Novamedia blog

I had a client recently ask me to put together a new website, not a large site, but a site nonetheless. Not an unreasonable request seeing as we design websites!

So we were working on the site when the client sent over several images and asked us to add these to some of the pages. Now, I took a look at these images and they were quite a disparate bunch. My suspicions were immediately aroused. These didn't look like the sort of images a client would normally send. They were all different sizes, all very different subjects and of varying quality.

I was emailing the client about the site so I thought I would mention the images and ask them where they had got them from. The reply was "We got them from Google Images". To be honest, that reply didn't come as a big surprise. As I said, I had had my suspicions which is why I asked the question in the first place.

So I had to gently break the news that we couldn't actually use these images on the website. The client of course asked why. The simple answer is - Google Images is not a free stock library.

All of the images that appear on Google Images when you do a search have been produced by someone, either photographed or drawn or digitised in some way or another. The copyright in these images belongs to someone. Taking images and using them on your website or in presentations or documents is stealing. It might not seem as bad as popping down to your local Sainsbury's and half-inching a packet of digestive biscuits but it's the same thing really except that it is so much easier to nick something from the screen in front of you.

The alternative of course is to have pictures taken. This might be OK if it's a set of portraits or a bunch of product images or even a set of outside images taken in the same location.  But it is not so practical if you really want such a varied selection of images.

Then the alternative is to use an online stock library. We regularly use two: iStockPhoto.com and ShutterStock.com. Each has millions of high-quality images which can be used on websites, presentations, documents and so on. They are also very inexpensive especially if you only want a lower resolution image for use on the web or a presentation – only a few pounds per image. We have used photos from both of these libraries on many sites. Probably one of the best examples is Grace's Day Nursery (www.gracesdaynursery.co.uk) which has some really nice, large pictures of happy children. Also the images used in this blog are all bought and paid for using an online stock library.

I know of a web design company who were hit with a £900 bill when it transpired they had illegally used images for a client's site. Is it really a risk worth taking?

I thought website intro screens had died out with the ark but we still occasionally get people saying that they would like an animated introduction at the 'beginning' of their website.

Now my gut response to this would be impolite so I decided to pop my thoughts down in a quick blog post. If you have asked me for such an appendage to your website then you may well have been directed to this blog post. If you are an esteemed existing client then I am sure you know me well enough to value my opinion as much as I value your custom. If you are a potential new customer then I hope you will come to value my opinion starting with this one. (By the way, many clients do value us – just take a look at the testimonials on our website).

However, I digress. Let me give you my honest opinion on website intro screens. There is no such thing as a website intro screen! A website doesn't need an intro screen. How many top websites that you visit have intro screens? None, that's how many.

If a website company puts an intro screen in their proposal for your website, find another website company. They'll charge you good money for what is essentially a vanity exercise for them to show that they know how to use Flash. And it will do you more harm than good. (I even saw a website company proudly advertising on their home page that they are specialists in building intro pages. Jeez!).

When I visit a website there are a number of things I go there for and one of them is definitely NOT to see flying logos and animated crap, (oops, sorry I really have tried to be polite).

What you need is a decent home page that does an effective job for your organisation. So please don't ask me for an intro screen. The answer will be NO, NO, NO!

A few of the sales leads we have been talking to recently involve customers who have a software or online product to sell. One or two have asked us if we can put together a video demonstration of their product so that people can get an idea of what it can do. It just so happens that we have been in the process of looking into this for a while so we thought it might be a good idea to put together a short demonstration of our ability in this area. The result is shown below. It's me doing the voice-over (and admittedly I'm no Reggie Bosanquet but please don't hold that against me). If you think that this is something that might be useful, please get in touch.