Category: F.A.Q.

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Do you use Dreamweaver?

Dreamweaver is just a tool. It would be like asking if you could write a grammatically correct sentence in Microsoft Word. Can you write that sentence using another tool? Yes. Can you build a website without Dreamweaver? Most definitely.

Usually I don’t get asked this question because the current site was built with Dreamweaver, usually I get asked this question because people have heard of the software and that’s their only reference point for website design.

Dreamweaver is simply a WYSIWYG editor. WYSIWYG stands for “What You See Is What You Get.”

What Dreamweaver can’t do is work well with WordPress or Drupal theming. I stopped using WYSIWYG editors when I started really using php and css because, at that time, the editors weren’t up to par with that technology. They’re better now but they aren’t perfect. The editors still produce bad code on occasion so even if someone is working with the software they should still understand the underlying code. Once you learn to read more code you usually are faster without WYSIWYG editors.

So what do I usually use in place of Dreamweaver? As of November 10, 2011: A combination of firebug, web developer toolkit, textwrangler, and cssedit.

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We’ve been receiving a lot of sales calls from companies that say they can “guarantee front page placement on Google, Yahoo, & Bing.” In your opinion, is this something necessary and worth considering?

Quick summary on the people calling and offering guarantees for search engine placement:

  • No one can give a 100% guarantee on placement in search engines like google, bing and yahoo because people outside of these companies can’t control the search engine’s algorithm. And people within these companies are not allowed to offer these services.
  • You CAN do things to increase probability that you will be placed on the first page for certain words or phrases. BUT you don’t want to go overboard because there are things that will increase your rank but at the cost of customers. Where you place doesn’t matter if you aren’t getting business from the additional site traffic because your site looks bad as a result.
  • The only way to guarantee 100% is to use PPC (pay per click) advertising with the search engines. These are the ads that are on the top and right sides of the search result pages.

Other things that could go wrong: they use techniques that will get you ranked higher but when caught by the search engines, your site will be removed from search results entirely (black hat seo techniques.) And in my opinion even worse than that is if they don’t know what they are doing and open up security holes for your site or server.

Back to your question at hand “is this something necessary and worth considering?”: The short answer is no. Typically companies calling you and claiming they offer a 100% guarantee that they can get your site into 1st position are flat out scams. Even more likely if they are claiming this without knowing what words or phrases you want to be on the first page of results for.

It is better to start with content creation and making modifications to existing content. Fascination Design does offer a more comprehensive SEO review and PPC campaign management. We are also willing to work with a reputable outside firm in this area.

Quick tip: if your business has a physical location, be sure to check out Google Places and add your business there.

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Can you recommend a hosting company?

Fascination Design offers managed hosting plans as outlined on our hosting page. Please talk to us before making a purchase as there are some additional technical benefits to using Fascination Design for hosting that are not listed. We’re not pushy about this, we just want to make sure you make an informed decision and also that you get hosting that will work for your needs.

If you desperately want to manage your own hosting however (or if you are working on a project with another designer/developer), our typical recommendations for small businesses include:

  • Verve Hosting: BEST for shared hosting aka small sites. Verve Hosting is actually a reseller for softlayer. Softlayer only does large accounts but it means that this reseller has a good quality server. Email support is better than phone support with Verve but they WILL take good care of you (though they will NOT build your website for you):
    https://cms.vervehosting.com/aff.php?aff=077
  • Liquidweb: BEST for VPS and Reseller:


These first two I’ve worked with closely in the past and they offer stellar customer support, uptime and more.

Tools for researching:

Several more good shared hosting options (not researched for VPS):

Others worth mentioning:
• https://www.softlayer.com Really heavy duty managed servers
• http://www.site5.com not their shared hosting but their higher level plans
• http://www.rapidvps.com/Cpanel-Shared-Hosting be sure to get a unique IP address with this one since their main IP is listed with spamhaus.
• http://www.lunarpages.com/id/FascinationDesign [affiliate link] the research I did on this one they look decent. One recommendation from someone I know who liked them and one person said they didn’t (but wouldn’t go into detail which is why I’m still posting the affiliate link.)

These are affiliate links and Fascination Design will make a small amount of money if you order from them. They were chosen for their merit however. List last updated December 31 2013.

If you’re a 501c3 (and have the paperwork to prove it) we do also work with hosting companies that offer free quality hosting.  Talk to us and we’ll get you pointed in the right direction.

See also: Why I no longer recommend Hostgator.

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What’s the difference between an “update” and an “upgrade”?

Usually this is in reference to WordPress, Drupal or other software installation.

Updates are within a software version. For example we update WordPress from 3.0 to 3.1. What’s important is the first number remains the same. Updates are simpler tasks and are often done to patch security vulnerabilities.

Upgrades are more complex and often require more attention and testing. For example from Drupal 6.x to Drupal 7.x. What’s important is that the first number changes. Usually there are more major revisions between one version and the next and there may be a waiting period to upgrade if certain plugins are required. Upgrades tend to extend the capabilities of the underlying software, add features, and or operate faster.

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What is the best program for minor photo editing?

When you want to crop a photo or remove red eye quickly, I would recommend trying the following software. Photoshop Express and Picasa are my top picks for most of your basic needs but I’ve included some additional options in case you’re looking for something a little more advanced.

Free options:

  • Photoshop Express Editor (Online): You can log in with an existing adobe.com account if you have one or create an account for free. The major con with with this one is that it’s online it can be a little slow (or if you’re on a slow internet connection it might be a problem.) This could also be a pro since you can use it from any computer, Mac or PC, as long as flash is installed. http://www.photoshop.com/tools

    Photoshop Express May 2011
    (click image for a larger view)
  • Pixlr: This is my top pick if I need to do some quick editing for the web when I’m not on my own computer. It’s fairly full featured and can accomplish more than Photoshop Express but less than the full version of Photoshop. It’s also online which is great if you don’t want to install anything but not so great if you have slow internet access. It may have too many features for someone who is not already familiar with Photoshop however: http://pixlr.com/editor/ 
  • Splashup: Another online photo editor with a lot of features similar to the Photoshop basics. http://splashup.com/ 
  • Picasa: Similar to Photoshop Express but not online based. Mac or PC  http://picasa.google.com/

    (click image for a larger view)
  • Windows Live Photo Gallery: Windows 7 & Vista only.
    http://explore.live.com/windows-live-photo-gallery
  • iPhoto: Mac only (part of ilife and may already be on your computer)
    http://www.apple.com/ilife/iphoto/
  • Gimp: this software is overkill for most of my readers. It is however has a lot of extra capabilities like the full version of Photoshop does but in an opensource program. It is not for the faint of heart.
    http://www.gimp.org/

 

Cheaper (than Photoshop) options:

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I have an e-mail related question, you can help right?

This should go without saying but this is for customers who are using Fascination Design for hosting and e-mail.

There’s a very fine line between hosting / e-mail support which I do offer and computer support.  My business does not offer computer support and repair.

If you aren’t sure who to ask though, go ahead and ask me. I can determine where the problem is fairly quickly. If there is something actually wrong with your e-mail on our end, I will definately fix it. However if there is something wrong with your computer, your router, your cable or dsl modem I’ll probably say “time to call a computer tech.”

Again, no harm in asking, I just need to keep expectations reasonable since I can’t be free computer tech support for everyone!

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Can you tell me what your hourly rate is?

I have stopped mentioning my per hour rate and just use it to calculate my estimates. Telling someone my hourly rate doesn’t give them any idea how much something is going to cost. It doesn’t tell you how long it’s going to take me to complete your project or the final cost.

Let me give you an example: Paying someone $10/hr for them to do the same thing in 40 hours is still more expensive than one hour at $100/hr. Would you rather pay $400 or would you rather pay $100? $10 per hour is “cheaper” but it can cost you more.

I have also over the years come to understand that the people who are adamant that they know the price per hour are often focused on how cheaply they can do something instead of the design helping them achieve their business goals and objectives. Cheap design is not the focus of Fascination Design and we will not be a good fit for your business if that is your focus. If all you are looking for is simply cheap design, you’re in the wrong place. We offer quality design at a fair price. 

I do however have an hourly consulting rate for brainstorming sessions and planning meetings to develop more in depth projects and marketing plans. Since these meetings are usually scheduled for a set amount of time, you’ll be able to figure out my hourly rate for those meetings.

Don’t forget, all new potential clients get their initial consultation, up to an hour, on the house so that I can learn more about your business and goals and you can ask me any questions you might have.

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I worked with a past designer who estimated one thing and billed another. Do you have hidden fees?

I’ve seen this happen in some instances where a designer in unethical and in others where they just lacked communication skills. Either way, it’s not fair to you as the client to get this kind of surprise.

Our price quote is based on an hourly rate structure and estimated amount of time for the project we outline in detail on your project sheet. We have never gone over budget. If a client’s requests or changes would increase the price, we will give you a change order sheet so you can approve the changes and increase in budget.

Because we have no hidden fees, our initial quotes are sometimes higher than companies who don’t include all of their fees or a margin of error in their estimates.

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I don’t have time to meet, can’t you just design something?

You know your business in a way that no one else can so there is some amount of time required from you in order to create any design. We can hire a copywriter if you don’t have time and content but we can’t develop a design without talking to you.

You are hiring me for my expertise in design related matters. I wish I could also read minds from a distance but I can’t! Yet!  🙂

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Can you give us a sample design so we can decide if we want to hire you?

Requesting creative services in advance of hiring is known as Speculative or “Spec Work.” Spec Work compromises the quality of work you are entitled to and also violates a long-standing ethical standard in the communication design profession worldwide.

The “American Institute of Graphic Arts”, as well as the “Graphic Artists Guild” and the “Graphic & Web Design Trade Customs” are in agreement and most graphic designers will not provide speculative designs as it places zero value on ones services.

Creating custom designs are not part of Fascination Design’s presale process. Design is a collaborative process with the client that is affected by a variety of factors and is not simply a flash of creative inspiration.

Speculative work takes time which creates lower profit margins. A business with less cash to invest back into the business means a worse product, worse service, and customers that don’t receive as many benefits as they could.

Here are some other ways to ease into the transition of working with us:

  • Ask for an estimate and try us out with a smaller project.
  • Or ask for us to break out the first step of a bigger project in an estimate.
  • Ask for references. We’ll check with some clients to make sure they aren’t too busy to talk and get you their contact info.
  • Review portfolio pieces of similar projects.
  • If we haven’t met with you already, we do offer an initial “getting to know you” meeting on the house. This can be a phone meeting if you don’t live nearby.

The AIGA (American Institute of Graphic Arts) on Spec work:
http://www.aiga.org/content.cfm/position-spec-work

“AIGA, the professional association for design, believes that professional designers should be compensated fairly for the value of their work and should negotiate the ownership or use rights of their intellectual and creative property through an engagement with clients.”

“Clients and designers knowingly engaged in spec work share an equal responsibility to understand the potential risks and rewards:

Clients risk compromised quality as little time, energy and thought can go into speculative work, which precludes the most important element of most design projects—the research, thoughtful consideration of alternatives, and development and testing of prototype designs. Designers risk being taken advantage of as some clients may see this as a way to get free work; it also diminishes the true economic value of the contribution designers make toward client’s objectives.

There are legal risks for both parties should aspects of intellectual property, trademark and trade-dress infringements become a factor.”

More info for businesses on spec work: