Garyw24

Yeah, I had quite a similar experience over bandwidth. There was also an issue over several domain which I had purchased about a year previous, they had been in use by another user with Heart Internet and they refused to allow hosting of the domains as they were still on their computer system. I'm assuming the previous guy had a problem with Heart Internet too. Tech support is fine so long as you're not complaining and it's impossible to leave. Even after cancellation in writing, they continued the direct debits, so in fact everytime I cancelled the direct debit they set a new one up.
 
Our bandwidth issue was when one of our domains hit 5GB, they pulled it and refused to allow me to host it. Their T & Cs state they have a right to impose a limit of 25GB per month but I know several ex customers who had domains pulled for 3GB. If you do a lot of bandwidth in a short space of time (we did the 5GB in only a week) then they'll pull the domain immediately.
 
Eventually I raised a small claims action for the money the owed, had evidence as my cancellation letter was posted Special Delivery and signed for. Although it was only about £180 it was still worth it as I got awarded my £180 and expenses which covered the costs of my journey from Glasgow to Nottingham. They never bothered to show up in court so it wasn't a problem. Took them another three months to pay up though.
 
Generally I found them very dishonest and on one occasion threatening. What's also interesting, when I was taking them to court I got a report from Companies House, their turnover is exremely small, last accounts for 2010 were showing a turnover of 38K. Also had nightmare experience with EUKHost, again involved court action and even had Sheriff Officers removing property from their offices. They got a slap on the wrist in court as at the time of the court action, they were claiming to companies house that they were a "non trading" company and charging VAT without being VAT registered. One of their directors was eventually prosecuted about the VAT.
 
In case you're interested, I'm now with Clook and have never had any problems with any support tickets being responded to within 10 minutes.

I just picked up stuff as I went along, downloaded various books, accessed various online sites, but I'm learning all the time. I found the Lynda.com stuff very good. I've collected a massive resource of materials over the years, but of course it goes out of date and you've got to keep on top of technology.
 
You'll know yourself if you're spreading things a bit thin.
 
I love Perl and still do, but rarely use it. Over the years I've picked up PHP, MySQL, Flash, Javascript, Ajax, Python, of course keeping up to date with HTML and CCSS, and read up and practiced regularly on SEO, business practices, concepts and ideas etc etc. I've also studied various CMS, including WordPress, Joomla, ocPortal, Drupal, Typo3 etc. I've made sure that I know these inside out and can pretty much make them do anything I want. There's a definite increasing trend in the use CMS. Also like to keep on top of server technology, in particular for Linux.
 
I keep up to date with Photoshop, InDesign, Flash and Fireworks, occasionally a bit of Dreamweaver if needed.
 
But bear in mind I've been at this now for over ten years, but for me it's never ending, I'm always reading up on stuff, practicing and keeping up to date.
 
I made the choice to go it alone and keep it that way. I have a bit of help from my family who sometimes deal with admin and other tasks. I don't regret it, but you can never rest and sit back, you've got to keep at it and always look at ways of improving you and the business as well as ways of finding new business.
 
That might seem a bit overwhelming but you'll soon adjust. Explore technologies and see what you like. I never really developed a passion for working with anything else, any Windows server based stuff and ASP.NET etc, just not my thing whereas it might really appeal to you. But make sure you find something that excites you, that's what you'll enjoy and pick up most.
 
Don't ever worry about turning work down, it does happen and should happen, don't take work just because you think you need it. And set a fair pricing structure right across the board for clients, and stick to it.
 
I get a lot of requests for a web site with a budget of £100 or £200 etc, be realistic, if you can't do it for that price then don't! Keep your integrity.
 
And finally, it's not going to happen overnight, maybe even not in the first year, but five years down the line you'll be glad you did and that you stuck to your guns.
 
Maybe I'm wrong, but web design is one of things that "everyone" has a go at doing, and the market is saturated, but if you're in it for the professionalism and the longer term, it'll pay off.

The Alienware will crush your kneecaps and burn your trousers.
 
This might interest you, check out ALL the tests:
 
http://www.laptopmag.com/review/laptops/alienware-m14x.aspx?mode=benchmarks
 
and this one basically says bulky, heavy and noisy:, with poor display and a crap keyboard:
 
http://reviews.cnet.co.uk/laptops/alienware-m14x-review-50003540/
 
As I said the MSI GT 680 is well worth a look with some great reviews all round. The only fault I could mention is I'd like longer battery life, but with a top end laptop like this, battery life isn't going to be great. It comes highly recommended on several sites including:
 
http://hothardware.com/Reviews/MSI-GT680-Gaming-Laptop-Review/?page=7

I'm not sure you really need the expense of a lawyer.
 
I'm based in the UK, my contract is a simple three page affair, simple, to the point and easy to read and in plain English. It's pretty air tight and keeps both sides happy. I'm sure some expensive picky lawyer could find something wrong with it, but it works perfectly for me and I'm happy with it.
 
I do make alterations to it from time to time depending on the client.
 
Obviously the law in the UK is different to the US, but I'm sure you'll find a bundle of resources out there on the net.

Fireworks is a great tool for webdesign, streamlined workflow, ability to copy aspects of the design through to all pages, slice and export easily etc I find it much faster and more streamlined to use than Photoshop. It's my preference when designing
 
However, please be aware that FW isn't built to handle large dimensions like Illustrator or even PS - too many large files open at once and it crashes so save regularly. Even still, I prefer it

If you're going to take the plunge with some kind of CMS (content management system) then WordPress is an excellent place to start. There's a wide range of reference and tuition material on the web and it's actually fun to learn and to get into.
 
WordPress is often considered just a bloggin platform but there's actually no limit on what you can do with it.
 
Based on what you've told us it sounds exactly what you need.
 
If you can't find what you need on the web, let me know, I have a WordPress reference and tutorial disc and I give out to clients.
 
......just to add, that's not such a bad first attempt. I can remember my first attempt and it was way worse than that!!!

You should ALWAYS be concerned when a web host offers (in big letters) Unlimited GB's of Space and Unlimited GB's of Transfer, especially when you go to the Useage Policy and find it exceptionally vague. However you'll find further information in their main terms and conditions which upon further investigation you'll find they're just another basic bulk host based in the USA.
 
The "Anytime Money Back Guarantee" isn't actually what it says; then try out their 24/7 live tech support which is currently offline.
 
Personally I wouldn't go anywhere near them. Stick to a small host who are honest and up front about their services. Nobody can offer unlimited disk space or unlimited bandwidth.

We find some clients will know a thing or two about web development and some know absolutely nothing. If they know nothing and we think we should use Joomla or WordPress or whatever, we just tell them we're using a content management system. We have our own skinned and modified admin themes for quite a few of the various CMS that we use, at first glance even most web developers wouldn't know what we were using. It's also nice to keep things branded in our own business name.
 
We just give a client enough to make changes, but not enough access to screw things up.
 
I've got to say, they've made a lot of modifications to theme, they would have probably been quicker building a Joomla theme from scratch.
 
Would be interested to see what their Admin area looks like.

A few years ago there were many grants in place to IT and Web, but like a lot of the grants available, they were often abused and of course they dry up.
 
One thing to consider is that there are an abundance of grants available for registered charities, and from a wide range of sources. I'm working with a small charity, we've just completed their web site, now I'm working on several other web based projects, all of which have been paid for by the National Lottery Awards For All.
 
I've approached several other groups to offer services AND point them in the direction of various grants and funding, even to the point of assisting them with their grant application.