Have you ever heard of this website company?

[JoAnne]

After looking for a couple of forms, I wasn't sure which one to choose for this question.
But I'm in the process of working with a company called "Website Design Institute" to rebuild my website. Has anyone out there ever heard or worked with this company before and if so what are your opinions?
They seem to be a good company and have been in businss doing this for awhile, so I have went them.

Also which form can I post a question or experience on for merchant accounts?
Thanks,
JoAnne

[Sualdam]

I've never heard of them, but for anyone who is interested their website is at:

http://www.websitedesigninstitute.org/

Speaking personally, I can never get my head around the concept of something for nothing - I just don't think it happens.

This company offers free web design as long as you have it hosted by them. I couldn't see any prices for hosting - you'll still have to pay for that.

Next, take a look at some of the sites in their portfolio to see if you like what you see.

I looked at a couple.

The first had a small 250x200 image, yet it was nearly 50kb in size. That caught my eye because I didn't realise their was an image until it suddenly appeared. I have a thing about badly optimised graphics :)

The second had a Flash intro which was set to size 100% with the browser window. That's another thing that isn't a good idea.

The third one had a Flash intro (I think it was created using Swish or something) and it looked quite crude.

Most of the sites in the portfolio had a similar design.

There's nothing really wrong with their sites, but they aren't especially polished either.

The choice has got to be yours. If you like the sites they produce and you are happy with their quote for hosting (I guess you have to have a minimum term or something) what have you got to lose?

For merchant accounts I'd suggest posting in E-Commerce.

[hal]

I have found that -- in general -- you can tell a lot about a company which offers a service by looking at the service that they offer to themselves.

I just looked at their Home page, then clicked those two Open Sesame keys -- View Source -- and suddently all was opened unto me.

No doctype
No page title
No description
No keywords
No <alt> tags on images

Long sentences -- will score poorly on Rudolph Flesch and other reading score tests.

Information lacking.

In short, technically and from a Marketing standpoint, the Website Design Institute seems to suffer from the same syndrome as most other outfits who put words like "institute" in their names...

...overblown.


My grandaddy once taught me a valuable lesson -- He or she who wants something for nothing usually gets exactly the quality for which he has contracted. ...*If* he's lucky.

Hal