How much do you charge?
Most of our work is done on a per-project basis. We talk to our customers, give them advice, and work with them to decide how their ideas can be best brought to life. Only once the project essentials are understood by everyone do we get an idea of the cost of the work. We are confident that our rates are extremely competitive, and that our customers receive a perfect product at a very attractive price. If you prefer, we are also able to bill on a per-hour basis: please contact us for more information.
Where do you do your work?
We generally work from our home office, travelling to meet clients for discussion whenever necessary. However, we do also offer on-site consulting if the project requires it, charged by the day. Please contact us for more details.
What programming language/database do you use?
Over the years we have worked with a wide range of technologies, and
our education means that we have a good command of the theories which
underpin all kinds of databases, programming languages and graphics
programs, no matter how obscure or cutting edge. We're proud of our
knowledge of our field, and we make sure that that knowledge is always
up to date. Of course, we have our favourites! Each application needs
to be judged individually, but the following are some of the tools which
we find ourselves reaching for again and again:
PHP - Over the last five years PHP has gone from being a newcomer to
one of the most common - and useful - webprogramming languages availble.
Its still one of the biggest tools in our kit. Easy to work with, excellent
libraries and capable of deployment on almost every Internet server.
Several of our biggest projects - OceanExpert
and HAEDAT for example - run
on PHP.
Ruby on Rails - A relatively new technology that has been getting a
lot of hype recently. We've used it on serveral projects (Afrilib
was the biggest) and found its plauditsto be more than justified. An
elegant language on top of a fantastic framework.
Javascript/AJAX - A technology which has recently had a big comeback,
enabling new levels of interaction with the user. Sites such as Google
Maps and Gmail employ AJAX extensively. We use it to make systems that
respond just like your own computer, so that working with them is as
intuitive and quick as possible.
MySQL - Its free, available everywhere, and talks to every programming
language we've ever tried. Most importantly its fast: when you're trying
to import complex data (such as in our HAEDAT
project) or dealing with thousands of large records (as we do in OceanExpert)
this is vital.
Do I need my own server? Do you offer hosting?
Whichever you prefer! Some of our clients already have the necessary infrastructure and staff, and prefer to have a system installed on a server at their company or institution. Others prefer to have us take care of that, in which case we offer dedicated hosting and maintenance services. If you aren't sure who is currently hosting your site, you may wish to run Who is hosting this? on your site to check what is available.