Network Solutions is, I’m sure, a spectacular company to work for, and they have some very satisfied customers.  These facts will not sway my opinion of the company, however.  They’ve been around since the Internet world was dank, dark hole peopled by troll-nerds in basement caves with green and amber monochrome monitors, and memory was denoted by the letter “K” instead of “M” or “G” (which may be the source of the problems I’m about to outline).

Today, I’m attempting to set up a client with a test site so that they can see the superiority of a content management system over their existing static website.  It’s a redesign job that, when I took it, looked like a few fun hours at the office.  In retrospect, I’m going to start charging a “NetSol” fee…

Cute, huh?

That’s right, they’re hosted at Network Solutions (but then, I’ll bet you guessed that already).  So, they’ve given me the accesses I need to make the changes I need to make, and all should be well, right?  Wrong…

I followed every link on their site to find information which should be displayed on the main account management page (even in a little ajax pop-up would be nice).  After an hour, I decided to call the support number which thankfully is prominent.  I’m sure I’m not the only person who’s had difficulty finding something on their site.  Even their site search turns up nothing useful.  Two words, NetSol…  Usability Study…  Perform one. You have the money, and the technology.

I understand, it’s Saturday, so I can’t expect instant service, but I spent 27 minutes on hold, waiting for a customer service rep.  No too awful, except for the fact that the only song in the hold music cue is Pachelbel’s Cannon in D Major.  Once through is enough, but as a divorced man I can think of some pretty bad punk rock I’d rather hear than that tune.

Here’s a piece of advice for anyone with a call center.  If you are likely to have anyone on hold for more than say, five minutes, try playing up Vivaldi’s Four Seasons.  I can’t think of a single person who would consider slitting his wrists to stop hearing it, and it likely won’t remind anyone of a wedding.  Not only that, but it’s long if you play the whole thing.  It’ll help pass the time for those 45 minute waits.  When my tech finally did answer, I told her my issue, and her reply puzzled me.  She said, “Oh, your problem is that we do not host that domain.”  Really?  That’s funny, because a quick whois and traceroute says you do.  Not to mention the account information I’m looking at in your account manager…

For some companies, it seems like all their website efforts are aimed at making a sale, and once the sale is made, you’re on your own.  Network Solutions, GoDaddy, and pretty much all the big registrars do exactly that.  The constant up-sell attempts and general lack of post purchase information on their websites is enough to make even the ardent customer groan.  The benefit of GoDaddy is, their site is tacky, busy and loud, so you expect it.  That and the convenient “skip to the end” button when you just want a domain name.  Incidentally, GoDaddy’s hosting is terrible from a technical standpoint as well (maybe more on that later).

If you have an account with Network Solutions, please tell me that you’ve had an easier time finding anything or reaching a technical support representative (and I don’t necessarily mean on the phone.  I mean really reaching them and having them understand your question).  If not, it’ll just cement what I’m saying here.

I, for one, am tired of constant up-sell attempts.  I understand the need for a company to make money, but not everyone needs your stupid website builder, and pretty much no one needs 90% of the other useless crap you try to push on those unsuspecting clients who don’t know the game as well as those of us who are in it.

For prospective clients of any designer or developer…  Have written into your contract the registration of a domain name and procurement of hosting.  Make the contract say you own it, and can switch it at any time, but let them do the work of setting it all up.  That way, you’ll get exactly what you need, and avoid something you’ll regret later (like a half hour of your life lost to Cannon).

I’m not bitter, but I do hope the “let me make a purchase and I’ll let you know if I need anything else” idea catches on.  There aren’t enough hours in the day to keep clicking “no” to other special offers.  As the perfect topper to the support conversation, my tech’s last question to me was, “May I assist you in adding another domain to your account?”

No, dear.  No you may not…

This site is yet another WordPress implementation making heavy use of template files and custom scripts per page.  WordPress seems ideally suited for political campaigns and political websites for it’s simplicity and ease of maintenance.  The idea with this site was to make it look professional and make use of social technologies which politicians are starting to realize are necessary and smart.

We made heavy use of CSS  in this design, as well as moderate JavaScript (which means, IE6 users need not apply).  We departed slightly from the original design I supplied, but I think we arrived at a decent compromise.  One of the goals was small image sizes, so PNG’s are used where they are needed, but 92% JPG’s are used for the big stuff.  The navigation bar at the top was intended to look inset, and to show the capitol building in the background through itself.  Thank the Internet gods for transparent PNG’s right?

Feel free to let me know what you think (good or bad).  Some of you are smarter than I am, and your (constructive) feedback is always appreciated.

Lawless for Maryland

I love the question so many people ask when I tell them what I do.  “So, how much do you charge for a website?”  The question is almost universal, so there must be something to it.  It’s as if everyone is familiar with the concept of tattoo flash on the wall of a parlor.  They pick the piece they want and the tattoo artist gives it to them.  Sadly, web design is not that way.

I believe the problem lies in the tendency for people to want something but not know what it is they want.  When it comes to designing anything, a car, a purse, a building, a website, etc. there needs to be a set of requirements.  Usually, the last one on the list is styling.  When designing a logo or a user interface there is a set of requirements, just like anything else.

Failing to plan is like Homer

Have you ever seen the episode of the Simpsons where Homer’s brother Herb asks him to design a car that’s perfect for families?  Homer jumps in with no plan and Herb is ruined.  Herb defined his audience, the family man with annoying kids, but failed to account for Homer’s stupidity.  I love Homer…

The plan is the important part of the design process.  Everything else grows from the plan.  You wouldn’t build a house then have an architect blueprint it for you, would you?  The same should be true of your website.  If you have a designer give you a price before the project is defined (or your designer has a menu to choose from) odds are they aren’t a real designer.

Gone are the days of assuming the Internet is a passing fad.  No website is as bad for business as no business card or telephone number.  Even if all you want to do is a simple about us page with some contact information, it’s vital that you get this done.  That being the case, I can direct you to some folks who will do it on the cheap (I might even do it if I have the time).  If you want to take full advantage of all the web has to offer, however, you’ll need to develop a strategy and talk to someone who can help you develop it.

Any competent designer is going to ask you questions.  It is vital to the process that you answer those questions as completely as possible.  Some of them may seem strange or irrelevant, but answer them anyway.  I like to ask clients what they’d want their website to do if they could have it do anything in the world.  You’d be surprised by the answers I get (no, not that…).  The reason I ask is, it cuts through the client’s preconceived notions and helps me understand what they’re really after.  I also like to know what they’d like to get from their web presence in the short, medium and long term.

Every question you answer gets a good designer or developer closer to realizing your vision.  Every question you don’t answer is a hole that could result in disappointment for both of you.  I seem to get clients that run the gamut states of preparedness.  It’s my job to get them “completely ready” before starting work.  It’s better for both of us if I do that rapidly.

From your feedback, we build a plan, and from the plan comes a proof.  From the proof comes a finished product.  Everybody is happy if everything is defined.  If nothing is defined, the project is likely to fail.  If you cover as many bases as possible at the outset, you cut the chances of failure by an order of magnitude.

Plan first, then build.  It’s common sense that should apply to everything, including a website.

This website basically fell in my lap.  I needed some tree work done, and they needed a website.  No, Mr. Tax Man, we didn’t barter.  We just worked for each other.

As an organization, they are one of the better tree services in my area, and they actually care about saving as many trees as possible.  As a result, they wanted a classy website that resembled wood and had a good deal of natural color. I got to play around with this design, so there was a lot of room for experimentation.  It’s always fun to put some of yourself in a client design.  Now if I can only talk them into a real logo…

The owner of the site is an amazing photographer, so as I teach her how to manage the image gallery on her site, we should see some great photographs.

Chesapeake Tree and Outside Service