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Will You Add? - Is Your Web Designer Ripping You Off?
When you embark on the journey of organizational change you will undoubtedly encounter resistance. It is the inevitable friction between where you want to go and where you are. It is the result of many things but one thing is for sure, if you don’t deal with it … it will deal with you. Resistance to change comes for many reasons but falls into one of four categories.1. Genuine interest. 2. Genuine interest on steroids. 3. Guerilla resistance. 4. The Gandhi Syndrome.Let’s take a more detailed look at each type of resistance and what you can do about it.1. Genuine interest …When any change initiative is announced, from a new sales program to a full blown system implementation, many people in the organization will express genuine concern based on their very real
Of course, you might not have all these problems if your web designer hasn’t u
Printers offer a complete line-up of printing products and services to cater to every printing need. Be it small scale or large scale enterprise, commercial or corporate, there are numerous printing materials that will prove invaluable to your business operations.Business printing products can be seen almost everywhere and does not limit itself to office spaces. Business printing can pertain beyond business cards, stationery such as letterheads and envelopes, folders and the like. Business printing materials also operates in investing on materials for promotions and advertisingYes, business printing’s presence is made more apparent in marketing and advertising strategies. A lot of printed materials from business cards to large format posters are used to promote your businesses’ products an
Yet most businesses are paying hundreds or thousands of dollars to their web designer for shoddy, substandard work. Are you?
Luckily, there’s a quick and easy way to find out.
Go to:http://validator.w3.org, type in your website address and click on the “Check” button.
If the page you see says "failed validation" in red writing, you might need to speak to your web designer – especially if there are more than a handful of errors.
Is your web designer one of the cowboys?
Unless you own a cattle ranch, you probably don’t want to employ cowboys. You certainly wouldn’t put up with substandard work from a builder or electrician, would you? What about an accountant that didn’t understand tax laws, would you want them handing your finances?
Well, most web designers produce websites that are shoddy and substandard – and worst of all they don’t even know it.
How can I tell if my site isn’t up to standard?
Many professions and industries have standards. With some professions, like medicine or law, you need a qualification before you even start doing it. Other industries, like food processing or construction, aren’t so strict about academic qualifications, but they do have standards that have to be met – like health and safety or food hygiene standards.
There’s no academic qualification you need in order to become a web designer. All you need is a computer with internet access and the confidence (or in some cases arrogance) to call yourself a web designer.
However, although many people (and most web designers) don’t know it - there are standards for websites.
What’s more – it’s really easy to test your website to see if it’s up to standard. All you need to do is visit a website (http://validator.w3.org/) and you can test your site.
What are Web Standards?
Websites are programmed using a computer language called HTML. There’s a right way to program HTML and there’s a wrong way. The right way to program HTML is called “Web Standards,” anything else is the wrong way.
The difference between the right and wrong way to program a website is technical – so if you’re a business owner you don’t need to understand the details.
However, you do need to understand that if your web designer hasn’t used Web Standards it means:
- Your site will do worse in Search Engines – so you’ll get less visitors
- It will take longer to download – so you’ll lose more of the visitors you do get
- It could cost you more to maintain the website
- It’s harder (and more expensive) to make changes to the website
- Up to 40% of people might not be able to see your website properly because they use different type of computer or web browser than your web designer.
- Your site is probably not going to be accessible to people with disabilities – which could mean you could fall foul of your local disability discrimination laws
Of course, you might not have all these problems if your web designer hasn’t u
In just about every important thing we do in our lives, we look to find authorities that understand the intricacies of what we want to accomplish. If we want to build a building, we turn to an architect. For advice on how to grow a business we seek out marketing experts. It only makes sense that if we have a major project that involves plumbing, we would go for plumbing consulting.Not often understood as the profession within a profession that it is, plumbing consulting is a task that is only undertaken by the most knowledgeable of persons in the plumbing field. There is not really a school to go to or a degree that can be obtained in the certification of plumbing consulting. Rather, proficiency in plumbing consulting is a result of years of training, practical experience, and good old-fashioned
Well, most web designers produce websites that are shoddy and substandard – and worst of all they don’t even know it.
How can I tell if my site isn’t up to standard?
Many professions and industries have standards. With some professions, like medicine or law, you need a qualification before you even start doing it. Other industries, like food processing or construction, aren’t so strict about academic qualifications, but they do have standards that have to be met – like health and safety or food hygiene standards.
There’s no academic qualification you need in order to become a web designer. All you need is a computer with internet access and the confidence (or in some cases arrogance) to call yourself a web designer.
However, although many people (and most web designers) don’t know it - there are standards for websites.
What’s more – it’s really easy to test your website to see if it’s up to standard. All you need to do is visit a website (http://validator.w3.org/) and you can test your site.
What are Web Standards?
Websites are programmed using a computer language called HTML. There’s a right way to program HTML and there’s a wrong way. The right way to program HTML is called “Web Standards,” anything else is the wrong way.
The difference between the right and wrong way to program a website is technical – so if you’re a business owner you don’t need to understand the details.
However, you do need to understand that if your web designer hasn’t used Web Standards it means:
- Your site will do worse in Search Engines – so you’ll get less visitors
- It will take longer to download – so you’ll lose more of the visitors you do get
- It could cost you more to maintain the website
- It’s harder (and more expensive) to make changes to the website
- Up to 40% of people might not be able to see your website properly because they use different type of computer or web browser than your web designer.
- Your site is probably not going to be accessible to people with disabilities – which could mean you could fall foul of your local disability discrimination laws
Of course, you might not have all these problems if your web designer hasn’t u
Today, it isn’t that uncommon for some children and teenagers to work. They may earn extra money by baby-sitting, doing yard work, or maybe even walking dogs. Others, once they go on to high school, may go to work in their local grocery store, malls, or food chains. However, in the Victorian Age, it wouldn’t seem at all strange to see children as young as five or six, go to work full-time (sometimes sixteen hours a day!) in often dangerous conditions.As you read, ask yourself questions. Why do you think children so young were working? What type of jobs do you do for extra money? What types of jobs did the Victorian Age children have to do? What would you do to help stop child labor? How do you think your life would be different if instead of getting an education, you had to go to work in
There’s no academic qualification you need in order to become a web designer. All you need is a computer with internet access and the confidence (or in some cases arrogance) to call yourself a web designer.
However, although many people (and most web designers) don’t know it - there are standards for websites.
What’s more – it’s really easy to test your website to see if it’s up to standard. All you need to do is visit a website (http://validator.w3.org/) and you can test your site.
What are Web Standards?
Websites are programmed using a computer language called HTML. There’s a right way to program HTML and there’s a wrong way. The right way to program HTML is called “Web Standards,” anything else is the wrong way.
The difference between the right and wrong way to program a website is technical – so if you’re a business owner you don’t need to understand the details.
However, you do need to understand that if your web designer hasn’t used Web Standards it means:
- Your site will do worse in Search Engines – so you’ll get less visitors
- It will take longer to download – so you’ll lose more of the visitors you do get
- It could cost you more to maintain the website
- It’s harder (and more expensive) to make changes to the website
- Up to 40% of people might not be able to see your website properly because they use different type of computer or web browser than your web designer.
- Your site is probably not going to be accessible to people with disabilities – which could mean you could fall foul of your local disability discrimination laws
Of course, you might not have all these problems if your web designer hasn’t u
There is a need to have balance in your life for good physical, mental and emotional health. Some people have a difficult time giving themselves a chance to recharge, reflect and be playful. They work long hours and weekends. They have a hard time tearing themselves away from their work. Maybe it is your boss, your spouse or you.You can get caught up in what you are doing and not even realize you are neglecting important parts of your life. To discover if this is you, rate your satisfaction with your life on a scale from 1 (not satisfied) to 5 (very satisfied) in the following areas:• Health (physical and emotional)• Friends• Family• Work• Money• Play/fun/recreation• Learning opportunities/growth• Faith/spiritual lifeHo
What are Web Standards?
Websites are programmed using a computer language called HTML. There’s a right way to program HTML and there’s a wrong way. The right way to program HTML is called “Web Standards,” anything else is the wrong way.
The difference between the right and wrong way to program a website is technical – so if you’re a business owner you don’t need to understand the details.
However, you do need to understand that if your web designer hasn’t used Web Standards it means:
- Your site will do worse in Search Engines – so you’ll get less visitors
- It will take longer to download – so you’ll lose more of the visitors you do get
- It could cost you more to maintain the website
- It’s harder (and more expensive) to make changes to the website
- Up to 40% of people might not be able to see your website properly because they use different type of computer or web browser than your web designer.
- Your site is probably not going to be accessible to people with disabilities – which could mean you could fall foul of your local disability discrimination laws
Of course, you might not have all these problems if your web designer hasn’t u
While Customer Relationship Management (CRM) technology has promised much, the reality for many has been disappointing. Industry analysts estimate 50-60% of implementations fail, or produce marginal return on investment. Our exposure to small and medium enterprises (SME) suggests that this rate may well be significantly higher. The irony is that the problem lies less with the technology itself (though that may receive much of the blame), but in much more easily addressed flaws in the way that organizations approach and implement CRM projects.CRM technology should help organizations generate more leads, convert a higherproportion of them, and retain customers longer through enhanced service, and more profitably through the more effective promotion of additional products and services.
Of course, you might not have all these problems if your web designer hasn’t used Web Standards – but you’ll certainly have some of them.
If my site fails to validate does that mean it doesn’t use Web Standards?
Not necessarily.
The W3C validator (http://validator.w3.org/) is a useful tool for checking if your site uses high-quality HTML. However, it’s not a 100% guarantee.
It’s possible for a site to fail the validation on one or two minor points. If this is the case it’s not a major problem, although you could ask your web designer to correct them.
However, if your site has dozens of hundreds of errors this is bad news.
It’s also possible to for your website to pass the validator and still use out-of-date techniques, however this is much less likely.
Should web designers use Web Standards?
Yes.
To put it bluntly, if you don’t know web standards, you’re really not entitled to call yourself a “professional” web designer.
There are some occasions when it’s acceptable to use non Web Standards techniques for practical reasons, but it has to be an informed decision.
How many web designers program websites the wrong way?
Unfortunately, most web designers program websites the wrong way. The sad thing is that many of them don’t even know about Web Standards.
There are plenty of web designers that do use Web Standards, but they’re in a minority.
Because there are no entry barriers to web design, anybody can set up as a web designer. That means there’s plenty of choice but it also means there are plenty of cowboys producing badly-programmed websites.
What do I do if my website hasn’t been created using Web Standards?
Well, you’ve got a couple of choices.
Firstly, you could contact the web designer that created your site and ask them why they didn’t produce your site with Web Standards.
If your site is more than 1 or 2 years old it isn’t reasonable to expect your site to have been created with Web Standards, as they weren’t a well-known technique then.
You might find that your web designer now uses Web Standards and would be able to redesign your website so that it uses them.
They may be willing to do this for free, as a courtesy, or they may charge you for this.
Can’t I just sue them?
I’m not a lawyer and couldn’t offer legal advice.
However, I suspect that unless you have a written contract with your web designer specifying that the site should be built using Web Standards techniques you would find a
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