|
Our client's sites do not just look good; they actually achieve real world returns.
A successful website must be strong in strategy, creative design, technical and promotion. Our integrated team of multi-disciplined experts can provide all phases of success or we can work closely with you to provide just the services you need.
Click the links below for more info or view our case studies for examples...
Will our website be built from the ground up? [ top ]
Kaleidoscope can build your website from start to finish. We can even take care of domain name registration and hosting if required.
It is common to find that, the majority of web design agencies focus on either developing websites (databases, coding) or on the design of the site. We build websites that are visually attractive but also highly functional. This benefits the client as the whole process is in-house.
Once the site is built, we will upload and test it on either our hosting server, or your existing host server.
There are a lot of third party add-ons available for websites such as shopping carts etc but we have found that these sometimes take as long to configure as it is to write them and often charge a monthly or annual fee. Some also need to be hosted on a separate server. As we script our systems from the ground up, we have complete control over the function and design.
Will our website take long to load? [ top ]
Loading time can differ dramatically from one user to the next depending on connection speeds etc.
All sites produced by Kaleidoscope are optimised for fast download times, not however, at the expense of image scarce pages. All images are optimised to the smallest file sizes, still retaining the same visual quality and often at a choice of resolutions - so the viewer can choose whether to wait for a detailed picture to load. All scripting is stripped down to essential code, also to reduce download time
Will we be able to update the site ourselves? [ top ]
Kaleidoscope can build your website with a password protected content management system. As we script the system entirely, you can tailor it to suit your exact requirements.
For example, you may want to change the colour of the background occasionally, or amend scrolling text on the home page, upload images, news articles etc. or assign user permissions to certain sections of the administration site. The possibilities are endless.
Because it is totally built by us, it is styled to suit the rest of the website and it is not cluttered with confusing settings and options. We build our content management systems so that users with no knowledge of the web are still able to use them with ease.
Where does the website reside? [ top ]
Kaleidoscope Design Ltd use external suppliers with whom we have built good relationships. There are many advantages to this. Our suppliers specialise only in web hosting with, fast connections. Many have 24 hour supervised servers and technical support help lines and to be competitive, are continually upgrading their servers and lines. If there is ever an issue with service or price, as our clients have the freedom to ‘shop-around’ and change ISP.
Our relationship with the hosting service means that we have complete control over the servers without needing to contact them and wait for responses
Will our site be registered with any search engines? [ top ]
Kaleidoscope Design Associates Ltd submits sites to 150 search engines and directories as part of the construction process. Although there are thousands of search engines sites can be registered with, only a few will produce results. Search engines also share their databases with other search engines, so submitting to one specific search engine can have the same effect as submitting to 30.
We produce detailed reports when the site is submitted and when the search engine's databases have updated ranking reports are produced. These ranking reports are held online and are updated frequently so that we can track the effectiveness of the marketing and tweak any pages if necessary.
How do we measure the popularity of our site? [ top ]
If you are hosting with us, server statistics are included as part of your package.
The statistics are very detailed and contain graphs and charts to accurately gather data on visitors, countries, times, data transfers, where they entered and left the site, how long they viewed a certain page.
If you use another host, they may provide server log files for clients to evaluate the number of visitors (hits) for their site. With the help of special analysis software, we can convert these log files into meaningful documents where you will be able to extract the desired information on site hits etc. (depending on the server logs).
Can we use databases on our site? [ top ]
Microsoft Office © is the industry standard for general office use. Data is stored in Access or Excel and often, people will want the information accessible to the public via their company website. We can dynamically link Access databases to websites to display data in many different methods.
The Access database can also be updated directly on the server via a password protected content management system giving real time feedback.
See our portfolio section for database driven examples.
Will everyone be able to view our site? [ top ]
We build websites so that are accessible to the widest possible audience. Where this is not possible, we can produce equivalent pages that function for specific devices.
Where plugins are used, such as flash, we add detection scripts so that the website dynamically substitutes flash for graphics that are 100% compatible. Not everyone uses internet explorer, so not all scripts work on all browsers. Where possible we use cross browser, and cross platform (Macintosh, PC) scripts. When this cannot be done, we build separate pages to work with a particular browser that the user will be automatically redirected to.
What happens if I want to move the site elsewhere? [ top ]
Once your site is built, you own it. If you wish to move it elsewhere, you can with ease. We build our sites so that they are as independent as possible, allowing them to function correctly with almost any service provider. We do not retain any scripting used and we do not host any features on external servers.
Can e-commerce functionality be added to our site? [ top ]
Yes, we have experience in producing secure e-commerce sites.
We use a third party credit card authenticating and transaction service that allows us the freedom to build our code behind it.
This benefits from using an off-the-shelf ecommerce package in that the pages are styled exactly the same as the rest of the site, giving a more professional and trustworthy feel to your site.
See our portfolio section for our ecommerce examples
What other features can be added to our site? [ top ]
Below is a list of advanced features to give you an idea of what can be added to a website, and to what we can build.
QuicktimeVR
Panoramic, interactive photographs (or 3D visualisation)
Webcams
Broadcast your office, or the view outside perhaps?
SMS messaging
Send SMS messages to your customers
Calculators
Offer your customers an interactive calculator
Dynamic graphs and charts
Charts built on the fly from dynamic databases
Data capture
Get a mailing list of all your visitors.
Automated emailing
Want an email every time someone visits a certain page?
Forums
Add a discussion forum for your visitors
Live chat
Let your customers interact live with you, or each other.
Games
Bespoke games themed to your business.
Animation
2D or 3D
Sound & Video
Video streaming directly from your site
To find out more about our services, call us on 01926 435252 or view some of our website examples |
