Frequently Asked Questions (and Answers, of course!)
- Do I need to use a design company that is local to me?
- How long will a new website design take?
- Can I self-maintain my own website after you design it?
- What do I need to start a website?
- What is a 'URL'?
- What is a 'Domain Name' and Domain Registration?
- What is Website 'Hosting'?
- Why not use a free site-builder or a do-it-yourself website program?
- What is wrong with free hosting?
- What is 'HTML' code?
- What is 'SEO'? (Search Engine Optimization)
- What are 'MetaTags'?
- What is FTP?
- What is a Copyright, and how does it protect me?
- How can I keep someone from stealing my photos from my website?
- Protecting and Enforcing your rights - the DMCA (Digital Millennium Copyright Act):
- What is resolution, and how does it affect my website design?
- What is the difference between print and online resolution/quality?
- What does 'DPI' refer to?
Do I need to use a design company that is local to me?
Not at all. The majority of our clients are from out of state. While we can meet in person if you are local, there is no part of our work that can not be just as easily accomplished via communication over phone and e-mail.
Please refer to the Website Design page of our website for additional information.
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How long will a new website design take?
The timeframe to complete a new design is dependant on several factors. If you love the first design we create for you, we're already half-way done! If you want revisions or re-designs, this will add additional time to the design phase. Once the design is completed to your satisfaction, we are at your mercy to provide content for your website pages. If you are prompt, we can have everything completed within a matter of days. In general, we can have a new website completed within a week or two, sometimes within 3-4 weeks based on the client. If you have special needs or a specific timeframe, we can work in a crunch to get things done by your date.
Please refer to the Website Design page of our website for additional information.
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Can I self-maintain my own website after you design it?
For those who want a professional website design, and the freedom to add their own updates, we offer a Self-Maintenance program for user-editable websites. This option allows you the best of both worlds - it
lets us create a professional website design with a proper foundation and coding to be successful, while allowing you access to easily modify the text and photo content on your site at any time, 24/7. Add, change, edit, or delete text and photos as you desire. Our Website Self Maintenance Program can be added to any website that About Time designs, so you can have total control over your website's content.
Should you require our assistance for more extensive edits, or to repair your site, our services will be provided at our usual hourly rate for maintenance and updates.
Please refer to the Website Design page of our website for additional information.
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What do I need to start a website?
To get your new website online, you will need two additional things - a Domain Name and Website Hosting.
As an extra service provided for our clients, we set up and provide hosting for your web site, as well as take care of the domain registration process for you. There are NO SETUP FEES for handling this for you.
As our way of saying THANKS for choosing About Time Design, we are happy to offer your first year's Domain Name Registration, AND your first year of Website Hosting FREE with any website design.
Please refer to the Design Process page of our website for additional information on the complete process.
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What is a 'URL'?
A URL is a Uniform Resource Locator, the global address of resources and other documents on the World Wide Web.
The URL, your entire address, looks like this: http://www.YOUR_NAME_HERE.com
Please refer to the Domain Name page of our website for additional information.
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What is a 'Domain Name' and Domain Registration?
A Domain Name will appear as a component of a website's URL address.
The Domain Name is this part of the URL: YOUR_NAME_HERE.com
Acquiring and registering a domain name is the first step towards creating a web presence. You need an 'address' to direct visitors to your website - much like a business needs a street address to direct clients to their store location.
Your Domain Name is your address or location on the internet. It is also is what potential clients will view as your name and identity.
Domain names are unique and individual, like fingerprints - no two are the same. So there will be no one else that has the same name as you anywhere in the world. It's impossible for two or more people to have the same domain name.
Please refer to the Domain Names and Registration page of our website for additional information.
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What is Website 'Hosting'?
Website hosting service is a type of internet hosting service that allows individuals and organizations to make their website accessible on the internet via the World Wide Web. Website hosts are companies that provide space on an internet server they own or lease for use by their clients, allowing organizations and individuals to serve content to the internet.
In simple terms, think of hosting like renting space to store your website on a fast computer that is always available online (commonly referred to as a server). Visualize renting space at an online storage lot where you will store your website,
so that it is available to be downloaded and viewed on any computer around the world that wishes to browse your website.
Please refer to the Website Hosting page of our website for additional information.
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Why not use a free site-builder or a do-it-yourself website program?
A potential client makes up his mind about a website within a few seconds. It is vitally important that your website, text, and image presentation are of the highest quality. If your website projects a professional image, your prospective clients will trust they are dealing with a legitimate business and continue through your site to browse your products and services to a greater depth. Inevitably this will lead on to more enquiries and more sales for your new business.
When first starting an online business, many people are tempted to use a free 'site-builder' website hosting service, or a do-it-yourself template website creation program. This is one instance where you most certainly do 'get what you pay for' ... basically nothing. If you plan to build a successful online presence/business, having a professionally designed website and your own domain name is vitally important for a number of reasons.
Showing your visitors that your company is legitimate when they arrive at a professional website is an important first impression to establish and build trust with your potential customers. A slapped-together free template site gives the impression that you are just one more here-today-gone-tomorrow company that may well take their money and run. A well-designed professional website and domain name reflect your commitment to quality, that you're in it for the long haul, and they can trust you.
What good is the best website in the world if it is never found by visitors? A professionally designed website will have the foundation needed to be successful with search engines and to generate traffic. Search engines frown on free sites which are written with poor HTML code and without the proper foundation to succeed. Without good search engine rankings, your site will not be found by potential visitors, and your promotional efforts end up doing nothing but wasting your time and money.
You'll actually save money in the long run when you have a professional website designed. It is well worth the investment many times over.
Please refer to the Website Design page of our website for additional information.
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What is wrong with free hosting?
Most free web hosts impose advertising on your website to cover the costs of providing your site the free web space and associated services. This is not professional, and their service is not reliable. It should be noted that free web hosts without forced advertisements aren't necessarily good news either. Without a viable means to recover the costs of running their server, many of them close with alarming frequency. With hosting, you get what you pay for, 'free' is not worth it.
Please refer to the Website Hosting page of our website for additional information.
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What is 'HTML' code?
HyperText Markup Language (HTML), is the publishing language of the World Wide Web.
HTML is the encoding scheme used to create and format a web document. It is a special kind of text document that is used by Web browsers to present text and graphics. The text includes markup that uses tags such as as 'opening tag' <b> to indicate the start of a bold section of font, and a 'closing tag' </b> to indicate the end of a bold section of font. HTML documents are often referred to as "Webpages". Each page of your website is written in HTML code. When the html page is downloaded to your internet browser, it is displayed visually as you see it.
If you are curious as to what a webpage actually looks like in HTML code, all you have to do is to look at the source code for any webpage. To do this, simply click on the "View" menu and then on "Source" in your browser (or sometimes the "File" menu and then "View Source"). This will show you that webpage's HTML source code.
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What is 'SEO'? (Search Engine Optimization)?
Search engine optimization (SEO) is the process of improving the volume and/or quality of traffic a website receives from search engines. (Not to be confused with paid advertising).
As an Internet marketing strategy, SEO considers how search engines work and what key words people search for to find your website. Optimizing a website for SEO primarily involves editing its text content, HTML, and associated coding, with the goal of increasing its relevance to specific keywords and to remove any barriers to the indexing activities of search engines.
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What are 'MetaTags'?
Meta tags are HTML tags containing information about what the webpage is about to help you control how some search engines index your site by using the keywords, key phrases, and descriptions you provide. Meta tags are part of HTML code, but are there for the sole purpose of providing various information that the site owner wants to deliver to search engine spiders and robots.
The meta description tag and the meta keywords tag are written into the HTML code for each page, but are not seen by users. Instead, these tags main purpose is providing meta document data to user agents, such as search engines. There are numerous useful meta tags, each used to give web browsers and search engine spiders directions or data on various information.
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What is 'FTP'?
FTP, or File Transfer Protocol, is a method used to transfer a file from one computer to another across the Internet. It is often used by webmasters to publish their web pages on the Internet. FTP is used to transfer the web pages from their computer where it is designed and edited, to the web server where the website is hosted and stored.
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What is a Copyright, and how does it protect me?
Copyright is a form of protection provided by the laws of the United States (title 17, U. S. Code) to the authors of “original works of authorship”.
Who Can Claim Copyright?
Copyright protection subsists from the time the work is created in fixed form. The copyright in the work of authorship immediately becomes the property of the author who created the work. Only the author or those deriving their rights through the author can rightfully claim copyright.
How to Secure a Copyright:
Copyright is Secured Automatically upon Creation.
The way in which copyright protection is secured is frequently misunderstood. No publication or registration or other action in the Copyright Office is required to secure copyright. There are, however, certain advantages to registration (see below). Copyright is secured automatically when the work is created, and a work is “created” when it is fixed in copy for the first time.
Copyright Registration:
In general, copyright registration is a legal formality intended to make a public record of the basic facts of a particular copyright. However, registration is not a condition of copyright protection. Even though registration is not a requirement for protection, the copyright law provides several inducements or advantages to encourage copyright owners to make registration.
Among these advantages are the following:
- Registration establishes a public record of the copyright claim.
- Before an infringement suit may be filed in court, registration is necessary for works of U. S. origin.
- If registration is made within three months after publication of the work or prior to an infringement of the work, statutory damages and attorney’s fees will be available to the copyright owner in court actions. Otherwise, only an award of actual damages and profits is available to the copyright owner.
Registration may be made at any time within the life of the copyright.
For additional Copyright information and details, please refer to these links at the United States Copyright Office website:
About Time Design will vigorously protect our copyright interests, and those of our clients. This is a favor we provide for all of our clients along with our design work. If we find an individual using your design, content, or photos without permission, we will file to have the matter resolved for you. If you need our help dealing with a copyright infringement you find, simply let us know.
Please refer to the About Time Design Copyright Information & Terms page of our website for additional information on our Copyright policies, and what we do, as your designer, to help protect you.
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How can I keep someone from stealing my photos from my website?
This is a question we are asked many times over - usually by individuals who take great quality photos of very nice dogs ... and find them being used to sell some random backyard breeder's pups by unethical folks who steal the photos and show them as examples of their own dogs. Quality photos and images are often taken from websites without permission for personal use as well.
You can not prevent your photos and/or website content from being stolen if you put it online.
The short answer to how to keep your photos from being stolen, is don't put them online. If you put your photo online, it can be stolen. I don't care how many 'prevention tactics' folks try to come up with to protect their images, the bottom line if if you put an image online, someone else can copy it and take it. You can disable right-click on your page, you can hide the image under a transparent gif file, you can embed them in a flash file, but if they are visible on the page, they can be taken regardless.
So ... What CAN you do to protect yourself?
You can watermark your images. A
watermark is a recognizable image or pattern that is displayed in various shades of lightness/darkness over an image. This is a catch 22 solution though, for a number of reasons.
• If you display the watermark faintly, and avoid obscuring your subject with it, the photo still retains its impression. However, the watermark can be easily enough removed or cropped from your image.
• If you want to be sure the watermark can not be removed, you simply opt to display it in more detail, and covering vital parts of the subject that can not be cropped or removed. However, this oftentimes decreases the impact and impression made by a great photo.
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Protecting and Enforcing your rights, Using the DMCA (Digital Millennium Copyright Act):
The Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) is a United States copyright law that implements two 1996 treaties of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO). Among other points, the DMCA heightens the penalties for copyright infringement on the Internet.
For additional DMCA information and details, please refer to this link at the United States Copyright Office website:
Every domain registration company and website hosting company is bound by The Digital Millennium Copyright Act of 1998 and all the other copyright laws around the world. If they receive a complaint and proof that one of their users has plagiarized content from a website (or anything else for that matter), the owner of the copyrighted material can have the offending website site shut down, no questions asked.
If your content is being used online without permission, and is not removed on request, we can and will file a DMCA complaint on your behalf with the website hosting company that will require them to remove access to the infringing content or face the potential to be liable themselves. This will result in the content being removed, or the infringing pages of the website being shut down by the hosting company until they are removed by the owner.
About Time Design will vigorously protect our copyright interests, and those of our clients. This is a favor we provide for all of our clients along with our design work. If we find an individual using your design, content, or photos without permission, we will file to have the matter resolved for you. If you need our help dealing with a copyright infringement you find, simply let us know.
Please refer to the About Time Design Copyright Information & Terms page of our website for additional information on our Copyright policies, and what we do, as your designer, to help protect you.
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What is resolution, and how does it affect my website design?
'Resolution' is the maximum number of pixels that can be displayed on a monitor, expressed as (number of horizontal pixels) x (number of vertical pixels), i.e., 1024×768. The ratio of horizontal to vertical resolution is usually 4:3, the same as that of conventional television sets.
When we design your website, we take into consideration what the most common screen resolutions are (generally 800x600 or 1024x768) for the intended target audience of the website to determine what web page width is suitable for the website.
Have you ever visited a website that has a web page width too wide for your monitor or browser window? This forces you have to use the horizontal scroll to go back and forth reading and/or looking for information on the page. This makes reading the website very hard, can be very annoying, and will cause visitors and potential clients to leave your website for one that is simpler for them to view. This is why we are so careful to design your website with the correct resolution to be user friendly for all viewers.
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What is the difference between print and online resolution/quality?
A photo or graphic image optimized to be displayed online will generally be set at 72 DPI. This will allow the file to view well online, but is still small enough in file size to load quickly on the page. This resolution however, while having the benefit of quick load times online, is not high enough quality for quality printing.
A photo or image optimized for good print quality will generally be at least 250-300 DPI. This quality will result in an image that will print clearly and in great detail. This resolution, however, is far too large to load reasonably online as the file size is very large.
Each of our images is optimized to best meet it's intended use - whether print or online.
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What does 'DPI' refer to?
The resolution of a photo or image to be added to a webpage is measured in DPI (dots per inch), often also referred to as PPI (pixels per inch). 250 DPI means a file has 250 dots, or pixels, across every 1 inch within it. The lower the DPI in the image, the lower the quality and clarity will be. A higher DPI resolution will give a higher quality image to view or print. What must be remembered as well though, is that a higher DPI image will have a larger file size - resulting in longer download times online.
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