Very brief internet history:
The Internet came to be in the late 1960's as a means for the American military to communicate following a nuclear attack. The project was later shelved by the US government but the underlying concept found its way into some American universities where it bubbled away for about a decade. The amount of computers connected grew and in the 80's the now termed 'Internet' went international before being opened up to the public and business sectors.
Very brief web design history:
Long before Microsoft came out with IE (Internet Explorer), there was Mosaic. It was the first 'killer application' to appear on both windows and macs and marked the true arrival of the Internet. Things were really bad for web designers as web speeds were slow and every single piece of web software was full of bugs.
In the mid 90's things improved a lot with the formation of the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) who introduced a range of standards to try and bring some cohesion to the fledgling Internet. Eventually Microsoft packaged IE into their Windows OS and became the default browser, pretty much killing off any competitors at the time.
During these early years, web designers were forced to construct websites using basic HTML formatting with tables and rows which had very little control over the look and function of a website. The last few years have seen vast improvements and web design has finally grown up into a serious and multi-skilled profession.
Website design costs to consider:
To have a website designed is one set of costs but you also need to keep it running such as paying hosting registries, banks and gateway providers depending on the type of website. Forewarned is forearmed...
- Domain name registration and renewal for .com.au = $49 every 2 years
- Web hosting with email = from $240 per year ($20 per month)
- Web marketing = from $0 to unlimited
- Website maintenance and updates = from $0 with CMS or $75 per hour
- E-commerce (real-time credit card processing) involving an Internet Merchant Account, payment gateway service & SSL certificate = from $50 per month plus a percentage of all transactions
Domain name registration and renewal:
Domain name registration is compulsory and will cost from $49 for a ".com.au" name every two years. Most english words have been registered already so you will need to be creative when conceiving your domain name. We can help in choosing and registering your domain name when you are ready.
Web hosting and renewal:
Annual web hosting costs are mandatory for running a website and orignate from the handful of hosting companies who are connected directly to the internet. Hosting companies essentially store your website files on their PC's in an air-conditioned room and provide the physical connection to the internet. The average cost of web hosting is from $20 per month however large e-commerce websites attract higher web hosting fees.
Website design & development:
Where does web design end and web development begin? There is no practical definition however, we generally label a website that requires database functionality as development versus a website with static pages. Websites can be simple or complex, full of text and/or multimedia, and can completely automate parts of your business. This means there are infinite options when it comes to web design and development. The cost of a website ranges between $1500 - $7500 with most being closer to the low end.
Update your website yourself or leave it to us:
Professional web designers now build self-editability into most websites in the form of content management systems or CMS for short. Unlike many other CMS systems, our CMS is highly advanced yet simple to use and fully customisable. You simply visit your website, login and update it. It's that simple. No extra software or training required. There is no extra charge if you would like us to run you through it... just in case.
Please phone 07 5578 7059 or contact us about your specific needs.