OVERVIEW PAGE. DreamWaves specialises in Internet site design, development and maintenance, providing these services for both external websites and internal intranet's. Our customers include private individuals; small to medium businesses; corporations and charitable organisations. Sectors include the private sector; public sector; commerce; professional bodies; engineering; farming; tourism and not-for-profit operations. The primary purpose of this web site is to introduce customers to the scope of the services offered by DreamWaves and to help customers understand the possibilities that the web can offer their business and their customers. DreamWaves specialises in providing services to the Small Business community. Because we understand the needs of Small Business, we can provide a service that is specific to those needs and can satisfy those needs within the financial constraints that are an inherent part of managing a Small Business. A STANDARD SITE. A "standard site" is one that follows a formal layout structure that has been popular since the early days of the web. Traditionally this consists of a layout where the business logo is displayed at the top of the viewing area. Beneath this, commonly in a horizontal configuration, is a Navigation Bar that provides links to the principal areas of the site. The main area may be divided into a strip on the left occupying about 30% of the horizontal space and a focus area that occupies 70% of the horizontal space. The left strip may contain additional navigation buttons or may be used for sales and marketing material. A FUNCTIONAL / LOW-COST SITE. Complexity comes at a price, both in terms of initial costs and ongoing maintenance. Many Small Business operations require a web-presence but do not require a complex database-driven, high-security interface with their customers. This type of Small Business primarily requires the web to provide 3 essential pieces of information to potential customers: - a profile of the business; a list of products/services offered and contact details. All of these can be provided quickly, effectively, at low cost and presented in an interesting and attractive package. A PHOTO-BASED SITE. A photo-based site can be a very cost-effective method of telling your audience exactly what you do without them having to read a lot of text. A successful format is where a number of key photographs are immediately displayed on the Home page. Visitors can instantly see exactly what products/services the business offers. The usual Navigation Bar is located either above or to the left of the main area, enabling visitors to obtain more detailed information, place orders or contact the business. A CASUAL SITE. Small Business covers every imaginable field of economic activity. There are many instances when a casual approach is more appropriate than a formal layout. The primary purpose of such a site may be no more than to make customers aware that you and your business exist. An eye-catching, colourful, simple site is really all that is required. Such a site is inexpensive to establish and economical to maintain and achieves the purpose for which is was created. A TEXT-BASED SITE. In the early days of the Internet all sites were essentially text-based as browser support for imagery was very limited. In terms of the modern Internet a text-based site might not sound like a lot of fun, but when appropriately applied it can be very cost-effective. Text-based sites are useful when a small business needs to provide comprehensive and detailed information, the presentation of which does not benefit from extensive visual material. VISUAL IMPACT SITES. Most websites, to some extent, rely on impressing visitors with the visual appeal of the site in terms of graphics, colours and layout. However, there are categories of Small Business where the visual impact of the site is more important than the written content. For example, a partnership of architects will initially need to impress potential customers with visual examples of their work if those customers are going to investigate any further. A FULL COMMERCIAL SITE. A full commercial site is often required by established, successful Small Business operations that have the potential for conducting a sizeable amount of their business via the Internet. Such sites require advanced services and technologies, including: - secure transactions; data encryption; online payments; fail-safe servers; a well-maintained and regularly updated website; prompt online customer care and a proven business plan that justifies the initial outlay and ongoing maintenance costs associated with such a site. ACCESSIBILITY. In the context of the Internet, "Accessibility" indicates the extent to which a website is "accessible" to persons with an impaired ability to use the Internet. Business has a moral and legal duty to ensure that the web is accessible to the greatest possible number of persons, including persons that are partially sighted or are unable to navigate using standard navigation tools. DreamWaves is committed to assisting customers to achieve this goal. BEST PRACTICE. Best Practice is about "...becoming more efficient, competitive and profitable...". Websites that adhere to the principles of Best Practice employ well-proven techniques to ensure that the website provides a rewarding experience for the visitor. In the context of websites Best Practice includes the development practices; development tools; maintainability; technical integrity; artistic appeal; accessibility; useability. DreamWaves has built a reputation for building exciting and innovative sites while rigidly adhering to the fundamental principles of Best Practice. IMPLEMENTATION. Implementation refers to all the tasks that are required to take a web site from the development platform to a live site and the resultant processes that are required to manage and maintain the site. DreamWaves will make recommendations, provide a project plan and then take full control of the entire implementation process including the establishment of the post-implementation maintenance infrastructure. MAINTENANCE. Ongoing website maintenance is as important as the initial design, development and deployment. To be meaningful, information on a site must continuously be kept up-to-date. This can be quite challenging for a small business with limited resources. DreamWaves will provide the necessary guidance and implement the required infrastructure to enable any small business to accomplish a workable, affordable and effective site maintenance strategy. WEB SECURITY. Online security is a problem faced by every business - big or small. However, this does not mean that small business owners need to exclude their business from the many benefits of an online presence. DreamWaves will tailor an online security policy for your business that is compatible with your operation and is affordable within your budget. TRAINING. Given the correct training, there are many online tasks that can be undertaken by your personnel. One of the most difficult decisions is determining which tasks can be performed in-house and which tasks should be assigned to an outside professional. DreamWaves will assist you in making this decision and will then provide guidelines for acquiring the required skills to enable you to perform the selected in-house tasks. TURN-KEY SOLUTIONS. DreamWaves, in collaboration with OfficeTek UK, offer their Small Business customers a complete "turn-key" solution for achieving an online presence. Turn-key solutions include: - constructing a detailed Project Budget; creating the Project Plan; selecting the vendors; establishing the infrastructure; designing, developing and implementing the site; training selected personnel and providing an on-going management and maintenance program. WEB DESIGN PAGE. DreamWaves primary focus, when designing a web site, is to ensure that the finished product provides a positive return on investment for the customer's business. We have no pre-conceived ideas as to what constitutes the "ideal" design. Although we apply formal design principles, and the benefits of experience to every design, our approach is always fresh and innovative. While developing the design we continuously ask ourselves whether the finished product will fulfil the business requirement. This method enables us to catch problem areas at each stage of development. Although the web is predominately a visual medium, we believe that what lies beneath is of equal importance. We employ both tried and tested and cutting-edge technology to ensure that the design is built on a solid foundation and yet, at the same time, the best of current tools and methodologies are utilised.