infocom

You should use a component like Community Builder for the first option. It allows custom fields and user profiles. Just switch off the parts of CB you don't need.

I did find this yes, but it seems to be just a page with forms that go to the relevant individual websites. So the W3C HTML Validtor would be a single page at a time. Then if you needed to compile a report for someone you need to cpoy and paste from all the different websites, and then into your own format. So what I was hoping is to find some software that does all tests, for an entire website, and provides a report. Regarding the single page W3C validator, I did find this tool which uses the W3C validaotr to do all pages on the site, http://www.htmlhelp.com/tools/validator/. But would be good to get other checkers in there too like Broken Links etc.

I have been trying to find some software that performs all website checks you need for all pages on the site but am surprised I cant find any. Software I can find seems SEO related and checks keywords, competitors, etc. and valid HTML checks seem to be one page only W3C checks. I wondered if there is some software that encompases as many website checks as possible (valid html, css, broken links, missing image alt, missing image width/height, bad syntax etc etc) for all pages on the site, that gives a nice report at the end. If it encompases SEO issues too then great. Thanks

I've been trying to use GIMP and Paint.NET instead of Photoshop for a long time but they just dont cut it. They are both missing some simple and crucial features used often like drop shadows on text, and all the other layer effcts. You can add scripts to GIMP to make this work, but not very good. The preview does not work for me and it takes ages to render. So I decided to invest in Photoshop, there is no alternative. I bought a new CS4 on ebay for £150.

A client gave me a very comprehensive report a SEO company prepared on their website, covering just about everything you can think of, not just on SEO but accessibility etc. I thought they used some software to generate it and wanted to get it. But I cant seem to find much software that does this. There's WebCEO but it is not as comprehensive as this other one at all. I wondered if anyone knows what website checking software is available to run comrehensive reports on websites? Thanks

One thing I always make sure people understand and thats the difference between Web Design and Web Development. If you become a Web Designer, you may create good looking websites, but if you build it with just HTML/CSS it will be quite a basic, static site, that in my opinion does not deserve to be built these days. Whereas a Web Developer will be able to build dynamic and functional websites that actually serve more of a purpose than a "brochure website". Ideally a Web designer will design the site and the Developer build it. To be the developer and build sites you need server side scripting languages like PHP/MySQL or ASP/MSSQL. Content Managers should be the norm. To design a site then graphic design skills are necessray, User Experience understanding (UX) and things like that. Its not enought to just learn HTML/CSS these days, you need a lot more to build a good website.

I searched for ages trying to find info, I didn't know they were called "sitelinks" so nothing much came up. Now I know they're called sitelinks there's quite a lot of pages on this so will have a good read. My own site ranks #1 for certain popular keywords with my local area and I dont get them. So probably a combination of factors. Hopefully the results that come up searching for sitelinks will give some tips toward trying to get them. thanks

Hi. I know of another site showing the links and it has a PR4 (according to a few of the 3rd party PR checkers) but my site also is PR4 but does not. Must be something in addition to PR maybe?

Hi I have tried searching for this online but cant find it anywhere. If you do a search for webdesign forum you will see extra page names/links added under the main page result. This is quite common now on many sites. I wondered if it was automatic but i cant get it for any of my sites, so wondered if there was something you can do? Thanks

Hi. Just wondered if anyone knows a good dedicated server company in the UK for approx. £100 per month? So far I only know about 1and1 and Fasthosts and similar but am worried about using them as I have bad experience in the past. I have a hosting provider that are great for my many websites on the VPS I have with them, but a client requires their own dedicated server due to space requirements. We need at least 40Gb I would say, initially. My current host VPS dont have the space (max. 20Gb), and their dedicated server offering is too expensive (~£380 per month). Thanks

But the web designer is no longer around. So I cannot take my wrath out on them. God forbid, they may have even died. If that is the case they cant be unhappy either. People seem to assume the web developer is in business still, or at least knows or cares whats going on. But the developer has abandoned the clients and their business after taking payment, with no notice. We dont know whats happened to them. You cannot think its Ok for a developer to take a clients money then cut off the service and dissappear. Or at least for no one to help the client if this happens.

Pipe10 have replied. But it seems they are adamant not to give the content even though they admit the web developer is uncontactable (yet continue to ask me to contact them ). Their support reply clearly indiciates they do not care about the end client and would rather support the client who is out of business. I would be very weary about using www.pipeten.com as they do not seem to want to help on this matter at all. So I think legal advice in a situation like this is the only way to do it. Thanks for your replies. The www.archive.org website seemed excellent at first. It did have the homepage and contact us page of the website, but no other page unfortunately.

I am just after some advice on what to do, so it seems contacting a lawyer to take this up with Pipe10 then is so far the only option. I just wanted to make it clear that "contacting the web developer" is not an option as we have been trying for months, they have dissapeared. Everyone keeps telling us we have to "contact the web developer" no matter how many times we tell them thats not an option as we have tried and failed! Pipe10 are no longer answering my emails.

I think your missing the point, your statements assume the web developer is still around and contactable... I am still here and alive and well so obviously the hosting company wont be allowing anyone access to my server which is of course correct. A client is able to call me up for permission to access their account or for me to send them the content. But if god forbid everyone in my company died I think the hosting company should try to help the clients who I had websites with by allowing them access to their content (if the account was paid up which we are offering to do). Currently it is as if the web developer has closed business and/or died so we cannot continue a discussion with the hosting company based on "contacting the web developer". For all intent and purposes the web developer is no longer a factor, not part of the chain, does not exist. The contract is with a ghost. We are happy to give proof to the web hosting provider but they are not offering us that option. They are not offering any options apart from "contact the web developer" even though we have explained they do not exist anymore. But no one seems to understand that they have vanished.

I would argue this point.... firstly we dont know why the web developer wants to restirct access, he has not given the client any reason. Their site was suspended one day with no notice, but they have paid all their money and done nothing wrong. So personally I do not think the web developer has the right at all (although I am not a legal expert). Also, the web developers own website has been suspended with the same message. I forgot to mention that. We do not know if the hosting company, Pipe10, has suspended all his accounts (perhaps he has not paid them) or whether he has suspended his own and the clients website. Either way, the client has paid up and not done anything wrong, so personally I think they should be able to get their content from pipe10 in the web developers absence. I also think Pipe10 are being completely unhelpful and are just sticking by policy rather than helping clients. If the web developer has not paid them then we are happy to pay them so we can get the content, but they wont even offer this as solution. They offer no help whatsoever.

Hi I have a new client who wants a website because their old developer has fallen off the face of the earth. They cannot get through via emails or telephone. They have paid all their hosting payments. Yet their website was suspended. There was a message on their account saying "Your account has been suspended" which is not good of course. So we have got them up and running again, but it would help if we can get the content from the old website. The hosting provider is http://www.pipeten.com/ and they state that only the web developer can get the content as they owned the reseller account. We have explained no one can contact them. We also state that arguably the client owns the site content not the web developer so content should be provided to the client. Does anyone know if pip10 are obliged to provide this content considering the client and not the developer would own the content and copyright? Thanks

Hi bazzie thanks a lot for the advise. yeah I'd be happy to get some details. you could post or pm me. I have contacted a couple of people and had no response yet, and as state morethan can't do it. I called morethan and they admitted yes its a problem, they cannot provide insurance nor can they easily change these terms. They did say they will be tryting to change them in the next year.

Yeah i think they have high turnovers, BUT they also have hardcore members who've been in the groups for years. So I think it's just some people like it some dont. The key thing about it is if you are prepared to put an effort in, then it will work, and you will get the rewards out. Which is expected really. So if you dont have much work and need to get more its a good place to start, but once you have lots of work from outside the groups, I find it more of a chore to be a member. Some people get most of their business from the groups so therefore stay. I highly recommend people go on the two allowed free visits though, which you've done, to get a taste for it and as a brief networking opportunity itself. Good luck!

Sounds like the BNI? If it is then I joined the BNI last year for this cost. There is the extra cost of the breakfasts which came to £36 per month so dont forget that. Although it was an early start I really enjoyed it, it was good to network and I got business from it. I had enough business from it in about 3 months to pay for the 1 year membership but I dropped out at this point. I dropped out because I was really busy from non-BNI work. The BNI require you make an effort in preparing your 1 minute presentations and more importantly bringining in work for the others in the group. This is good because they are doing the same for you so this system does work. BUT I was too busy to commit to it, and bring in work for others. I found it too much effort to be a part of the group. You are only allowed not to go a few times and they give you a warning. You have to find people to go for you in your absence. I hated standing up and saying I didnt have any referrals. So I think if you are prepared to put in the effort with the BNI it will pay off and you will get the work. If its not the BNI then I can't comment only that I went to some networking groups and eveyone was trying to sell and not interested in bringing work so I dont think that works either. Although I have decided to join a local group that do not require people to bring referals or come every week either as its good to network of course.

I have used a few in the past that are either too costly or low quality. I am sure the perfect foreign provider exists but i think our problem is that there are so many, and like you I am swamped, so its not possible to keep moving from to another to find the perfect supplier you can have a good relationship with. I also find that the ones I used were supposed to be cheap due to lower hourly rates (~£10 p/h), but the hours they quote for projects were high so the final cost was the same or higher than what I could do it for in the first place at a higher hourly rate.

sorry that was long one! I got carried away

Hi all I would like to add some opinions of mine. This opinion may be more for people wanting to go freelance like me rather than work for a larger organisation who have staff of different skills. Something not mentioned here yet is more advanced requirements for providing web sites and that's server side scripting such as PHP and ASP with some database work with it such as Access, MSSQL or MySQL. I know this is another big area in itself to get to learn regardless of multimedia/graphic design but to me its even more important. Here's why i think so:- This day and age people want websites to be more than just a fancy grahic design website that graphic designers can build in html. They want content management, shopping carts and functionality to do with their business. You can't really do things like this with just graphic design and HTML. To do it properly you really need server side scripting and databases. I use PHP and MySQL. It is quite easy to pick up and learn and the capabilities of it will really extend the website functionality. For content management and shopping carts I use Joomla and Zencart which are straightforward to setup but will require PHP/MySQL to customise things to make them look good. So my skills are not graphic design. My skills are PHP/MySQL/HTML/CSS. If a client wants a great design I usually get a graphic designer to do it, or sometimes they have their own design already or I do create something for them but its basic. I also find websites designed and built by graphic designers look good, but lack content management and functionality which customers want. I have had many clients move to me from old web developers because they want to add functionality which their old providers could not do. So my advice is either become a graphic designer to design websites but pass the design onto web developers to build the actual site, OR learn PHP/MySQL to use in addition to your graphic design skills. Then you can truly build good looking functional websites yourself. This is the best option to have all the skills, but obviously harder as there are more skills to learn and perhaps you are more artistic than logical (I am more logical than artistic!). I have not met many people who are great graphic designers AND great programmers in PHP/MySQL. I tend to partner with graphic designers so we both bring our own skills to a project. If client budgets are low they tend to be happy with purchased templates (www.templatemonster.com) or my own basic designs. So in summary if you can be a jack of both trades great, but in my experience it is best to divide design and functionality and have two parties involved in this, one with design and one with functionality. My background is I studied a Masters in Computing which introduced me to PHP and MySQL. It only introduced me, I tought myself the rest as they are easy to learn. I then setup my own web development business and been operating for a few years. I build websites and bespoke functionality for websites. When a good design is required I get a graphic designer to do the design, but I build the site. Most business comes by way of word of mouth and regular clients. So do a good job and above all make sure customer services and satisfaction is number 1 and you wont be short of business. It took a year to get established. Last important point..... making the decision to go into web development (or programming) and setting my own business is one of the best decisions I ever made. I work from home and I love it. So good luck!

Thats an interesting idea. I've never made animaged GIFs can Photoshop do that? One drawback though, some background images are photos so a GIF would lose the photo quality due to lack of colour.

Hi I was wondering if it was possible to have background images that are swapped using the a:hover css attribute can be faded in and out? (I assume javascript will come into it). I use background images for a and a:hover all the time as its a great effect, but it just occured to me I could make it even better if I could fade the :hover image in and out but dont know how. Thanks

Hi all. I am also interested in this. I am surprised many business wouldn't have it. I have setup a Ltd company for my web development so am looking for insurance. I was threatend with being sued last year for someones emails going down for just over 24 hours due to Fasthosts changing everyones passwords so it scared me a bit. Quite petty by the client as it was not down for long, but I have to take threat of legal action seriously. I was hoping some people could recommend good insurance companies for web developers, the quotes I have so far were too high for me, I think about £40 per month which I think is excessive for what we do. I think I would need:- Professional Indemnity - I think this will cover me for making mistakes and things and someone sues (such as email issue above)? Public Liability - this would cover me for clients visiting my business (which is my house) in case they have an accident? (I was going to contact my home insurance for covering people coming to my house, and see if that covers it) So was hoping to find someone to pay around £20 per month for this. Anyone know a good insurance company? P.S. I went to morethan.com and even though I chose web developer they have a clause saying I must not plan to undertake work relating to:- Web Hosting where not outsourced to third party web hoster Websites capable of financial transactions not outsourced to third party providers (e.g. Protx, Paypal etc) Domain name registration and/or renewal