Shanti Marshalla

ShantiMarshalla

frequently asked questions

frequently asked questions

Below is a list of frequently asked questions. There is a lot of information here - feel free to read through everything or chose a question from the list below. If your question isn't answered here, please contact me! Scroll down for all the questions and answers.

website set-up and design

time parameters and payment

about me

i want to do a lot of things on my website, but not RIGHT NOW. can we do a simple site now and add on LATER?

This is not a problem. Very few sites will be so fixed in their design that nothing can be added. If you are thinking that you'd like to add to your site at some point in the future, please be sure to mention that you will want to expand so that I can plan the design to be especially modular for this purpose.Back to top.

what is a domain name?

A domain name is the name of your website. This is the address people will type in to get to your site, for example www.yoursite.com. I purchase domain names through GoDaddy.com because they are inexpensive and easy to use.

All domain names that are purchased by any domain-name-registering site are available out of an international pool of names, monitored and logged by WhoIs, which means a guarantee that your site name is not owned by anyone else.

Do I need to have both a domain name and hosting?

Yes.Back to top.

what is hosting?

Hosting is what you need to store your website files (pages, images, etc.) online. When you buy a domain name (see above), you buy the name. Hosting is where you store the files. A domain name simply points your browser to your hosting.

There are thousands of hosting companies to choose from online, which can make picking one difficult. I have a lot of experience with many different popular companies and can advise you in this area. For all of my personal sites, I use AN Hosting and strongly recommend them. Their customer support is fantastic, their servers never go down, and their hosting package is inexpensive and fully loaded with all the tools your site could ever want. Need I say more?

Please note that I am in no way affiliated with AN Hosting - I just love them and recommend them to all of my customers.

Do I need to have both a domain name and hosting?

Yes.Back to top.

should i buy multiple domain names?

I suggest that you decide this based on how important it is to you that you own all the rights to your name. For a business, this can be decided by how big your business is, how big you think it will be, and how likely you think it is that it will be copied or exploited.

For example, you may want to purchase "your business name" .com, .net, or .org. These are the three most common endings to a web address, with .com obviously being the most popular. The other very common ending is .edu, but that is more frequently used for educational sites and businesses. Other endings you may consider, depending on the business or idea you're representing online, are .biz, .info, .tv, and so forth.

further examples and explaination

I buy only only what I think I'll need. As an example, I only bought shantimarshalla.com for this site. Because my name is unique and I doubt anyone will try and copy my site (for some of my business) with shantimarshalla.net or similar, I didn't buy anything other than .com.

On the other hand, for my blog I bought antishay.com and antishay.net because the name is unique and fun and could potentially be a desirable name to own. For now, both of those addresses direct to antishay.com, but in the future I could make antishay.net NOT my blog, but a site on my clothing line or photography or something else. (UPDATE: Antishay.net now directs to a new website I've made. 05/01/08)

As a final example, for the Oral Motor Institute, I bought oralmotorinstitute.org (because it is an organization) and .com because some people will accidentally type .com instead of .org and I wanted both to go to same site.Back to top.

what if i already have a domain name and hosting?

If you already have these set up, we don't need to do it again and there's nothing to worry about. However, in order to work with what you already have, I will need access to at least the hosting that you own. This will mean providing me with the host name, login name and password to access the hosting. Even better is if you can provide me with the ftp address, username and password.Back to top.

do you code your websites by hand or use templates?

I write everything myself. I work much faster this way, and with the new way websites are represented in code now, there's really no better way to do it. The only time I will use a template is when doing a php heavy site, such as a message board forum or a blog. For blogs I use WordPress because their user interface (what you'll see when writing and editing posts to your blog) is so incredibly user-friendy. I never give you a cut-and-dry template site, though. It will always be completely customized to your site specifications.Back to top.

how long will it take you to design my website?

This is completely dependent on the site you need.

A simple "business card" site with only a little information and maybe 1-3 pages (e.g. the pages: home, info, and contact) will not take very long, usually between 5 to 10 hours.

A more complex site with many pages and elements to it (e.g. with the pages: home, info, services [with sub-pages], hours and location, contact, subscribe, terms of use, privacy policy, site map, etc.) will take much more time, usually 15 to 60 hours, sometimes more. This all depends on how complex your site will be.

In addition to the nature of the site, the time it will take is directly related to the content of the site. A website with videos, music, a blog, message forums, or a shopping cart will take infinitely more time than a site with just text and pictures.Back to top.

how long does it take to get a website online?

Excluding the time it takes me to design your site, the powers of the internet that be say it takes three days (72 hours) to get a website fully online.

The purpose for the wait period is rather utilitarian and necessary. I won't bother a lengthy explanation here, but if you must know, I can talk you through the process and reasons behind it on the phone :) It basically all has to do with making sure that the servers across the world are all in sync.Back to top.

how do you make a quote?

A quote is based on what you tell me you'd like for your site and how long I think it will take me to build it. The quote will include the cost of your domain name and hosting (assuming you don't already have this), my estimate for the number of hours it will take to build your website, and any other costs you've asked for (business card design, database compilation, etc.).

The quote is my best estimate of how long the site will take to build. Very often people will chose to change or add things to their website after I have started. I am not responsible for these extra hours and will do the additional work at your expense. I don't mean to sound harsh here - but I can't tell you the number of times a customer has completely changed ideas in the middle of the site's development and then argued about having to pay for my extra time. I keep a firm log of exactly what I've done for your site and how long it took. If the site takes more time than I quoted you for because of a request on your part, I will charge you for that time - but I will always check with you first!Back to top.

how does payment work?

I can receive payments directly from your bank account (I do not get access to your account number) through PayPal or by personal or business check through the mail. I cannot take credit card payments at this time. I expect a portion of your payment upfront and the rest later. The details on how this works can be found at the pricing page.Back to top.

do you do rush websites?

I will do a rush website if you need it. I charge more ($70/hour) for rushed websites because it means that I have to push my schedule around to fit your project into my workload, but it can be done. I will let you know whether your site has the option of being rushed at the time you ask. Usually it can be done, but I travel for work and therefore cannot always rush a site. Regardless of the rush, your site will take at least three days to get online properly. We can put it online same-day if we have to, but there will be a lag in server connection in some areas of the world for the first 3 days that the site is up.

what is icontact?

iContact does a great job of explaining themselves, so I direct you to their site for more info.

I should mention here that iContact is not a product of Apple, Inc (computers and software, maker of the iPod, et al.); the name used to be IntelliContact but they recently shortened it to the catchier iContact.

Basically, iContact is an inexpensive online service that stores your mailing list online and allows you to create email templates, custom sub-mailing lists and sign-up forms for your mailing list. They also provide detailed statistics on the emails sent out, such as how many of them bounced back, how many emails were opened vs. deleted, how many were forwarded, and how many people clicked the links back to your site from the email. All in all, iContact is a very useful and wonderful service that I love and recommend. Back to top.

how long have you been making websites?

I have been making websites since I was 12. Back in the day, it was all very rudimentary and difficult, but with time I learned what I was doing. When I was 14 my dad bought me HTML 4 for Dummies for my birthday and then I began to explore the HTML that I wasn't familiar with.

From there, it was a long time of experimenting, doing websites for friends and for my own interests. I took a couple of classes on web design but found that in all cases, I knew more than the teacher did about web languages and so dropped the idea of getting a degree or any certification in design altogether. It wasn't until I was 19 that I started making websites as a business and I've been doing it off and on since then.

Now, I've been doing web design professionally for three years and have grown exponentially in my knowledge over that time. I write in HTML (heavily relying on CSS as my design backbone), occasionally using javascript and PHP where necessary. I plan on continuing to practice web design as a profession and learn new languages as they are developed until I retire, and perhaps beyond that time :)Back to top.

how long have you been doing graphic design?

I started playing with "graphic design" when I was six. No really! We had an Macintosh SE30 and on its small black and white screen I played with SuperPaint. In middle school I got a hold of Photoshop 5-point-something and developed my knowledge of the program along with it, as it became Photoshop 6 and then 7 and so on. I took a huge interest in Photoshop in high school and afterwards when I entered the workforce.

I have always been interested and fascinated by design: industrial design, interior design, architecture, clothing design, web design... etc.. For reasons beyond my understanding, I am naturally inclined to love design and all the aspects of it. Graphic design is just one of the many offshoots of this interest that I happen to excel at.

I now design using Photoshop CS in conjunction with various other Adobe image editing and writing software.Back to top.

why do you do web design?

Because I love it.

have a question?

Do you have a question that wasn't answered here? Please contact me and I'll get right back to you. I may even add your question to the list here!Back to top.