Frequently Asked Questions 

Q:  What's the difference between web development and website design?
A:  We offer both website design and web development.  The difference between the two is that web development usually involves the construction of some kind of website application.  Web development is considered to be somewhat more technical than website design.

Q:  How much does it cost to get a website?
A:  That depends on how advanced your website is going to be.  The cheapest website we've ever built is this one which was £150.  Our most expensive website to date cost £32,000.  It was a very advanced online shop and whilst we don't want to name drop we insist that the site earns over £1000 per day!  As always, please get in touch with us and if it's technically possible we'll be happy to give you a tour of anything that we've built. 

Q:  How long does it take to build a website?
A:  Again, that depends on how advanced your website is going to be.  Most of the websites we build take two to three weeks to go from idea to launch.  However, we're getting faster every day!

Q:  What is a framework?
A:  A framework (at least, in the content in which we use the word) is a system for organising website applications.  The goal of a framework is to make website production quicker.  There are currently around twenty website frameworks available for PHP.  The three most popular frameworks at the time of writing are; Zend, phpCake and Codeigniter – however this list will almost certainly change in the not too distant future due to the emergence of some newer, more powerful frameworks.  Each framework comes with a set of libraries that make common tasks easier to integrate. 

Q:  Why should I care about frameworks?
A:  Frameworks are your guarantee that your online business will never suffer from 'guardian of the black box' (sometimes called 'Entrepreneur held hostage').  If you have a web application that was not built using a framework then you are in an extremely precarious position since the only person who truly understands how your system has been built will be your web developer.  Should anything happen to your web developer then you could have great difficulty in hiring other developers who can take over where your previous developer left off. 

BELOW IS A VIDEO WHICH OFFERS A GOOD EXPLANATION OF 'GUARDIAN OF THE BLACK BOX'
IT'S WELL WORTH WATCHING, ESPECIALLY IF YOU'RE ON THE VERGE OF HAVING A CUSTOMISED IT SYSTEM BUILT 

Website owners whose sites were built using frameworks, particularly popular frameworks, do not have to worry about this problem.  They can easily and quickly hire teams of developers from all over the world who understand every nuance of how their website has been built.  Owners who fall into this category therefore enjoy faster production times and more affordable upgrades.