Services
We offer a variety of services from the simple to the complex. Below is a description of our main services.
Website Creation
We can build websites from scratch to your specifications. The various types of websites that we normally build are described below.
Standard Websites
Standard Websites are the main type of websites present on the Internet for businesses and companies. The pages are sometimes called static, as they never change unless someone rewrites them offline and uploads them onto the net. They work well when either someone is paid to update them regularly as is the case with many companies (whether by the company or a separate web designer) or when the information they display rarely changes. An example of a static website is the Bright Ape website. They are ideal for businesses that want to say who they are, what they are and where they are for the lowest cost.
Dynamic Websites
Dynamic Websites are often very similar to static websites and will normally have static elements in them. The difference is though that some parts of the website will be connected to a database. This can allow a lot of information to be displayed easily. For example the Wessex Walkers website built by Bright Ape has lots of walks stored in the database connected to their website. In the case of a static site in a separate page would need to be created for all the walks. On a dynamic website only one page is needed, this acts as a template for how the information from the database is to be displayed. You can also have pages that can be used to submit information (walks in the case of the Wessex Walkers) to the database meaning content can be controlled or updated without any knowledge of web design. The downside is the pages take longer to create as they are more complicated and need testing to make sure they work in every possible way that they might need to be used. Dynamic Websites are ideal for companies with a variety of products or services they want to list and sell online. There are a great variety of projects that can be undertaken with dynamic sites. Bright Ape has experience of a variety of different projects and relishes the chance to take on new and exciting projects.
Pro's
- easily display large amount of information
- information can be updated and changed
- need no knowledge of web design to control website
Con's
- more complicated
- more expensive
Flash Websites
Flash websites, named after the piece of software from Macromedia that is needed to view them (it's on most peoples computers and is freely available - when someone without it attempts to view a website that requires it they are offered a chance to freely download it as a plugin - it's called a plugin as it works along with the internet browser and allows the browser to display the website). Flash is used normally where the website is going all out to make the best visual impression they can. It can be used on an element of website or all of it. The BrightApe website for instance uses it for the image at the bottom of each page of the site and it's frequently used to make the advertising banners used on many websites. Here the flash element is inserted into a normal static web page. You can however make a complete website from flash where all the pages are made with it, these can be like the static websites or driven by a database as in the dynamic websites. This is normally the most expensive option. Websites with lots of animations like movie websites use these. It's easy for flash websites to put style above content and they aren't always the best way to convey information in a text form. They also tend to look visually smaller. That is because to make sure the website always appears properly on screen it’s made to fit the smallest monitors. This can leave other people more frustrated.Though you can convey visual information in the look and feel of the website more easily than on a normal website.
Creative Work
We can make logos for your company or business from your requirements. We look to create simple and eye catching designs that convey the values of the business or organisation we are creating them for. They help reinforce the identity of the business and we often incorporate them into the headers of websites that we build.
As we can create logos we can also create advertising banners whether just a static image to an animated banner using flash.
Most types of custom art work required for a website can also be undertaken by Bright Ape. For the Transformer Man website Bright Ape designed the transformer man picture used throughout the site as well as front page that uses flash. This is an interactive picture of several buildings where different parts of the picture act as links into the rest of the website.
Redesigning old websites. If you have a website where your happy with the content of the site but want a new look for the website Bright Ape can redesign your website. How easy this is depends on how the site was originally created.