The first draft of our web blueprint has been circulated to others to gather feedback, so that it can be finalised. After each discussion, the blueprint will be updated and made ready for final submission.

Web blueprint discussion

After the presentation of the revamp goals, what’s next?

Many vendors walk in and out with solution that over promises many features, which may not solve customers’ problems. Some vendors would present themselves as consultants and start describing how the future of the web would be, not unlike fortune-tellers.

After several rounds of interviews and extensive studies into existing process flows, we managed to ‘diagnose’ the goals to revamp their website and the various measurable performance indexes of their website. Yet, managing the client’s expectations, which includes how the website would function, the cosmetic issues, the usability issues will be very crucial and needs to be addressed before the first line of programming code is written.

To better communicate with the clients, the client would need to look at a prototype. It could be sketches, storyboards or designs of the system interfaces. While presenting the prototypes to the clients, the clients would be able to assist us in providing any feedback that was missed out from the earlier stages of discussions. These feedback are then collected before the interface design is finalized. The process flows of the proposed revamped are also determined at this stage to make sure that the newly revamped site achieves the objectives.

Sketches of user interface prototypes from an actual discussion, image intentionally blurred to protect the privacy of our clients ;-)

If you are a web developer and is interested to see how we can add value to your existing services, let’s meet up!

EDMS recently informed us that they’ve decided to change their official domain name to reflect their new corporate identity.

EDMS Consultants provides software that makes business sense

We responded by wasting no time in registering the new domain name they wanted, and then we notified them about the scope of work that would be involved. This included addressing the following issues:

1) The old website address must point to the new one

2) We must update the content in the website to show the new names

3) An email migration must be performed to switch to a new email domain

4) Messages sent to the old email address must continue to be forwarded to the new email address

Our new client, Shima Asia Pacific, has had several bad experiences dealing with email service providers. They’ve often given her nothing but empty promises, but failed to provide her with the support she needs.

Shima's Third Email Migration

We were introduced to Shima by a friend who is a web developer. During our first visit to her office, we spoke to the people in charge to try and understand their issues with the existing email service provider. Apparently, they’ve been losing emails and having spam problems.

It was clear that Shima and her team were frustrated, so we did a thorough technical review of their current email server. We found a few incorrect settings in their DNS servers, and noticed duplicate MX records which were pointing to same IP address. To make matters worse, one of the pointing used was “.asia” which isn’t recommended.

Once the contract was signed, our email migration team took immediate action. There were several issues reported and our support team prioritised those issues and solved them immediately.

It is also worth mentioning that usually, previous email hosting service providers tend to not remove email domain names from their system when someone terminates their email services. This causes internal routing problems, so we’ve informed Shima, who will in turn inform her previous email host to make the necessary removal.

Read also A Taboo of Recurring Business

Jamie’s approach to web design is definitely off of the beaten path. Not only does she use her own name as her website address (jamiesoon.com), but she always replies to your emails in a short but sweet fashion that makes you feel like you’re working with a friend, rather than a company. She’s definitely someone you can trust, and gives you peace of mind.

Jamie has been designing websites since 2001

On her website, you’ll find her impressive portfolio and also interesting travel photos of the places she has explored. You can tell by looking at these that she’s a very passionate person and it definitely makes you feel like you want to work with her. She has also posted some interesting articles such as: ‘Getting the right colours for your design‘, ‘Why making changes is a good thing‘, and ‘Getting a website without spending money‘ – I think people may not understand the joke.

Camping in Gunung Nuang

We’re proud to say that she’s now one of our hosting referrals. We’ve worked with her on many successful migrations, transferring her customers to our new hosting servers. Here’s what she has to say about our services:

“I am glad that I finally found an affordable hosting plan at 1.com.my. The hosting package is perfect for installing a blog and the price makes it more affordable for my clients who are starting small businesses or want to start a personal or non-profit site. It’s cheaper than other hosting plans because the email hosting is a separate package, but it’s no problem because my clients can use their Yahoo or Gmail email accounts. Not only is the price great, I’m impressed with the friendly service, fast response to my enquiries and the effort put in to get the new hosting is up as fast as possible. I highly recommend Pin and his team at 1.com.my!”

Thanks Jamie! It’s been a pleasure working with you too! So, if you’re on the lookout for a web designer/developer, do check out jamiesoon.com.

A web blueprint project is a huge undertaking that usually requires various kinds of expertise. The blueprint defines the goals that need to be achieved, and includes hand-drawn interface designs.

How can web developers and web-design freelancers participate in the web blueprint project?

Well, the project is carried out by web developers appointed by our web blueprint customers. Here is an outline of the types of expertise required from draft to interface design:

The deliverables in Stage 1 of the Web BluePrint is a presentation of our findings. The revamp goals are identified and the reasons behind their selection are also discussed. Once everyone agrees with the goals, we will start writing the blueprint.

Listing and prioritising of revamp goals

First, we will interview people in the management level, such as: CEOs, managers and heads of departments. It is important for us to understand what their responsibilities are in the company.

Second, we will meet up with staff who work in the front-line. They will have first-hand information on feedback from customers. We will then try to cover every region, since each of them will have their own work flow and tool preferences.

Lastly, we will approach their customers directly for feedback. We will also study the website statistics and enquiries submitted by visitors.