Here are some important tips for you to remember and some questions to ask your web site design or developmen.company. If you don't understand the 'ownership' issues when you are buying a web site design or web based application, this is must read material for you!
Don't get caught paying twice.
I recently interviewed a new client who was looking to add the functionality of a database to their existing web site. Their current webmaster ha.completed a business logo and designed the initial interface for the site. The clients asked their webmaster for a quote to add the functionality to the site and he returned a price that far exceeded the clients" budget.
Long story made short, we found a great application that already exists that would meet the clients" needs for substantially less than custom development. The client advised the previous webmaster that they were moving services. Do you think they got to keep their original web site? Nope. We had to start over again, which unfortunately meant that this customer had to pay for extra design time that they had effectively already paid for.
Here are some important tips for you to remember and some questions to ask your web site design or developmen.company.
Web Design Source Code
When you hire a web designer or a developer they are going to produce a web site or web based application that
Your business is going to be dependant on. In fact, a web application may be your whole business. This is absolutely the case where a business is 100% online and depends on the process built into their web site. E-commerce stores are a perfect example of a whole business online.
Web designers create web pages with .compilation of images and hyper-text markup language (HTML). The HTML is a text based standard language that most every web designer in the world knows. The HTML is what is used to hold the structure of your web site together. It keeps the pretty pictures and text all in the right places. Your web browser interprets that HTML and shows you the web site images and text.
Your web designer will start your design by Sdrawing your web site in a graphics program. Macromedia Fireworks and Photoshop are two tools that are very often used by professionals. Your designer will draw the site using shapes, colors, images and fonts that are all piled up in layers to create the final Slook and feel for your new web site design. The designers will then slice up the images and use the resulting smaller images to build your working website using HTML to hold it all together.
Here is the key. You need the original art file that was used to design your web site in Macromedia Fireworks or Photoshop or whatever software your designer uses. If you don"t get the source file, your next web designer will have to start your design from scratch if you want artwork changes. This is no walk in the park if the original images that were used are not available. Macromedia Fireworks source files have the extension .PNG (yourWebsite.PNG). Photoshop files have the extension .PSD (yourWebsite.PSD).
Another design issue that you may run into in the future is fonts. If your designer uses fancy fonts that are not installed by default on you.computer or your future designer.computer, you will have to substitute different fonts. In some cases, choosing a new font is not a big issue. However, if you could image that the font used in the logo for Coca-Cola® became unavailable because Coke® changed designers it would most likely cause them real damage. They need the font used in their logo or corporate branding and so do you!
Questions to ask your web designer
1) When you are finished designing my web site will you provide me with the source files used in the design of my new web site?
2) Will you transfer the ownership (copyright) of these source files to me or m.company? Or at least give me perpetual license to continue using them and to make revisions?
3) Will you provide me with the names and files for all non-windows fonts used in the design of my new web site? At the very least, because that they develop for
Your business for an unlimited period of time, and that if there are any licensing restrictions or reoccurring licensing costs that they are disclosed to you before you start the project. Find out if you will be bound forever to a hosting or server plan for you application.
Here are some questions you may want to ask your web developer
1) Will you transfer an unlimited a perpetual license to me or m.company to use the application that you develop for me?
2) Will you disclose any licensing restrictions to me regarding the application?
3) Will you write code usin.common standards or languages that I will be able to move to another hosting provider or eventually to my own server?
4) Can I move my application to another server in the future if it is necessary?
Use of Encryption
So your web developer says Syes to the last four questions and you think, Sgreat, I"m home free, let"s get started. Then two years later you decide it"s time to move your web application to your own servers because your e-commerce store is screaming busy and the cost of bandwidth and hosting is killing your profits.
You start the process to move your application to your new server and call up your webmaster for help, but he has gone to University in the states and Sisn"t doing that anymore. You think to yourself, SI guess I should have used a more establishe.company So you find a new webmaster. Incidentally, I am often told by new clients that I am their second, third and sometimes even fourth web developer. So we go to move the web site, but wait, something is wrong portions of the source code are encrypted. Even the government couldn"t decrypt it. We have to rewrite those blocks of code and the client has to pay again.
If your web sites source HTML or application scripting language is encrypted then it may have to be rewritten or you will have no way to add functionality, or to fix bugs, without involving the original developer who holds the key to the encryption. They are quite clever, aren"t they?
There are some good reasons to encrypt some portions of the source code, even on in a web application. Most web applications will contain, in the source code, the database, username and password within one of the files. This is a great example of a code block that should be encrypted before it is placed into a shared hosting environment.
If your web developer is going to encrypt portions of the source code, make sure you get a copy of the unencrypted source code for your project archive. In this manner you will be able to work with a new developer.
Questions to ask your web developer regarding encryption
1) Will you be encrypting any or all of the source code in the application you are developing for me?
2) Will you provide me with a copy of the original source code prior to being encrypted?
Technologies
There are a number of technologies used in the development of web sites and web applications they include Pre-Hypertext Processor (PHP), Active Server Pages (ASP), Active Sever Pages dot Net (ASP.NET), and Cold Fusion to name a few. All of these scripting languages facilitate connecting web sites to databases and accessing functionality on the web server such as sending mail or uploading files. All of these technologies are widely used, widely available and there is a great number of developers that know these languages. There are some lesser known programming and scripting languages that may be able to do a lot of the same things as the more widely used languages. The pitfall is that you may have a more difficult time finding a programmer that knows the language.
Some web scripting or programming languages like Microsoft"s® Active Server Page or Active Server Page dot Net technologies are developed specifically for use on the Mircrosoft operating systems. These technologies are difficult, if not impossible, to run on a Linux operating system. When your programmer application.
If you do choose to host your own application this is where the cost ramifications of your earlier choices will hit your pocket book. For example if your site was developed using PHP, an open-source scripting language for websites, then the cost of your new server will likely not include any software licensing because the operating system (Linux) is free. If on the other hand your site is developed using .ASP or .ASP.NET, you are going to have to buy expensive server licenses from the big guy.
Can You Use Your Site Into the Future?
If yo.commission a web designer or developer t.complete a project for you make sure that you have an agreement in place that clearly specifies that you can continue to use the project and the related source files when it i.completed. Check the service agreement that you have signed with your we.company. Of course if there is no documentation then you will not know if you own you web site or web-based application.
In Summary
There are some good reasons for web designers and developers to protect their rights and to ensure their future earning potential. As the client or purchaser of web design services you need to understand where you stand with regard to choices that will be made on your behalf regarding your web site or web based application.
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