What is the best format for sending you content?

Updates may be sent through email.  If you have more than 10 megs of data, please call me.  I will arrange for you to be able to upload the data. While the work may be completed using almost any kind of document formatting, some forms are much easier to work with, provide for cleaner coding and allow for more development flexibility.

Images should be sent in their original format.  I will resize and optimize them to work best within your pages.  If you have original Photoshop files, please send them.  JPG's and GIF's also work well and can easily be optimized.  If your image is originally in a GIF format and has a transparent background, please send it as is without changing it.  JPG's do not support transparency. Please provide a description of your images. For accessibility reasons, each image must include an alternate text description.  If one is not provided, I will use my best judgment and assign one.

If you are sending text content, you may send it in any text format.  If the updates are small text changes, feel free to send the text as the body of your email.  If you feel you need to illustrate how the text should flow on the page, a Word document may be attached.

PDF's are also acceptable, and in some cases preferred.  I will optimize these files for ease of use.  If you will be posting PDF files, please remember to complete the document properties which include keywords and a file description.  If these are not present, I will add them using my best judgment. If your PDF document is a form, please consider making your document fillable online.

How long will it take before my updates are live?

Once you are established as a client, you can expect that most updates will be completed and put into production within one business day.  Often, updates are completed within a few hours.  If the scope of the work is more involved and will take longer to complete, I will always communicate with you and give you an estimated time of completion.

How will I know when my updates are completed?

Upon completion of your updates, I will simply reply to your email with a response that the item has been completed. If clarification is needed, I will indicate that I have questions by email.  If the update is urgent, I will give you a call. 

I sent you an update with headers underlined.  Why were the underlines removed when the information was posted?

I will find a more appropriate way to emphasize items which may be underlined in your original documents.  The reason is this: As a default, most sites indicate that a block of text is a live link if it is underlined and colored.  If the text you wish to emphasized is also underlined, it may not be clear to your site visitor that it is not a link.  Therefore, for ease of use, bolding or a font change or italics may be used instead.  Of course, the method used will also take into account the overall look and feel of your site.

I heard that keywords are no longer used by most search engines.  Why do you still ask me to provide them for my site?

There are a couple of reasons for incorporating keywords into your site.  There are still spiders that look for these to help the end user by categorizing the results.  More importantly, I find that having the site owner focus on the keywords helps them to build their site so that it incorporates all of their main objectives.  Also, if your site needs it's own search engine, the keywords and document descriptions will help to index your pages appropriately.

Why did I find issues/broken links on some of the pages listed on your client page? Don't you check for these things?

Absolutely! Each site I work on is checked for links, spelling, standards and code validation.  Older sites may include obsolete coding.  In some cases, sites that were built by someone else and inherited by me may include errors.  These errors are immediately disclosed to the site owner along with a recommendation for correction. Of course, the decision to fix the errors lies completely with the site owner.