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How To Have Websites Built For You The Cheap Way

NetSmarter @ 2009-02-17 11:23 (Web Design and Hosting)

Normally, if you want to have professional designers custom build your site, you must be prepared to dish out at least a few hundred dollars. All this can change if you know where to find the best deals, the best designs for the lowest price. Here's a rough guide:

First, you must understand that it is a rip off to get companies to design websites for you. Have you ever seen those advertisements in newspaper classified ad sections that offer a 5-page website at $500? These companies are established companies with physical locations, therefore they have to increase the amount they charge to pay off some overheads: office rent, designer's wages, advertising costs and so on.

Therefore, it would be wise to find freelance designers who work from home. These people are often working from home so they do not have a high operation cost like that of a company. On the other hand, they will be able to design images with quality similar to those of designers from big companies, so it's a "no-brainer" choice.

However, choose freelancers with care. The best way to do this would be to go to elance.com. There, you can post the abstract of your project and get thousands of freelancers to bid on your project, so you will surely get the best deal. On top of that, you will be able to choose the designers based on their experience, past transactions and ratings, so your value for money is secured.

Another route you can take is to design your website yourself. Think about it, if you only need 5 simple pages to present some simple information, why waste hundreds of dollars for it? Just spend a little time to sit down and do it yourself. You'll be able to design your own sites even if you do not know a single line of HTML code with the help of WYSIWYG (what you see is what you get) programs such as Microsoft Frontpage, Macromedia Dreamweaver and so on.

Category: Web Design and Hosting

Web Design: Boxes with Rounded Corners

NetSmarter @ 2008-10-18 07:06 (Web Design and Hosting)

You will find that boxes with rounded corners are just a taste of web 2.0 design. You will see the rectangular shapes are for more professional websites, but you’ll also find the the rounded boxes more it look more playful and even more modern. You’ll find these are used on sites that indorse entertainment. You’ll find that these boxes can be used in so many ways, but you’ll want to keep all of the following information in mind when it comes to rounded corner boxes.

First you can use them as images. This is where you can use the rounded box the most and it is the easiest. You will find that you can create these boxes by using your favorite graphics editor. You will want to use it and save it as a background image for the website.

You will want to keep in mind that there are some drawbacks. Basically, they add some time to the loading time frame. You will find that these are okay if the person is loading the pages with a bandwidth that is appropriate, however, the slower the internet connection, the least effective this box can be.

Then there is the use of CSS. CSS or Cascading Style Sheets is another way that you can create these boxes. You will find that these types of boxes will eat up less bandwidth and it will allow the page to load quicker then the other way. You’ll also find that this way takes a lot of time and energy, but most of all, some skill. You’ll find that there is a number of websites that use this method.

Category: Web Design and Hosting

Review of Slhost Hosting: SLHost sucks!

NetSmarter @ 2008-08-22 01:17 (Web Design and Hosting)

If you ask my experience with SLhost.com. I'd just say: SLHost sucks.

I have been hosting a website with Slhost.com and recently it was down. I went to SlHost.com's support page looking for contact info. In this kind of emergency situation, I found the best way is to talk to them on the phone or do a live Chat. To my disappointment, there's no contact phone number on SlHost.com's website and on one page on SLhost'com I found a "live chat" button, which turned out to be fake because it links to nowhere.

So I had to email them. After half a day, I received an email telling me there're some server issue and "We have been working on this since 10am EST 8/20/08 and expect to be completed by 10am EST 8/21/08.". Now it's 8/22 and my site is still down! I emailed them and filled out online contact forms, but after two or three hours I still haven't got any reply from SLHost.com.

So, if you ask me to review SLhost.com's hosting service, I'd just say: SLHost sucks.

Category: Web Design and Hosting