Website Design & Maintenance

Helping You Communicate

We design and manage websites for both large and small clients. Our overriding principle is sim­plicity. The most important aspect of any business website is the message, not the messenger.

A truly effective web page contains only enough dec­orative elements to complement and enhance the information content. The user should not have to hunt for information or navigation links and should not be distracted by fussy layout or irrelevant items that have nothing to do with the content of the current page.

Sometimes our clients wish to include every latest fashionable bell and whistle. We try to dissuade them and usually succeed. But the customer is always king and sometimes there is no accounting for taste. Of course, that would never apply to you, would it?

We also aim to make the pages we create load as quickly as possible. Typical users are impatient and if your pages do not load within five seconds or so — at least to the point where the body text is available — they go elsewhere.

All our pages are now created using cascading stylesheets to control the layout. Unlike most other current websites, those we design no longer use tables to layout the pages and as a result the files are smaller.

This approach results in significantly reduced download times, while the user's browser does not have to waste time reading and formatting a maze of nested tables before it can put the page on screen.

One other advantage of this way of building web pages is that search engines are able to make a far better assessment of the content of the site and thus produce more relevant repsonses to queries.

For examples of websites created in this way, see the sites of the Hong Kong Gardening Society, Insignia, Silicon International, Telecom Research Project and Hong Kong Aviation Group and its subsidiaries.

How we work

All the standard work we do in-house and this is covered by our quoted fees, but if we are not able to meet a precise requirement ourselves—a specialised original graphic or logo, for example—we sub-contract this work to one of our team of independent ex­perts after first obtaining your approval of a quotation for the work. This enables us to keep costs much lower than if we main­tained full-time staff, equipment and office space to cover all possible needs.

Once your site has been launched we can offer a regular updating and maintenance service for a modest monthly retainer fee. The basic fee covers the first two hours of work in a calendar month while time above this is charged at a reduced hourly rate cal­culated to the nearest 15 minutes.

Writing, editing and translation

If you wish, for a modest additional charge we can include the writing or editing of original content to your specifications.

We can also offer translation of Chinese language content into English. This is subject to an additional charge for which we will provide a quotation for your approval before proceeding.

Your image

If you have an existing corporate style used in your stationery, brochures, etc., we take pains to reproduce this in your website within the constraints imposed by the medium itself. At the same time we end­eavour to ensure that your pages will load quickly, are easy to navigate, and present the information in the most user-friendly format.

If you have yet to establish your corp­orate style, we can help you with that, too.

What does it all cost?

Clients invariably ask right at the start how much we will charge to build a website, edit text or provide any of the other services we offer. Before we can do this, we need a clear idea of what your project involves, its size and its complexity.

It is always best to spend some time thinking about your needs in detail and putting some specifications on paper before contacting us. The more detail you provide, the quicker we can give you an estimate of the cost. We usually arrange a meeting with a potential new client at an early stage and free of charge. This enables us to make the best assessment of your needs and advise you of any possible snags before you decide to go ahead.

No two website are alike, so a one-price-fits-all approach is not practical. In fact, you should be suspicious of any company that quotes a flat rate for web design. You may well end up with a site that is built to the same formula as others or that does not work properly or is a nightmare to maintain – or all these and more.

Examples

The following list contains links to websites of some of our clients. It is not comprehen­sive, but is intended to give some indication of the range of our work. Also, in some cases under our terms of agreement we may not reveal the identity of a client. Past and present clients in this category include some leading international telecom and transport companies.

For further information, please contact us.