We’re here to help you.

Who is XHTMLized for?

XHTMLized is for anyone that wants to have the best website on the Internet. We’re specialists in what is commonly referred to as «Web Standards», which is really about the engineering that goes behind what people see when they look at a web page.

Some examples of the best uses for XHTMLized are:

• High traffic websites who demand the very best in optimized and maintainable markup.
• Businesses who know their website is what can bring in the most sales and understand the importance of good code.
• Design and graphic agencies who don’t use XHTMLized to offer web design services to their clients.
• Start-ups forming a web-based business that want to make sure when they launch, that first impression will last.
• People who don’t have a website and are looking for a agency who can guide them through the techno-babble and get them a great website.

I don’t know what HTML is?

That’s OK, that’s what we’re here for. People who don’t know HTML can visually design how they want their webpage to look and then send those designs to us to convert into a webpage. Typically they send a Photoshop PSD file and we return a package of HTML/CSS/JS and images which are ready to be hosted as a website.

HTML is simple – why would people pay for XHTMLized?

You might wonder why people pay for this service. After all, can’t you simply export a Photoshop file as HTML or bring it into a program like Dreamweaver or Fireworks easily? Yes, you can do that. You can even create HTML from Microsoft Word – and from a user perspective the resulting page can look pretty good. However, when you inspect the code it’s a very different story. We hand-code our HTML and perfect it. To us, it’s an art-form akin to poetry. Building your website with high quality markup adds an impressive amount of value, such as:

• Speed Our code is lean and loads fast, meaning your website visitors are not left tapping on the screen. It’s proven you only have 7 seconds to capture a persons attention when they first visit a web page, so it’s imperative you deliver your message right away.
• Consistency People access the Internet via web browsers such as Internet Explorer, Firefox and Safari. There are many different browsers and many different versions, and each browser renders web pages differently. This means that a website might look great on one particular browser but be unusable on another, potentially alienating many of your potential customers. With our process we make sure your websites looks great on the browsers you need it too. You can read more about Cross-browser compatibility here.
• Searchability Web browsers are not the only thing besides people that need to be taken into consideration when it comes to websites; Search Engine, such as Google and Yahoo read your web pages, too. Search Engines read web pages by sending «spiders» out gathering information about your website. The website information is analyzed, indexed and stored in massive databases. When someone performs a search, these databases are checked and how the spider analyzed your website determines how you will appear in the search engine page results. Spiders analyze the code and have a very different perspective on web pages than humans. So it’s important that your web page is optimized behind the scenes so that when the spiders come it’ll help ensure your rankings are higher. Having good markup is one important aspect of Search Engine Optimization. To read more about SEO see here. (link to question on if we provide SEO)
• Semantics The Internet is becoming more and more intelligent. When you put information on a website, the content on that website is not just limited to the website itself, or, at least… it shouldn’t be. Rather than relying on people manually searching to find your company website, you need to make sure your company information is setup so people find it through a variety of channels automatically. For example; if you have the website content set up a certain way in your markup, you can appear in Google Maps. In the future, the semantics of how you display your information will be increasingly important, and it all comes down to how your website is marked up. The brick-and-mortar business world would happily pay thousands of dollars a year to be listed in something like the Yellow Pages directory; the web is your front door to millions of customers so make sure you get your semantics and information strategy right.
• Accessibility Did you know that 1 in 6 people has some form of physical disability? Some forms of disability, such as poor vision or limited use of limbs, mean that people access the Internet via special browsers, such as those that read websites aloud. Just as many businesses and institutions in the real world need to install special facilities to enable people with disabilities to join in, your website should do the same thing. It’s not only the right thing to do, in some countries it’s the law that website comply with certain accessibility requirements.

What to expect

Should I expect "pixel precision"?

We value revolutionary designs over pixel precision. We go beyond simply mirroring your design to make it look the same in a browser as it does in Photoshop. We enhance your design to make sure it’s lean, adaptable and flexible to suit the web medium. However, we understand that in many cases there is the requirement for "pixel precision". If this is the case please let us know.

Do you use microformats?

Yes. We love microformats and integrate them whenever we can. We take great care in thinking about the best way to present your data and adopt the microformats design principals for formats such as hCard, hCalendar, geo, hReview and rel-tag.

Can you implement more advanced JavaScript into my design?

Absolutely. We are familiar with the major JavaScript frameworks including:

• jQuery
• moo.fx
• lightbox libraries
• Dojo
• Mochikit
• Yahoo UI Library (YUI)

We’re using ASP.NET. Are you familiar with the markup constraints?

Yes. Please let us know if you’re using ASP.NET so that we avoid using ID selectors due to ASP.NET user controls and the dynamically assigned reference ID’s at runtime.

Web standard services

Can you do a special print stylesheet for my site?

Yes, we enjoy doing stylesheets for print! If you’d like us to include one, please send in a design of how you would like the design to look in print. A print style sheet counts as an extra page.

What information should I provide with my order?

The more information you provide the better, but here are a few items you’ll want to consider sending in with your order:

• Source file of the design you want converted. See below for the various formats this can be supplied in.
• Flattened image of how you want the page to look at first glance, without effects, rollovers, animations, etc. This is important to make sure there are not some additional layers in the source files which might be turned off.
• Description of any requirements or special instructions. On the final form there is a place to fill in any specific requirements you have. However, you may also want to consider including an extra layer in the source file to provide more details.
• Fonts. If you’re using custom fonts and you haven’t traced their outlines, we’ll need the actual font files to display the image correctly. This is especially essential if you would like us to use Cufón technique.

How should I provide the source files?

We prefer to receive Photoshop PSD files with all the layers intact. (In addition to the main image layers, each state of an effect or animation should have its own layer and each effect layer should be descriptively named to avoid any confusion, i.e. TOP NAV BUTTON HOME ON or BUTTERFLY IMG ROLLOVER OFF.) But if you don’t have access to Photoshop, we can work with a wide variety of file types, including:

• Fireworks PNG files
• Illustrator AI files
• InDesign INDD files
• Existing HTML which needs fixing
• Flattened images such as JPGS, TIFFs and PNG files
• PDF files
• PowerPoint files (if you want wire frames)

How about standard navigation implementations, such as drop-down menus, expanding menus, etc. Are they included?

Yes. These are included as part of the price.

I have a drop down menu / hover effects / etc. for the design. How do I include this?

Having a separate layer in the source file is the best way to include information about dynamic elements. An exported flattened image showing the other state in also useful for us. It’s also helpful if you put a note in the description as to any such elements.

How do I submit a site which has already been coded but needs a rework?

The best way to do this is to .ZIP up the files and submit them with the order.

Our Quality Assurance Process

What is your QA process?

We take pride in our Quality Assurance and have a number of processes to ensure that your project is fully QA compliant:

• Each project, unless otherwise specified, is managed by a project manager who oversees the entire project life cycle, including review of the completed work and giving final approval before delivery to you.
• We have a Quality Assurance checklist that each developer must complete for every project.
• Every project is a team effort, affording us the luxury of not only peer review and collaboration but multiple sets of eyes on your designs to discover and fix any issues long before they cause any trouble.
• For projects which require advanced programming, we utilize agile pair programming sessions where two developers work on the same code.
• We make use of both automated and manual testing processes:
  • We manually test projects on Litmus App and BrowserCam
  • We also open the projects in multiple browser manually to ensure functionality is correct.
• Once we deliver the files to you, we invite you to conduct your own QA and we’ll fix any bugs you may happen to find.

Revisions

Do you provide any revisions?

If by "revision" you mean "correction", then of course… we’ll revise it as many times as necessary to get it exactly the way you asked for it. It’s very rare that your project will need even one correction (yes, we’re that good) but we’ll be here to make any corrections or necessary adjustments. But, if by "revisions" you mean "changes to the contracted design" then no; changes in the design after-the-fact will have to be renegotiated.

How do I submit revisions?

For every project, we use our special project management system where we can collaborate with you throughout the entire project cycle. We don’t close this project space until the project is complete, so you can log-in and leave any feedback you may have.

Do you charge for revisions?

We do not charge for any bugs you may find which are inside the scope of the original order. If something falls outside our scope and we feel it needs an additional charge we will let you know beforehand so there are no surprises.

Delivery times and hours of operation

How do you calculate delivery times?

To guarantee effective delivery times, we break down each process we do and give it an estimated time based on previous projects. As each project is handled by a team, some processes can be done concurrently by different members of the team to speed things up. Our collaborative techniques from CSS on Sails allows multiple people to work on the same project at once. The team leader distributes tasks and makes sure people are on track. We hold daily status meetings and regular catch-up sessions. Although our team is distributed across different locations, we all constantly communicate via Fives, our group chat application. It’s important to us that we can give you a good idea of delivery so you can fit it into your work flow. On the chance that the delivery time will change, we will update you immediately.

Do you offer an express service?

We do offer an express service for an additional fee which you can request when you place an order. Our express service prioritizes your project so it’s pushed to the front of the queue. With a global team we frequently tag-team projects across time zones, resulting in 24-hour turnaround.

I need work by a certain date. Can I specify that?

We always guarantee delivery by the agreed upon date, but if you must have the pages back by a specific date you should contact us before you place your order so that we can investigate the possibility. However, there are physical limitations to the magic we do, and if we get an order of 100 pages in 1 day, even we might be stretched.

When are you open?

24 / 7 / 365. Having an international team means that someone is always "on duty" to help out with any inquiry you might have. We each observe the holidays in our respective countries, but there are few if any days of the year that every office is closed around the globe.

Do you work weekends?

Yes. Someone is around on the weekend. In general our team has the weekend off, but due to time zones overlapping, our bases are covered. For example: Sunday afternoon in the USA is when the Australian team wakes up fresh for work Monday morning. This time zone benefit is enjoyed by a number of our clients to extend the working cycle of their projects.

When you say "days" do you mean "business days"?

In general, no. You can place an order at anytime. However, if possible, please notify us of larger projects or abbreviated production requirements, especially ones which might run over weekends. With team members strategically placed around the globe, weekends shouldn’t be a problem, but we’d like to give as much courtesy notice as possible to whoever might be impacted. So… if it’s a Friday night and you need to send through 20 pages to be done by Monday morning, forewarning is absolutely critical!

Accessibility

I need my site to work specifically in screen readers. Can you help?

Yes. We have testing facilities to test sites in screen readers including:

• JAWS latest version
• Window Eyes latest version

By default we include basic accessibility markup (such as appropriate markup for navigation), but if you have unusual or specific accessibility requirements, please contact us directly.

Can you make sure my design meets certain accessibility guidelines?

Yes. If you have specific accessibility requirements please contact us. We’re experienced in making designs compliant with all 508 / DDA / WCAG1.0 level 2 (AA) checkpoints such as:

• 5.6 (abbreviations for header labels),
• 4.3 (identify primary natural language),
• 10.5 (lists o» links marked up as lists),
• 13.6 (skip navigation link – one that works for sighted keyboard-only users as well as for screen-reader users);

What is the payment process?

For our newest customers, we ask that you make your payments immediately upon placing your order. For all of our regular customers, payment in-full or a deposit is required (as instructed by your Engager), with the remainder NET 30. All of our customers should know that we charge a 2% penalty for each month the payment is late. Naturally, you are not allowed to implement the XHTMLized design(s) until you have paid for them per our payment agreements.

What payment methods do you accept?

• PayPal pay via credit or debit card.
• Bank wire to Australia If you are based in Australia, local bank transfer is the preferred payment method. For Australian customers we convert the amount to AUD and add GST. [PREFERRED FOR AUSTRALIA]
• Checks you can post a check in any currency to PO Box 537, Chelsea, VIC, 3196, Australia.

If you prefer to pay with a method different than those above, please contact us and we’ll work out an alternative method.

What currencies do you accept?

Our primary currency we deal with is USD dollars, and unless started otherwise. In general, all amounts listed one our websites is in USD. However we can accept Euros, Great British Pounds, Canadian Dollars and Australian Dollars. When you register we’ll match your local currency to your order. If you require us to bill you in a certain currency please let us know. For Australian customers we charge 10% GST in tax as required by law.

Do you accept Purchase Orders?

YES. We do accept Purchase Orders. It’s an effective way to work together over longer periods of time.

Is there a discount for multiple pages?

Yes. The more pages you have, the larger the discount. However, the pages must be from the same project in order to be eligible for the discount.