Web Design

Web Design according to Wikipedia:

“Web design is the skill of creating presentations of content (usually hypertext or hypermedia) that is delivered to an end-user through the World Wide Web, by way of a Web browser or other Web-enabled software like Internet television clients, microblogging clients and RSS readers.”

At Artifex Development Group we design software solutions from concept to completion using the following technologies:

PHP – this is our primary language JavaScript – we’ve been in JavaScript since 1997! AJAX – we are experts in using custom or library driven AJAX SQL – we primarily utilize mySQL as the database software LAMP – we utilize the industry standards for our solutions

Since 1999 we have been offering our clients solutions to technical challenges, and because of this we have experienced many funny and not so funny technical oops! Check out all our funny stories here.

 

Why some companies are giving web development a bad name!

What happened to customer service? Exceeding the customers expectations with outstanding work and customer service? Apparently for some its non existent.

After meeting with a client this week I realized that some companies are giving web development a bad name, and its time for us to clean up the mess. This client not only had to pay in full up front, but they were also taken advantage of by the company. Since when do we as developers trap our clients into staying with us? Isn’t the idea to give the client the best product for their money, to give them what they want?

So let me layout for you what happened. The client had an outdated website and the company who built the original site called up in December of 09 and told them it was time to update the site. After convincing the client they needed a change they crawled in a cave and hid for 8 months and provided no progress of what was being done to the clients “new site”. After the hibernation period was over they presented the client with a site that looked worse than the original site they were updating. Not to my surprise the client was not happy. This is where I enter the picture, having worked with this client on a different venture in the past.

Said client calls me and asks for a meeting and in the meeting shows me the work of the other developer/designers which is by far less than subpar and I leave the meeting confident we can do much better. After reviewing the current site and the new site the company designed we came to find out the site is unmovable. “Java strikes again…” Both the existing site and the new site have been created in such a manner that moving the site from their current host would be next to impossible. So I ask again, since when is it ok to trap a client? This client is unable to move to a new host without a complete redesign of their CMS (content management system for my less tech savy readers). And the icing on the cake is their check has already been cashed!

So I ask those people in the industry, would you trap a client by making them a site that has to function on your server and only your server? And would you charge them up front in full for work that is subpar? This clients options now are to pay us for a complete redesign or remain unhappy with a company that has not come clost to meeting their expectations.

What a sucky day for the web development industry!

July 7th, 2010 | Meghan Donnelly | Leave A Comment

If your client doesn’t respect your time, they don’t respect you…

So we have a web client who thinks its ok to not schedule meetings with us for new projects. They just assume we will be available to talk at anytime they are ready. Who does this? How is it that our time is not as valuable as theirs?

We have worked with this company many times before and its the same thing every time. No ideas on their budget, no idea’s on their time frame for when the project should be completed, and no sense of common courtousy as far as time management is concerned. Today the client messaged me and said they were going to step out for a moment and would call me in 15 min. Well after putting all other projects on hold for 30 minutes I moved on, and now the client will have to reschedule their time accordingly with my schedule.

If this is how companies are choosing to treat other companies I think we will start being more selective about who we work with. Some web projects are just not worth the time!

June 28th, 2010 | Meghan Donnelly | Leave A Comment