By Miriam Bell from NICVA
Published on 30 Mar 2005
Helpful information to consider before commissioning a website designer.
Information you should be prepared to give your web designer:
- the project timescale
- the purpose of the site
- the nature of the content for example how many web or A4 pages?
- how much control you need to have over content. There is no point paying for functionality that you do not need
- whether you need to include a database.
Questions you should ask your web designer:
- ask to see the designer's portfolio of work. You may also wish to take up references
- cost of technical support or site changes after the your site goes live. Is ongoing email and telephone support included in the price or extra? Depending on the type of site, is there out of office or weekend support available?
- has the designer got experience of working in the voluntary and community sector?
- experience of search engine optimisation
- hosting. Does the designer have their own server or do they use public hosting?
- accessibility. Insist that the website can be validated to at least Priority 1 accessibility (Conformance Level A) of World Wide Web Consortium's (W3C) Web Access Initiative (WAI). See www.w3.org/WAI for more information
- how will you gain access to visitor statistics?
- will training be given on how to maintain the website?
- payment terms. The cost of different parts of the project should be broken down by the designer.
For more information please contact the Media Resource NI Officer:
Caroline McClure 
028 9087 7777
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