Our Standards

XVII don't believe in using templates for designs; we feel that each webpage needs its own unique design to match the look of the business in question. For every project we undertake, we carefully considered the individual image of the client's business, and any ideas the client may have a particular interest in.

We go to great lengths to ensure that our sites are accessible to the widest range of users possible. Instead of having a fixed width page that compresses the content and navigation, you will notice that none of our designs are limited to screen resolutions and adapt well when resized. Additionally we considered users with visual impairments and other difficulties, ensuring we have high contrast for texts against backgrounds for good readability, and that 'screen readers' can operated effectively. These are software applications designed to help users by reading information on the screen aloud, however they cannot read images or Flash documents. Here at XVII we firmly believe that Flash has it's place to enhance the look of a site, but highly discourage it's use for actual content and especially for navigation, as this can cause problems for some users.

The World Wide Web Consortium, often referred to as the W3C, have laid down clear specifications defining how sites should be written. These specifications are important and should be observed by all web designers, however because some browsers appear to 'deal with' bad construction, many developers never bother to validate their sites. This is extremely bad practice, and leads to sites rendering differently or incorrectly on some browsers or platforms, or in the worst case, not working at all. Sadly this is all too common, and it will take a large global effort to correct this problem. XVII believe it is our responsibility to help make this change - we always comply strictly to W3C standards, at the same time as maintaining our own high standards of design.

Our team has many years of experience in web development, and we enjoy our design work as an art form. Currently, our primary goal is to expand our growing portfolio of work, and so for the time being we are happy to offer our services at an extremely comptetive price. A typical e-commerce site from XVII might cost around £1200 - far below the charges of our competitors for the same quality of work. Also, we are confident that through our services you will see an immidiate return on your investment - many businesses have already seen large growth in their sales since expanding onto the internet.

Here at XVII, we take security very seriously; our coding practices are strict, and our pages are 100% safe and secure for both the users and the owners of the site. Login is always performed over an encrypted SSL connection, and our e-commerce solutions use card-processing services from SecPay - a highly secure payment gateway, and a company with a great reputation for being extremely secure and trustworthy.

Our designers are not only qualified in website design, but have participated in courses which compliment this, such as human-computer interfaces (HCI) and systems analysis. This has increased our awareness of user's needs, and helps us in delivering sites with simple and understandable interfaces. Our sites are easily browsed by users, and the administration systems we deliver to the client for updating their site also make management as simple as possible. It also helps us understand your business, so that our work with you integrates well with your existing business practices.

Keeping fresh content on the web is vital to ensuring your visitors return again and again. Static pages do not impress as much as dynamic sites that allow the user to not only view, but also interact with the content. XVII encourage you to choose a semi-dynamic, dynamic or e-commerce option when considering your future online; the price of a static site might be cheaper, but the rewards of a more dynamic system are indisputable - you want to impress your viewers! XVII can deliver the solutions you require for updateable sites at a great price.

The team at XVII have a wide range of skills, with thorough knowledge in many vital areas. We have many years experience of developing websites using XHTML, CSS, PHP, JavaScript, and databases such as MySQL. Also, should your project extend beyond the internet, we can also offer software development services in many languages including C/C++ and Visual Basic, technical support, and network design. In fact, we are confident that whatever your needs are, we can develop a solution that meets and exceeds your expectations, and works smoothly with your business!