Frequently Asked Questions
The frequently asked questions are listed below. Click on a link to jump to the answer, or simply scroll down the complete list:
Beginner's guide - if you are new to the internet and websites, this section covers a simple introduction to the Internet and how websites work.
How do I get my own domain name?
What are the options for creating a website?
What is search engine optimisation and how do you do it?
How do I get my own domain name?
A domain name is a unique address label for your website. It will be of the form www.yourdomainname.tla where tla can be .com, .co.uk, .net or one of a growing number of others. Only certain companies are licensed to sell domain names and they are closley linked to the overall domain name registration service for the Internet. Registering a domain name is relatively inexpensive, typically €30 for two years for a .com and even less for a .co.uk domain. We can register a domain name on your behalf, but most of our clients prefer to do this themselves. We recommend the domain name registration service provided by www.123-reg.co.uk. Their service allows you to try out a variety of names to see if they are available. Once you have chosen a name, you can pay on-line by credit card.
Once you have registered your own domain, we can help you create a holding page for your site visitors to see until your web site is completed, together with setting up a suitable email address so that you can receive emails from your domain.
What are the options for creating a website?
A website design can either be a completely unique design to match the customer's exact requirements, or it can be based on an existing template which will have a defined page layout and navigation scheme.
The unique design requires more discussion with the client to accurately reflect their own design ideas and will require more work by the web designer. This approach therefore takes a little longer and is more expensive than using an existing template. Templates can be obtained from a variety of on-line sources and some are free of charge, while the better ones can cost in the region of 50 euros. Customers that are interested in using this approach will be given a variety of sources to assess the templates available and select the one best suited to their needs. See some example templates in our Portfolio.
What are the hosting options?
Sites designed by ChilliSplash will be hosted on our dedicated server, allowing customers to view the site, running on the internet in order to check and approve the site design and content. Once the site has been approved, it can either be transferred to a hosting account arranged by the client, or hosted under a dedicated domain on the ChilliSplash server. A range of hosting packages are available, depending on the requirements of the particular site. A typical design would include various email addresses, a contact form and logging of site traffic. A more complex package might include a database serving dynamic page content and the ability to accept secure payments on-line.
What is search engine optimisation and how do you do it?
Most websites that we develop are aimed at putting across a message, product or service that is aimed at a specific group of people. We work with our clients to define this "target audience" for their site - whether that be English speaking people searching for holidays in SouthWest France or Utility company executives seeking help with strategic decisions. We then research the target audience, the competitors and the key words and phrases that are most important to this audience. We then expand our study to look at competitor sites and the key words that they are targeting - this helps us to asses the amount of competition for particular keywords and can help in focussing our client's strategy on particular niche areas. Finally, having completed our research, we code the site in a way that is "search engine friendly" so that the pages are easy to navigate and index. We do not employ unethical tactics to "fool" the search engines as these practises can result in sites being permanently excluded.
What about updating the site?
Once the web site design is completed to the client's satisfaction, we will offer a site maintenance package to allow the site to be updated. Alternatively, we can advise clients on available software packages to allow them to perform the updates for themselves.
A Beginner's Guide to the Internet and Websites
What is the Internet?
The internet consists of a large network of powerful computers (called servers) all around the world that are permanently connected together. These computers are often stored in special buildings with their own power supply to ensure that they can operate continuously. The content of the internet is stored on these computers. At ChilliSplash we have our own dedicated server for hosting our websites. This is located in a secure data centre in the UK.
How can I see what is on the Internet?
In order to be able to see any of this content, you need a computer that is connected to the internet and a browser which allows you to see the content. A browser is a computer program that can interpret the signals coming from the internet to be able to display them on your screen. The most common browser at the moment is Microsoft Internet Explorer, but there are other types such as Mozilla Firefox.
What is a Website?
A website is a collection of text, images and computer code that are stored inside a host computer. Each website has its own unique address. When an internet user types the address of a website into their browser, the browser sends out a request to view the website and will be directed to the home page of the site on the computer that is hosting that site. When the browser receives the page, it reads the code and displays the page as text and images on the user's computer screen.
As you will have noticed, some pages take longer to load than others. Generally, if a page contains a lot of images or animations, it will take longer to load. A large number of internet users rely on a dial up modem for access which has a limited data transfer speed and can make large pages very slow to load.
How is a Website created?
Assuming you already have some content and wish to get it onto the internet, you will need to:
1. Design a layout for the site, into which the text and images will fit. This can be a unique design or can be based on a template.
2. Design a navigation scheme to allow visitors to find their way around the site, or use the navigation scheme that comes with the template.
3. Modify the size and shape of the images and text to fit the page layout.
4. Write the code to instruct the browser how to display the pages, this can be done using a simple text editing program, but more usually special software is used. This site has been created using Macromedia's Dreamweaver software and the code has been validated to ensure it complies with the standards laid down by the World Wide Web Consortium. You can test the validation by clicking on one of the W3C logos at the bottom of the page.
5. Checking the way in which the site is displayed using different browsers and different screen resolutions. This ensures that everyone will see the site displayed correctly and is the main reason for following consistent coding standards.
5. Transferring the completed site to a server - in our case to the ChilliSplash dedicated server.
What's difficult about making a Website?
Some of the challenges faced by the website designer are as follows:
1. Ensuring that the pages load quickly, or at least not so slowly that the visitor will go elsewhere. This can be achieved by testing the site and manipulating the images to reduce their file size.
2. Ensuring that the pages display as intended in different types of browser. If you use an unusual font style, it may not be recognized by the browser and displayed incorrectly or not at all.
3. Ensuring that the pages display correctly on different screen sizes, because the pages do not automatically resize to fit the screen unless this is part of the site design.
