For those who are taking their first step into having an internet presence and are unfamiliar with the purchasing of a website, it can be a very confusing and imposing step to take. Quintessential Web Design recognises you may have these concerns and we will aim to demystify the world of the internet for you and explain it in plain English.

There are three key elements you need for a website:

• domain name
• website
• hosting

We'll take each of the elements in turn.

domain name

Each site on the internet has to be uniquely identified. This is achieved by choosing a combination of a website name (quintessentialtraining) and a territory identifier (.co.uk). This is known as the domain name and it forms part of the website address users need to enter into their browser when they wish to visit your site. It's fairly standard practice to purchase your domain name for a period of two-years at a time and will cost only about £20 per year to do so.

Once you have decided on the domain name you require, Quintessential Web Design will check its availability. If available, we can register this name for you, if it is not available, we can provide you with some alternatives to choose from.

website

For today's business, a presence on the internet is a must. This provides an extra dimension by which you and your customers can communicate or transact. It is important for you to get the look and feel that you desire for your website, after all, it does belong to you! To that end, Quintessential Web Design will work closely with you to agree the colours and layouts for your website.

To produce your website, Quintessential Web Design can employ a range of technologies subject to your needs. A typical website such as this one, is developed using a couple of key technologies:

• html (hypertext markup language)
  html is the language we use to set the structure of a website and denote certain text settings such as headings, paragraphs, bullet points etc.
• css (cascading style sheets)
  css is used to define the styles used in the website including colour schemes and font styles

In addition to the two technologies listed above, Quintessential Web Design also employs the following technologies where appropriate:

• flash
  flash is used primarily to add animation to websites
• javascript
  javascript is principally used for validation. A good example of the use of javascript is when you are required to fill out a form , whilst completing the form you leave the email address field blank, javascript is used to feed this information back to the user in the form of a message on screen.
• asp (active server pages)
  as the name suggests, asp is used to retrieve user requested data from a database held on a server and display that information on the webpage dynamically. A typical use of asp to display product information that the website user has requested.

So, what will it cost for your website to be developed by Quintessential Web Design? Well, sadly there isn't an easy answer to that question, the pricing is as individual as each website we produce and is determined mainly by the types of technologies we have to utilise in development. Feel free to contact us and we'll be happy to discuss your exact requirements and provide you with an individual quotation.

hosting

Once you have a decided on your domain name and the design of the website is complete, your site needs to live somewhere on the world wide web; ie. it needs to be hosted on a computer known as a server. As soon as your website is uploaded (copied) to the server, it is live on the internet and can then be accessed by anyone around the world with an appropriate connection.

A key part of hosting includes the creation of a number of email addresses for your site so that you can send and receive messages from a mailboxes from your domain name eg. info@yourdomainname.co.uk. Our basic hosting package includes up to 5 email addresses for your website.

Quintessential Web Design can provide you with a range of scalable hosting solutions from as little as £50 per year to meet your business requirements now and in the future. The hosting cost is based on the amount of space you need on the server to host your website. The vast majority of websites around the world require only a small amount of space to store their website and therefore, the basic hosting package could be the most suitable for you now, however, as your business grows, your hosting solution can grow with you.

other services

• I have an existing website that needs updating.
  Quintessential Web Design will happily work with you to update your current website to freshen-up the look and feel.
• My website needs regular updates, can Quintessential Web Design help?
  Yes, regular updating of the content of your website can be handled by Quintessential Web Design at your request. Simply tell us what you need and we will do the rest. The updates can be made on an agreed or ad-hoc basis as required.

contact us

Feel free to contact us to discuss your website needs. Our contact details can be found here.