Helpful Tips & Information

How do websites work?

The mechanics of a website are not difficult to understand. There are, however, some terms that you need to know and for a lot of people can be confusing. The two most important terms that are the basic foundation for a website are domains & hosting. A domain or domain name is a website's address or what you type into your browser to go to a website. It defines the address of a website for the URL (Uniform Resource Locater) to lookup. All domains are stored on DNS (Domain Name Server) servers provided by registrars that serve as a type of phone book. In other words, domains are like phone numbers where no two entities have the same exact one. You can create any name you wish; just one that isn't already in use. There are some things to keep in mind when figuring out what domain name you would like. Not all characters are acceptable so we recommend that you use all lowercase letters and occasionally numbers. Also, keep it short. The easier it is to say or spell out the better.

Hosting is typically provided by hosting companies who rent server space for you to store your website files. These servers are much like your own home computer and in fact, you can host your own website. "So why don't people just do that", you may ask. Well, if anything goes wrong with your host computer or if you ever shut it down, your website will no longer be accessible to anyone online during that down time. Hosting companies such as GoDaddy or 1&1, provide 24 hour service to insure your website will always be up and running by backing up your files on multiple servers in case of technical failure.

So how do the two fit together?

The DNS directs the URL to where your website files are, much like when you dial up a friend on the phone. In many cases you can get both a domain name and hosting services from the same company. We recommend setting up your services in this way not only because of the convenience of having one account but, typically these companies offer a free domain name with the purchase of a hosting plan. You can, of course, choose to have the two services with different companies.

What you need to know as a client

Ulterior Graphics will help you to setup your domain name and hosting services if you are unfamiliar with this process. However, we are not responsible for paying for these services on time or for maintaining these accounts in any way. Note that if you fail to pay your hosting fees, your website will become inaccessible. Also, it is of the utmost importance that you stay current on your domain name service. If you fail to pay your domain fee, you will lose your website's address and won't be able to get it back for at least 6 months if at all. Once you lapse on this payment, your domain goes back into circulation and can be purchased by anyone and subsequently lost forever.

Ulterior Graphics has recommendations located here for hosting and domain services. We have no problem with our clients shopping around for these services, but advise that cheaper companies can possibly dissolve and leave you without warning, which can lead to a loss of your domain. (example)

Our services are purely of design and Ulterior Graphics is not a print shop. It is up to our clients to endure printing fees and are free to decide where to have their designs printed. We will prepare our clients and walk them through this process as necessary simply because we do not require nor want our clients credit card information, which is typically required for print services. If our clients are not comfortable with this process, Ulterior Graphics can send their designs to their chosen print shop only after payment has been made for our services with the additional printing fee added. Any advertised prices on this website are for design work only.