The Captain's [B]log
As a less formal home from home, The Captain’s [B]log exists to bring you closer to Bendigo Web Design, both professionally and personally.
We hope you like it.
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As you might expect, there are pros and cons to consider when deciding whether to opt for a generic template instead of a custom designed site, unique to your business and your requirements but as the title suggests, here we will concentrate on the cons.
So, why should you not use templates for your website? Well for starters, they are so bloody generic and any designer who uses them for a client’s site, either doesn’t possess a creative bone in his body or is downright bone idle but at very least demonstrates little understanding and even concern for the client and his unique needs.
One of the obvious problems with using templates is that anybody else may use the same. You should know that the better the design is, the more popular it will be and sooner or later you will bump into your clone in cyberspace. Just imagine if that clone is in fact a particularly degrading adult site. How embarrassing could that potentially be for you?
Your template (along with potentially hundreds of others identical to it) will require a certain amount of customising. There is the generic logo or logo placeholder, for example. Replacing it will no doubt mean resizing your current logo at very least, or at worst, could require a complete redesign in order to fit. These prosaic designs insist that you remain within the constraints of it’s design or else accept the consequences and that is not how the design process goes. Web design follows logo design, not the reverse.
The logo is not the only element you will need to alter. There is the text and images to be replaced with your own and so by the time you have actually tweaked it to suit your needs, you may as well have hired a professional to build it from scratch. A word of warning regarding images supplied with templates. Stock imagery rarely comes with copyright permission and by using them in your template, you will often be contravening copyright laws.
Another important issue, although not just restricted to templates, is accessibility or lack thereof. Templates are seldom cross-browser compatible and invariably do not validate according to W3C (World Wide Web Consortium). Any bone fide designer worth his salt should be constructing sites in accordance with W3C. It may not be common knowledge but this is the law! You can easily check any website, web page or template quite simply yourself with the tools found at http://www.w3.org/QA/Tools/. Use both the Markup Validator and the CSS Validator. If the result is a list of errors, do yourself a favour and walk.
Be aware too, that many unscrupulous so-called designers actually have the audacity to claim that the supplied template is in fact the product of their own creative mind. They are quite willing to claim somebody else’s work as their own. Not only this but they would not think twice about making you pay for the non-existent design work; theft in both cases.
If you ever come across an alleged designer whose very own site is nothing more than a template, I strongly suggest that you keep moving.
Finally, should you decide to take the DIY approach, using a template is a shortcut and like any shortcut, provided you don’t stray too far from the path and you consider the points mentioned above, you should be OK. However, if you are serious about your business and wish to project a professional image, choose a designer.
I am aware that this modest article is not a complete or even a comprehensive contribution to the debate on whether one should or should not use templates and it is by no means a balanced examination of the pros and cons but it may include a few points readers may not have previously encountered and therefore be of some use.
To mark the first ever computer-to-computer link, established on ARPANET (which grew up to become the Internet) on 29th October 1969, and in an effort to ease the woes of the recession locally, Bendigo Web Design is offering you the chance to win one of 26 awesome prizes worth over $4000, including websites, blogs, domain names and hosting.
Deadline extended to Midnight Friday November 13th, 2009 to get your entries in.
All you need to do is register on the Bendigo Web Design discussion forum and tell us what eye-popping domain name you would register and tell us all about your proposed website. Finally, answer the tie-break question by telling us why you deserve a website.
Your site idea might be a recession-busting business or perhaps you’ve decided that it’s about time your already established local enterprise joined the Noughties. Maybe you would like an online gathering point for a club, society or organisation, a blog for your own personal musings or perhaps something completely kooky. Whatever your reason for wanting an online presence, here and now is your chance!
Remember, the more interesting, entertaining or eccentric your suggestions are, the better your chances are of turning them into reality.
Have more than one idea? Increase your chances of winning by submitting up to 3 separate entries!
Registration is free and painless and you could walk away with one of the following great prizes:
1st Prize
1 x lucky winner takes home a fully-featured website package incl. 12 months free domain name registration and secure Melbourne-based hosting.
2nd Prize
2 x lucky winners will receive their very own feature-rich blog site with 12 months free domain name registration and hosting.
3rd Prize
3 x winners will receive their own personalized email address package free for the first year.
Consolation Prizes
20 x entrants will receive a voucher code for 20% off any website package from Bendigo Web Design.
What’s included?
Your choice from hundreds of themes and templates, custom graphics including a custom designed logo should you require one, a domain name of your choice*, Australian hosting, free management tools, search engine optimization as standard, complimentary search engine and directory submissions, comprehensive traffic statistics, lifetime* of maintenance and technical support, inclusion in forthcoming press releases, hints and tips on how best to promote your new site and the knowledge that your new site is locally built.
What’s the catch?
There isn’t one! You do not have to order or purchase anything from Bendigo Web Design to take part. It might sound somewhat trite but we really do believe that our local community is an important asset and an essential pool of resources, especially during the current economic blip and so we would be happy to put something back in.
Don’t forget, you have until Midnight Friday November 13th, 2009 to get your entries in.
Good luck!
If you are reading this, then the chances are that you are just slightly/somewhat/rabidly (delete as required) curious aboutBendigo Forums or else very lost. The following information is for the benefit of the former, although the material is for general consumption and so encourage the latter to read on regardless. It goes some way to explain what the site aims to do, why it was created and by whom.
Created back in early 2007, this modest little site was born with communication in mind; the collation, discussion and dissemination of information. You might think that there is already enough of this sort of mundane tripe parked up and down the ‘Information Super Highway’ and that by adding to it, I’m merely wasting valuable bandwidth, not to mention burning a hole in my pocket. However, my mate Google informed me that Bendigo did not have any significant online discussion board or at least one that wasn’t affiliated with a commercial venture and so I took it upon myself to createBendigo Forums.
“How very altruistic and philanthropic of you.” I hear you think but the truth is that my family and I were new to the region and tools such as the Interwebthingy and Bendigo Forums, enable us to network, discover the region, answer questions, share views, discuss local and national issues and who knows, maybe even make real friends (As in ugly bags of mostly water as opposed to the virtual ones who exist only in Cyberspace).
Forums, sometimes referred to as discussion boards, are unlike conventional chat room facilities in that participants are not required to be present at any given time in order to take part. They can log in and read or join in the discussion when it’s convenient for them. Also, each individual discussion has its own unique thread which is in turn filed within the relevant subject category. These categories are created in advance by me or the nominated Moderators but should demand prove it worthwhile, additional categories can be easily added. The various topics are saved so that they might be visited at any time in the future and thus serve as a useful archive.
The great thing about forums is that as virtual meeting places, they do not discriminate against race, religion, age, sex, disability or even which AFL team you follow. Forums and their users are neither affected nor restricted by time or location. They are open to anyone at anytime from anywhere on the planet (with the possible exception of Belarus, Burma, China, Cuba, Egypt, Iran, North Korea, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Tunisia, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and Vietnam who have recently been ‘blacklisted’ as ‘enemies of the Internet’ by human rights group Reporters Without Borders 
).
Bendigo Forums aims to be a family-friendly, fun and informative free resource for anyone and everyone with an interest in Bendigo, Victoria, Australia and as such, I encourage you to pop over there now and sign up for your free membershipand get posting now!
Above all, I hope this site will be of some use to someone, somewhere but if nothing else have fun!
You might also like to read Bendigo Forums.
….dead in the water or simpy ahead of it’s time?
The development of an online community can be seen soul-destroying given the amount of work that one can put in for such little initial reward, and by reward I mean satisfaction and not financial gain. The methods employed by commercial and non-commercial social networks to increase participation are often very similar but for very different reasons.
Increasingly, companies are integrating social networking concepts into their online presense to build brand loyalty, push products and services and generally increase their market. Very few Australian businesses have recognised the potential of integrating a simple discussion forum into their sites, for example (obviously where relevant). There are examples in Bendigo, including one that did but paid very little attention to its importance.
When your customers form alliances with others to share their views, business needs, and interests, it can forge stronger emotional ties to your brand. These social networks grow virally and exponentially after customers invite their friends and colleagues to join and so on.
However, while the ‘IT business that shall remain nameless’, will no doubt come back with a more fully-featured, interactive community section having seen the potential of a rival site (their words not mine), there will always be the presence of commercial fluff to distract the user. This is the obvious aim and one which should be pursued as it will eventually pay dividends for them and rightly so.
Bendigo Forums is not commercial. Other than possibly introducing a few Google Ads to help pay for the running costs, that is the way I intend it to stay. Bendigo Forums aims to encourage a social network based on a mutual interest, Bendigo. The potential for local government, business and the community in general to benefit from a site like this is great and probably the reason others will hurry to jump on the band wagon once they realise.
I’m a social entrepreneur by nature, with very many fewer self-serving interests than your average businessman and no corporeal product or service to sell but I do believe Bendigo Forums has the potential to offer something to the community in terms of the general concepts of social networking.
As the numbers of those who engage in online communities grow, more and more look towards forums and discussion boards when researching a product or service. After all, wouldn’t you like to talk to the customers rather than just the sales staff driven by the desire to sell? With this in mind, it is increasingly likely that those in search of information pertaining to Bendigo and the surrounding region will look for discussion groups and forums related to the area.
With relevant content, visitors will stay long enough to read and glean the information they require. With healthy debate and discussion on all aspects of the subject matter, visitors are more likely to sign up and participate. Visitors need a reason to return and their involvement in discussion is just one. There are numerous other methods of promoting ‘stickiness’, from offering chat facilities and interactive games, to regular competitions and multimedia sharing facilities.
The attitudes of most of those who have already been invited to participate in Bendigo Foruns are disappointing and there are alarming parallels in the attitudes, delivery and uptake of Information and Communications Technologies in the region, to those in rural Wales over ten years ago! I was very much involved in the development of the ICT infrastructure for rural regeneration and development in Powys, Wales and so I’ve seen it first hand.
For the moment Bendigo Forums is little more than a hobby I’m willing to share with anyone who’s interested and not a conscious effort in community development. It could be though! With a little effort on my part it could take off very quickly.
And so if you have an interest in Bendigo and the surrounding region, get yourself over to Bendigo Forums, sign up and start posting. It’s free and very simple.
Read about Bendigo Forums.
Stanford University has compiled 10 guidelines for building the credibility of a web site. These guidelines are based on three years of research that included over 4,500 people.
1. Make it easy to verify the accuracy of the information on your site.
You can build web site credibility by providing third-party support (citations, references, source material) for information you present, especially if you link to this evidence. Even if people don’t follow these links, you’ve shown confidence in your material.
2. Show that there’s a real organization behind your site.
Showing that your web site is for a legitimate organization will boost the site’s credibility. The easiest way to do this is by listing a physical address. Other features can also help, such as posting a photo of your offices or listing a membership with the chamber of commerce.
3. Highlight the expertise in your organization and in the content and services you provide.
Do you have experts on your team? Are your contributors or service providers authorities? Be sure to give their credentials. Are you affiliated with a respected organization? Make that clear. Conversely, don’t link to outside sites that are not credible. Your site becomes less credible by association.
4. Show that honest and trustworthy people stand behind your site.
The first part of this guideline is to show there are real people behind the site and in the organization. Next, find a way to convey their trustworthiness through images or text. For example, some sites post employee bios that tell about family or hobbies
5. Make it easy to contact you.
A simple way to boost your site’s credibility is by making your contact information clear: phone number, physical address, and email address.
6. Design your site so it looks professional (or is appropriate for your purpose).
We find that people quickly evaluate a site by visual design alone. When designing your site, pay attention to layout, typography, images, consistency issues, and more. Of course, not all sites gain credibility by looking like IBM.com. The visual design should match the site’s purpose.
7. Make your site easy to use — and useful.
We’re squeezing two guidelines into one here. Our research shows that sites win credibility points by being both easy to use and useful. Some site operators forget about users when they cater to their own company’s ego or try to show the dazzling things they can do with web technology.
8. Update your site’s content often (at least show it’s been reviewed recently).
People assign more credibility to sites that show they have been recently updated or reviewed.
9. Use restraint with any promotional content (e.g., ads, offers).
If possible, avoid having ads on your site. If you must have ads, clearly distinguish the sponsored content from your own. Avoid pop-up ads, unless you don’t mind annoying users and losing credibility. As for writing style, try to be clear, direct, and sincere.
10. Avoid errors of all types, no matter how small they seem.
Typographical errors and broken links hurt a site’s credibility more than most people imagine. It’s also important to keep your site up and running.
Citation: Fogg, B.J. (May 2002). “Stanford Guidelines for Web Credibility.” A Research Summary from the Stanford Persuasive Technology Lab. Stanford University. http://www.webcredibility.org/guidelines
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