Frequently Asked Questions
For more technically oriented questions, you can save time by checking our website's detailed Tech Support section before contacting us. Several common issues are covered.
Website FAQ
Why should I get a website for my business or company?
What if I already have a website that I am not happy with?
What is involved in getting a website and/or hosting?
Do I have to register my domain name myself, or can NDS do it for me?
Can I transfer an existing domain name to your servers?
Domain-related Glossary & FAQ
Web Hosting FAQ
How often can I update my webpages or website?
Can my domain be accessed with or without the "WWW"?
What is a CGI bin and do I get one?
What CGI scripts are pre-installed?
What types of account activities are prohibited?
Website FAQ
Why should I get a website for my business or company?
With millions of people using the Internet daily, a website can provide detailed product or service information that is accessible to your customers 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. You can improve customer service and support by providing answers to commonly asked questions -- freeing your staff to handle other work. Save money communicating with your customers; your website can significantly reduce telephone, printing, and postage costs.
What if I already have a website that I am not happy with?
Native Design Services can help you to define the areas of
your website that need improvement and put together a proposal
of those changes -- from improving your graphics to site navigation,
customized metatags to search engine submissions.
We can even create a mobile-friendly website for you, making it easier for viewers using smartphones or tablets to view your website.
Because websites are tailored to each individual business, company or non-profit organization, we hesitate to have "flat" prices for larger projects. We have found it much better to discuss the potential budget that a client has set aside for their web presence and work from there. This allows us to have a better idea of the scale of the project and to make suggestions accordingly as to how to distribute this budget between graphics, scanned images, and customized web content and layout.
We have done website improvements, redesigned existing sites and created basic websites starting for as little as a few hundred and up to several thousand dollars. Native Design Services also now offers a selection of affordable Web Starter Kits!
What is involved in getting a website and/or hosting?
In order to set up a new website and hosting, several steps must be taken. In simplified format, they are as follows:
1) Determine the type/size of hosting account package and sign appropriate hosting contract. Upon receipt of payment, an account is set up for domain to be hosted.
2) Change the DNS information and technical contact information on all domain names to be hosted. (Process depends on individual registrars.)
3) Either an existing website is uploaded to the domain, or a temporary "bookmark" page is created on behalf of the client.
4) If website design services are also required; a contract must be signed specifiying a particular web starter package or a custom design package, optional features, and design deadline, if any. Work is started upon receipt of payment, as specified in contract.
5) Website content must be supplied to designer in a timely fashion. (Text files must be in a final, edited and spell-checked form, in either MS Word or TXT file format. Images can be supplied as actual hard copy photos, high quality scans or high resolution jpeg files.)
6) Website is proofed and approved by client before
final uploading to the client's domain.
Do I have to register my domain name myself, or can NDS do it for me?
Native Design Services offers domain name registration and processing solely as a convenience to our clients; you are free to register your domain yourself if you so choose. However, we have found that many of our clients do not wish to be burdened by the technical aspects involved with doing it themselves and would rather have NDS take care of the complexities on their behalf.
If you are registering your domain name yourself, or already have an existing domain name, it is preferable to have Native Design Services listed as your domain's "Technical Contact", in order that we may better assist you if you have any domain-related difficulties in the future. Please contact us for the exact information that you should provide to your domain registrar.
Your domain registration details should also specify our nameservers or "DNS" for your domain:
Primary Nameserver: ns1.native.ca
Primary IP Address: 66.129.123.34
Secondary Nameserver: ns2.native.ca
Secondary IP Address: 66.129.123.35
Can I transfer an existing domain name to your servers?
Yes, you can, just be sure to specify to your domain registrar that you are requesting a transfer and NOT a new domain. You should keep the service with your current hosting provider while waiting for the domain registrar to complete the transfer process. We will provide you with a temporary IP address so you can mirror the site on our server. All email and web pages will still be accessed from your previous host.
There is a 72 hour propagation period during which the your domain's new DNS information is distributed world-wide. One way to test which DNS is being served, is to make a small change to the site hosted on your new account; when that change shows up consistently, you will know that your DNS has been properly propagated.
After propagation completion, you should then notify your previous host and have them delete the old domain from their records and update their DNS record. If you use this same provider for your Internet access you will not be able to access your domain site until they update their DNS.
Domain-related Glossary & FAQ
Web server space refers to the amount of server disk storage your account is allocated. This space is used to store your html files, graphics, audio clips, web stats and all other files that make up your web site. Your web hosting account also serves as storage space for your POP and webmail accounts, so be sure to keep this in mind when choosing a particular hosting package for your needs.
As well as email forwarding, you have the option to retrieve e-mail directly from POP3 mailboxes. POP3 mailboxes are like PO boxes for emails, the emails are stored there until you collect them. Each POPs can be assigned unique ids and passwords to ensure privacy.
A domain name is an easy-to-remember address for your website.
Instead of a lengthy address such as: www.yourISP.com/~yourcompanyname/index.html
Your domain name could be www.yourcompany.com
A short and easy to remember domain name increases your professional image with your potential clients and customers, as well as the bonus of often increasing your search engine rankings. We offer domain name registration services as well as web-hosting, which is a "home" for your domain name website.
Native Design Services offers web hosting and domain email services. This means that we provide space on our servers for your website. We can register a new domain name for you, or host an existing domain, which will be used for your website and email. Native Design Services offers a range of all inclusive hosting packages with different amounts of web space and varying features.
Here is another explanation that we've used before that seems to help many people visualize it better:
- Imagine that your website is like a virtual 24hr store or office on the Internet.
- Your domain name is like having that office in a prestigious office building or having your store located in a well-known shopping mall.
- Domain name hosting is like the office space you are renting in that building - it is the physical space that your domain name website occupies on a computer server. Web hosting fees are therefore like paying the monthly rent on your office space.
Web Hosting FAQ
How often can I update my webpages or website?
You have unlimited access via FTP 24-hours a day, 7 days a week! As such, you can create and maintain your web pages on your own computer and upload files to your web site at your leisure. (You can also upload files using the "File Manager" feature in your cPanel, but it is often more time-consuming than FTP.)
Can my domains be accessed with or without the "WWW"?
Yes, you will be able to access your domain address with or without the "www" in front of the domain name. Example: http://www.your-name.com or http://your-name.com is acceptable, whichever you prefer.
What is a CGI bin and do I get one?
A CGI-bin is where one store CGI scripts for use with their website. These scripts are used to generate features such as online order forms, guestbooks, shopping carts, counters, and more! Every one of our domain-level web hosting accounts comes with a private CGI bin.
What CGI scripts are pre-installed?
All our web hosting accounts comes with the following pre-installed scripts: counter, clock, countdown timer, FormMail, CGI email, simple and advanced guestbooks and entropy banners. If you are interested in adding more CGI scripts to your account, you may do so yourself. You are free to use any CGI scripts you wish, however we reserve the right to disable any CGI script that effects normal server operation.
A Robots.txt file is a file that should exist at the root of your site which all search engines that access your site read to get information about what they should index. Having a Robots.txt file is crucial for search engine indexing because a lack of one will generally mean your site getting skipped during the indexing process.
The format for a Robots.txt file is very simple. If you want Robots to index everything on your site, then just make a blank text file named robots.txt and place it in your root.
If you want to disallow some content of your site, then you can use this very simple format:
User-agent: *
Disallow: /path/to/folder/or/files.html
To learn more on Robots.txt files, please consult The Web Robots Pages
What types of account are prohibited?
We do not permit any illegal activity, spamming or spamming related software on our system. Any accounts failing to adhere to these policies may be deactivated without warning. Please see our Acceptable Use Policies for more information.
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