PanEris News

Calling in the experts

ComputerAct!ve 28/06/2000

Sometimes it pays to pay for professional help. You might be confident hanging wallpaper but could you build a brick wall from scratch?

PanEris (www.paneris.org) is a network of freelance developers with an impressive client list. We asked what they offer that you can't find in shrink-wrapped software.

'Expertise, experience and advice,' replied designer Colin Rainsforth. 'When you use an off-the-peg product to develop a site, you have to work with whatever functionality it offers, and this may not suffice. Most of the projects we undertake provide bespoke solutions tailored to the needs of the individual client. Tools alone do not provide such solutions. It's a bit like a journalist using a word processor - it might help you with laborious tasks like word-counts but it won't improve your copy.'

Point taken. Another website developer, William Chesters, echoes these sentiments. 'There is just no way to provide a solution to everyone's requirements which doesn't require development work to get it up and running. Above a certain fairly low level of sophistication, you are going to have to do some programming-like activities.'

One way to find a developer is to look at the websites you admire and find out who built them. There will often be a credit at the bottom of the page. Or for a fairly comprehensive list of web design companies, try www.firmlist.com/uk.html.