databases etc.

Finally, we present all this information to you for approval, together with our contract and quote. At this stage, you are free to make amendments to the design.

When you are satisfied, you simply sign and return the contract and pay the deposit.

Detailed Web Site Design

The detailed design and development phase now begins in earnest, with all of the elements which make up the site coming together.

Early in this phase, we register your domain name and organise a hosting account on a suitable server. We publish a holding page on the Web (showing your company name and contact details) so that you can immediately start using your new domain name in your corporate literature and advertising.

This phase is usually characterised by ongoing discussions to finalise details of site content (text and graphics). We undertake to keep you informed of progress throughout the development phase.

As part of the development process, we rigorously test the site and all its elements to ensure its viability for the end-user. We verify the code for compatibility across a range of web browsers. We assess the accessibility of the site and determine its level of compliance with the WCAG 1.0 Guidelines. We ensure that keywords and other features are optimised for the search engines.

Web Site Activation

On receipt of the balance of payment. we publish your site to the Web. At this stage, we submit it to the search engines and directories, according to your requirements for site promotion.

Web Site Maintenance

No website remains the same forever - those that do risk ever-decreasing numbers of visitors and can give a poor impression of your business to potential customers. There are various solutions to the maintenance issue:

1. A maintenance agreement with Capital Websites: For a fixed monthly fee (dependent on the level of service you require), we will administer your site and carry out amendments to the content on your behalf. The package can include:

2. Content Management System: Purchase a content management system (CMS). This will allow you to amend your site content as and when you wish. Simply connect to your site via any web-enabled computer and add or delete text or pictures as required. The cost depends on the level of service you require.

A simple solution allows you to amend site content and even certain aspects of style. You pay a licence fee for each machine from which site changes are to be made. A more sophisticated solution allows for changes from any web-enabled computer, anywhere in the world.

In both cases, changes can only be made by pre-registered users, and the site is protected via passwords and/or access codes. The system manages changes by multiple users: If User A is currently making changes to a page, User B is prevented from changing that page until User A has finished.

The advantages of a CMS are many: You can make changes whenever you like, and the changes can be published immediately to the site. You do not need to involve a web designer, therefore making a cost saving. The CMS is designed such that anyone with basic computer literacy can make amendments.