Frequently Asked Questions

GENERAL
How much work do I have to do during the process?
Why do I need to pay for something that I can do myself?
How do I submit files for my design project?
Do I need to have photos for the design work?
How do I find out who owns copyright in the photo I want to use?
Who owns copyright of a completed job?

GRAPHIC DESIGN
What graphic design services do you provide?
Who is responsible for errors made?
How long do projects take?
Why can’t I proof my brochures electronically (via email or over the internet)?
What is CMYK?
Why can’t I print colours I see on my screen?

WEBSITE DESIGN
The colours on my website are not what I thought they would be?
Why can’t I use script or a fancy font?
What is flash?
What is Java?
What are Cascading Style Sheets (CSS)?
What is a hyperlink?
How does internet connection speed affect my website (dialup or broadband)?
How does Google or Yahoo know how to find my site?
Why can’t some of my clients or friends view the website properly?
How long does it take to build a website?
What does it cost?
What types of websites can you design?
What do you need from me (client)?
Who writes the text/content?
How many changes can I make to the website during the design process?
Do you do domain registration and website hosting?
How does a webpage work?
What is the difference between click to view images, in page gallery and flash photo gallery?
What is a Sitemap?
Why are some things not offered?
What are common mistakes made when designing websites?
If I were to update my website myself, do I need to purchase expensive software programs?
How do you place my website on my web hosting provider?

MULTIMEDIA
How should I send my photos?
What file types should my photos be?
Are my photos returned to me?
Do you keep a copy of the photos?
Is there animation in the slide shows. ie panning and zooming?
Do you offer volume discounts?
Why do DVDs with music cost an extra $60?

General

1. How much work do I have to do during the process?
Client input is necessary to get the best results. Little input from you may result in a product that does not meet your requirements. Along with the Proposed Client Questionanire, you may need to provide content such as text, graphics and photographs.

2. Why do I need to pay for something that I can do myself?
Quality. There is a difference between design and great design. Only a professional graphic designer can provide great design that makes people want to pick up your brochure and to read it.

3. How do I submit files for my design project?
Small numbers of files can be submitted by email in the approved format. Text as rtf, txt or text selectable pdf files. Photos as jpg, bmp, png, psd, tif and raw files. Designs as wmf, ai, ind, pdf. Email size restrictions do apply (refer to terms and conditions). Large numbers of, and large file sizes can be submitted by posting a CD or USB drive. USB drives will be returned. Usually what happens is the initial files are provided on a CD due to the number, and then any updates via email.

4. Do I need to have photos for the design work?
Not necessarily, any brochure or website looks more interesting and are easier to read with an image or diagram, rather than a block of continuous text. It's always good to have photographs, or ideas of photos you want to include. You can hire a photographer to take them for you, or take your own but you need to be aware of quality and composition of the photo, and the design it is to be used for. If you don't already have photos, it is preferable to wait until the design layout is finalised so you can take photographs to fit into the layout. IdeaDream does have a large range of stock images that can be used. Keep in mind, the overall cost of the design will be higher and we may not have a photo suitable.

5. How do I find out who owns copyright in the photo I want to use?
The copyright owner is usually the person who has taken the photograph. If it wasn't you and copyright ownership has not been given to you then you may need permission from that person. For your own holiday and family photos it is reasonable for us to assume that you have copyright in the photos to make them into a slideshow or design.

6. Who owns copyright of a completed job?
Generally, the customer will not own copyright as such, but is granted a licence by IdeaDream to use the design etc for a particular purpose. Particulars will be outlined in the project proposal and terms and conditions.

Graphic Design

1. What graphic design services do you provide?
Logos, business cards, advertising and information material, posters, newsletters, flyers. Anything that can be printed, IdeaDream can design.

2. Who is responsible for errors made?
Once the artwork has been final approved by the client and gone to press, errors are totally the responsibility of the client. Errors identified before going to press will be rectified. For products with electronic delivery, errors found before final approval will be rectified.

3. How long do design projects take?
This depends on how many projects we currently have and how involved your project is (such as complexity of design, external suppliers (ie photographers) and client provided content). All things going to plan, a simple brochure design (100mm x 210 mm single sided) can be print ready in as little as two weeks. (A print ready design is one that has been finalised and is ready for electronic delivery to a commercial printing business).

4. Why can’t I proof my brochures electronically (via email or over the internet)?
Designs for printed brochures will display on computer screens differently than how they look when printed on paper. This is due to the differences in monitor settings such as red, green, blue mix, brightness and contrast. Printed material is always best proofed in hardcopy form, so you can see the colours and feel the heaviness and quality of paper being used. You can't proof paper type on a screen.

5. What is CMYK?
This is referred to as the four colour process, or full colour. These four colours are shortened to CMYK. Cyan, Magenta, Yellow and Key, which is black. Combinations of these four inks make up all the standard colours that can be printed on paper.

6. Why can’t I print colours I see on my screen?
This is refering to colour gamut. In a nutshell it is the way in which our eyes, our computer monitors and our printers interpret colour. The human eye can see by far the broadest range of colour. Computer monitors cannot display all the colours your eye can see, such as metallics and fluorescents which require light to interact with the colour to give their shine. Printers and CMYK printing ink print even less than your monitor can display. Bright fluorescents and rich oranges, reds and blues cannot be reproduced with CMYK inks. Some professional photo printers are now coming with orange and red inks which are increasing the colour gamut of printers. Some professional printers can use fluorescent, metallic and Pantone inks. These are more expensive and are specialist solid colour inks outside the CMYK range. They require a specialist offset press in order to print them.

Website Design

1. The colours on my website are not what I thought they would be?
Every computer monitor will display the website differently depending on the monitor settings of Red, Green, Blue, brightness and contrast. The difference is still within the same hue, generally just lighter or darker. Green will stay green, perhaps a brighter or darker shade on a different computer. Websites are generally themed for a particular tonal range rather than specific colours.

2. Why can’t I use script or a fancy font?
A script font might look good on your own computer but if a person viewing your website does not have that particular font installed on their computer, it will display as the the default font (usually Times New Roman). Staying with the basic font types which are free to use and have been released to the public domain (and are included on all computers) ensures that the website font will display as intended. You may use a fancy font for headings if the font is converted to a picture and inserted into the website as an image.

3. What is flash?
Is website animation or video. Active moving areas which users can click on, such as an advertisement. Websites containing flash have larger pages to load and require a flash player plugin to work. A person browsing the internet needs to have the plugin installed on their computer and it needs to be activated for the flash website to display. Entirely flash sites have drawbacks, as they take longer to load, and can affect search engine rankings as google will use page text to assist in ranking a site. (Flash does not have any page text).

4. What is Java?
Is a coding script that assists with minor mouse animations such as mouse button changes, menu navigation and photo galleries. As with flash, java needs to be installed and enabled on the user’s computer in order for it to work correctly.

5. What are Cascading Style Sheets (CSS)?
Is an internet page code that is more precise than html code in instructing a web browser what to display on a page.

6. What is a hyperlink?
A link to another page, image or place in the same page, or anywhere in the World Wide Web. Hyperlinks are usually underlined and can be identified by the mouse cursor changing to a hand when placed over them.

7. How does internet connection speed affect my website?
Speed to load pages is related to the size of your website. Website size refers to how much space the files take up, not the number of pages. Eg: a 5 page site containing photographs is larger than a 20 page site which contains only text. Flash also takes longer to load. A larger website takes longer to load and may take too long on a slower connection to keep the person's interest. The speeds vary dramatically in Australia between ADSL, mobile and cable broadband, so consideration of internet speed for your potential customers is important when designing a website.

8. How does Google or Yahoo know how to find my site?
Yahoo and Google are search engines that use special programs called web crawlers that search the internet looking for new and updated pages and content. They log those changes with the search engines. A sitemap with proper links assists these programs by providing an index for your site. Keywords, descriptions and providing accurate and rich content are one of the key strategies to optimise your site for these search engines. Minimal use of flash will also assist.

9. Why can’t some of my clients or friends view the website properly?
Does your site contain Java or flash? If so internet surfers require these applications to be installed on their computers in order to view these functions. Some websites require a certain screen resolution to display properly on the persons monitor. A widescreen monitor may appear with scrollbars if the content is too high for the screen. If the person has their browser windowed and not maximised this will also affect the way the content is displayed. Does the person have accessibility features, such as high contrast and large fonts activated? Some sites are best viewed on computers, not phones or tablets, due to their small screen size and resolution.

10. How long does it take to build a website?
It depends on a number of factors. Size of website; complexity of website; who has provided and when the content was provided; level of involvement from the client. With all things going to plan, an IdeaDream starter website can be up and running in three weeks.

11. What does it cost?
Refer to the pricing page for package prices for limited page websites. Other prices are on application and the completion of a project proposal.

12. What types of websites can you design?
IdeaDream specialises in smaller information websites aimed at small business, that require mininmal changes over time. At this stage we do not support CMS (Content Management Systems), security logons for websites, or online shopping. Our sites are primarily designed as information sites so potential customers and current customers can view your business products and services online and contact you if they wish to make a purchase. IdeaDream can also provide web maintenance services to update your site when prices change or to upload new photos. If you wish to update your site yourself we can also provide instruction on how you can do this yourself.

13. What do you need from me (client)?
Ideas on what you would like, web addresses of sites you like (and why you like them) and don’t like, what you want your website to show and what you want users to be able to do. We can assist with editing text, but you will need to provide us with basic content. Completing the Proposed Client Questionnaire (from Downloads page) is an excellent place to start.

14. Who writes the text/content?
The client needs to provide us with basic content for each page, we will edit the text into a suitable format for the page.

15. How many changes can I make to the website during the design process?
Initially rough outlines for the design are provided. Once this layout has been approved the next stage is to produce a full colour mockup of the layout with the full structure and content outlined. Once this has been approved and work begun on the coding of the website only minor content changes can be made. If you choose to change the layout or structure at this time, the process needs to start again and you will be charged accordingly for a full design process.

16. Do you do domain registration and website hosting?
No, you need to arrange this separately from us. We can upload and maintain your website on an external web hosting server. In most instances the same business can host your website and provide domain registration.

17. How does a webpage work?
A webpage is a text file that contains the content you want, plus instructions to the web browser on how to display the page. If these instructions are not "coded" correctly, it may not display as intended or not display at all.

18. What is the difference between click to view images, in page gallery and flash photo gallery?
Click to view images is a thumbnail image or photograph that you can click with your mouse to open a larger version of the image. This will open in the current browser window and you just need to click the Back button on your internet browser to return to the previous page. This is suitable for webpages where the user may not have Java installed. An in page gallery requires the use of Java but is more presentable. It displays a larger version of the image in a display box on the same page as the thumbnails. There is no need to click; just holding your mouse over a thumbnail will display the image. A flash photo gallery requires the use of flash on the webpage. Users will see nothing until the entire flash file has loaded. Only suited to high speed internet.

19. What is a Sitemap?
Is an index of your website containing links to all areas. It is helpful for users to find something if they are unsure where it would be located on your website.

20. Why are some things not offered?
IdeaDream does not wish to compete with large website design organisations that offer the full range of services. Our websites are simpler to design and maintain, and therefore much lower in cost. In order to lower the cost, some aspects of website design are not offered such as content management systems, website hosting and domain registration, online shopping and advanced formatting options such as rounded corners and drop shadows. These require extensive expertise, coding and testing which dramatically increases the cost. The more complex the site, the more coding and testing is required to ensure the website works in all versions of all browsers.

21. What are common mistakes made when designing websites?
Its annoying when you find a website that may have the product, service or information you want, only to find the page is "Under Construction". To me this is unacceptable, if the page is not ready to be viewed, do not place it on the internet. Even an unformatted text page is better than no page at all. Under construction pages deter possible customers from visiting your site again as the same information can be gained from a competitor with a working website.

Anyone can do a website. Anyone can design a website using a program that writes the internet code for you. These usually do an acceptable job, but are not perfect. The coding can be messy and haphazard which makes it near impossible to rectify mistakes if you don't understand the web coding behind the page. I code mostly by hand, so the code is clean and less prone to compatibility issues between browsers. Better coding will produce a better website.

Many self made websites lack navigation buttons and menus. The information and page structure doesn't flow. It makes them hard to use and most people will give up and go to a competititors site that is easier to use.

22. If I were to update my website myself, do I need to purchase expensive software programs?
No. To update content on your site such as text price changes all you need is a text editor (such as notepad) and an FTP (file transfer protocol) program to upload to the website. FTP programs can be downloaded for free from the internet, and all computers have some form of text editor. To swap photographs you will also need a basic photo editor program that can adjust size and resolution of photographs (such as the program that came with your digital camera).

23. How do you place my website on my web hosting provider?
IdeaDream requires details from you regarding your web hosting provider. Details such as ftp web server address, username and password. These details are kept confidential and only used to maintain your website.

Multimedia

1. How should I send my photos?
All photos must be provided in digital format. ie - as computer files on a CD/DVD or USB or hard drive. Ideadream has no capacity to scan prints, slides or film. If you are in the local area (South East side of Brisbane), pickup or drop off can be arranged. Outside of this area, photos will need to be posted. Initial postage is at your cost, please ensure the photos are adequately protected from postal damage. Photos received unsolicited by post will not be accepted. Receipt of postal items is by prior arrangement. All projects must be discussed before we accept any job in order to give an accurate price.

2. What file types should my photos be?
Jpg format at the highest resolution is preferred, however we can accept any image format files.

3. Are my photos returned to me?
USB and hard drives will be returned. Pickup or delivery in the local area, or by mail at our cost. CD and DVD's will not be returned.

4. Do you keep a copy of the photos?
A copy of all multimedia jobs is kept by IdeaDream for 21 days from date of completion. It is your responsibility to ensure all files are readable and DVDs work correctly within that time. After 21 days all files will be deleted from our system and submitted CD and DVD's destroyed..

5. Is there animation in the slide shows. ie panning and zooming?
No, The images are displayed static and to fill as much of the screen as possible with a fade between each image. Custom Multimedia discs can be designed. See Custom DVDs for information and pricing.

6. Do you offer volume discounts?
No.

7. Why do DVDs with music cost an extra $60?
This fee is a licence fee imposed by the Australasian Mechanical Copyright Owners Society (AMCOS) and Australian Performing Rights Association (APRA), for the use of pre-recorded music in video and video compilations. The licence only grants the use of the DVD for domestic home viewing only. The single licence fee can be used for up to 5 discs. Additional licence fees apply for 6 or more discs.