Why do I need a web site?
There are countless reasons to create a web presence. The World Wide Web is an economically sound method to disseminate information across the globe. The web makes information available to customers regardless of whether or not an employee is available to take a phone call. A web site is a great place to put Frequently Asked Questions, such as: "How do I get to your business?" Placing these questions on-line can free employees from excessive phone traffic and increase productivity. Employee handbooks and procedures can be kept on a web site, saving your business from expensive and repetitive printing costs. Very specialized information, such as a restaurant's menu, a musician's songs or an artist's portfolio can be made available to all prospective customers without expensive mailing campaigns. A businesses image can be established and reinforced in a customer's mind before physical contact is ever made with that business. The web is a great place to do business.
What do I need to make a web site available to the public?
To publish a web site, one needs to write the code (at the very least HTML code will have to be generated), register the domain name, obtain DNS hosting and serve the site from a server. Each of these steps is outlined next.
What is HTML?
HTML, or Hyper-Text Markup Language is the basic language of web pages. It is easy to learn but is not very great at creating page layout.
What is CSS?
Cascading Style Sheets are the little miracles that allow the transformation of graphic design ideas into code that can be read by web browsers. This code is a bit more difficult to learn than HTML. Because the major web browsers are not all compatible with one another, special care has to be taken when designing with CSS.
What is JavaScript?
JavaScript is a computer programming language that is used to extend further control of a web site or page. It is used to write cookies, animate graphics, dynamically create content and many other tasks. This is much harder to learn than either HTML or CSS.
What is a domain name?
A domain name is a token or identifier that a business uses to appear on the web. It is the name in a browser's address bar while visiting a website, such as "amazon.com". Your own name can end in .com, .biz, .net, .org or many other suffixes.
What is DNS hosting?
In order for a browser to navigate to a web site, some other computer must know where that web site is. The computer that tells the browser where a web site is located is called a DNS host. The acronym stands for Domain Name Service.
What is site hosting?
Once a computer knows where a web site is located, it must retrieve each page from that location. The computer that holds all the pages and "serves" them to other computers is the web site's Host.
Which parts does the Fat Free Project handle?
We handle everything needed to get a web site published, including the design, code, hosting and name registration.
What about music?
We can handle song normalization, creation of MP3's and most other audio tasks, even creation of original music.
What about animation?
This Philosophy of the project is to create affordable well-designed sites and toward this end we do not recommend animation. Animation involves expenses that raise the cost of implementing a web site. If your site really requires animation then we can handle it in a way that appears correctly in nearly all modern browsers by utilizing scripting.
I Really Want Flash!
If you absolutely must have flash animation we can accomodate you. There will be significatn additional costs though. At this time we charge an additional $1000 for flash animation.
What about a database?
Databases are used for storing large amounts of information and database software licensing and development costs are usually prohibitive for small businesses. At this time we are not offering database driven web site design.
How much will all this cost?
$1500. That is not a typo. We believe in providing a real quote up front and in quoting every business the same price. We do all of the design, hosting and implementation of static web sites for one flat fee.
What's the catch?
The catch is that after one year we will begin charging you for name registration and hosting. Once the site is designed, we will not alter your website in any way unless we have agreed upon a maintenance contract. See our current services page for prices.
What defines a static web site and why would I need a dynamic site?
A static web site is one that does not generate content "on the fly". Although static web sites are appropriate for most businesses, if you decide it is necessary for content to change based upon your own or your customer's input, we do handle scripting services. See our current services page.
How do I get my site to show up in Google and Yahoo?
Search engines such as Google, Yahoo, and Ask will eventually find your site. This process can be expedited by submitting your site and keywords directly to the search engines. Search engine submission is a free service provided to all of our clients.
What about SEO?
Search Engine Optimization is a much more comprehensive set of techniques than search engine submission. The good news is that if we are designing your site from the ground up it will be optimized provided you follow our recommendations. This is a FREE service for our clients.
