We have decided that we no longer require the following domain names:

Buildcontacts.com
Buildingcontacts.com

These are excellent names if you want to create a web site for the building industry or a useful site for the public to find builders or building products. They would also be suitable for networking type web pages, where people could build their own network of contacts.  If you already have a similar domain name or a successfully running site, it might be worth it for you to buy them up to stop your competitors grabbing such good domain names! You could then make use of the domains or just redirect them to your current site!

We are the legal owners of these names which were registered through an ICANN accredited registrar.

If you’re interested in purchasing one or both of them, just click on the hyperlink and fill out the enquiry form with your bid.

If we accept your offer, you can send us a payment with Paypal. Then we push the domain to your account, or we set up a new account with our registrar on your behalf and send you the username & password (which you can change). Then you’ll be the legal owner of the domain and be able to amend the contact & admin details as well as the DNS settings. You might wish to redirect these domains to your currant site - this is also possible.

Domain Tips

The best domain names are:

• Short
• Easy to remember
• have a keyword in them relating to the theme of the site
• have  no dashes in them
• .com domains

Please let us know if you you’re interested in buying one of these domains or you have any questions regarding the purchase. We are a fully registered company in the UK.

Web Jungle:: web lingo

Definitions

Lots of our clients get confused by the lingo of the internet, websites, domains and hosting. So here is a list of quick & simple explanations..

Internet

The internet is not just out there in space.  When you look at a website, it is a document on a computer somewhere in the world. The internet is a network connecting millions of computers. 

Internet Service Provider

ISP in short. This is a company that provides access to the internet. This access can be dial-up, broadband or wireless.

Dial-up Connection

A way of accessing the internet. Temporary connection is established through a modem & telephone line - when you’re online, the phone is engaged, and when you’re offline the phone can be used to make calls. It’s considered very slow these days and therefore only suitable for those who don’t use the internet a lot or cannot get broadband.

Broadband Connection

Broadband provides high-speed and high-capacity transmission.  You access the internet through a special modem - when you’re online, your telephone can also be used. You can be permanently online.

IP

Short for Internet Protocol. An IP address is a unique number that identifies any Internet-connected computer. It’s four groups of digits separated by dots.

DNS

Short for Domain Name Service. It is a system that translates domain names into IP addresses. It’s easier for a human to remember a domain name, but computers & the internet are based on numbers. So every time you use a domain name it is translated to an IP address via the DNS settings.

URL

Short for Uniform Resource Locator. It is a unique world wide web address that identifies a file (or webpage) on the internet. They generally begin with http://. You can use the IP address instead if you want to.

Website

A collection of interconnected pages that can be accessed on the internet by a unique URL. Webpages can contain text, graphics, images, text, sound, video and other media. These files are normally stored on a computer (a server) that can be accessed via the internet.  Most websites have a home page or index page that links to other pages on the site.

Domain

It’s a name by which a website is identified and connected to the internet. The last three letters represent different categories e.g. .gov is government; .com is commercial; .org is non-profit organisations; .co.uk is Britain; .de is Germany etc. The url of a webpage starts with the domain name, e.g. www.ediandesign.com/blog/

Web host

A company that provides storage space on their server for your websites’ files. They also provide many web services and maintenance tools.

 A good webhost guide can be found here

We have the following domains that we no longer require:

Architectnetworking.com
Designnetworking.com
Artnetworking.net

Online networking can improve business and bring industries together.  If you want to set up a networking site for architects, designers or artist, these domain names could be ideal for your purpose. If you already have a similar website, you could just redirect the domain to your current site

These domain names were registered through an ICANN accredited registrar and our company is currently the legal owner of them.

Transferring the ownership to you is simple and quick.  When we’ve received your payment we’ll set up an account with the registrar and transfer the domain name to this account. You’ll be able to access this account with the username & password that we’ll email to you. Then you can change the details of the Whois records, DNS settings, emails etc. Alternatively you’ll be able to transfer the domain to another registrar.

Payment

We accept payment via Paypal or cheque.  It’s easy to use Paypal, particularly if you want to make international payments. If you don’t have an account, you can set one up by clicking here.

If you’re interested in buying one of the above domains please click on the domain name make a bid for it. Alternatively, just drop us an email.

Tips for choosing domain names

When you choose a domain name make sure that it’s

• not too long
• not stuffed with keywords
• not full of dashes
• not difficult to remember
• not obscure
• not offensive

Edian Design Ltd is a fully registered company in the UK

Why blog??

You are now probably quite familiar with blogs, the web phenomenon of the last couple of years.  Blogs, or weblogs, started as personal journals and now are taking over the internet. Why ??? - I hear many people asking..

Firstly, you don’t need to have your own domain & hosting it. There is no need to worry about designing or maintaining your site. You can just go to blogger.com or blog.co.uk, choose a name, choose a template and off you go.

Free of charge - free of hassles.

Secondly, blogs are no longer used just for personal diaries. They are very effective venues to sell your products and services or attract more visitors to your main site. You can easily publish new information, update your posts, upload pictures & images, organise your posts & categories etc. You may also allow others to comment on your posts or invite them to write about related subjects.

Thirdly, given that blogs are mainly text-based and updated regularly, the search engines love them. So if you want to rank high in the SEs - adding a blog to your site  could help you to achieve this. In fact it’s much easier to publish news, information, articles etc in your blog than adding new pages to your existing site. Wordpress is free and can be easily installed under your existing domain.

Here you can find look find a suitable theme  - here you can download themes for Wordpress.

Happy blogging! 

If you’re unable or too busy to install a blog on your site, please contact us and, for a small fee, we’ll be happy to do it for you.

Do you have a business that is about networking in the financial & banking industry?

Or do you want to create a website for people working in the financial world?

Or do you already have a site in this sector - but do not want your competitors to buy up good, keyword-rich domain names?

If your answer is yes to any one of these questions, you should consider buying the following domains:

Banknetworking.com

Financialnetworking.com

Perhaps you already have a similar site name in this area - why don’t you grab these domains before one of your competitors buys them? You can use them for a new networking site or just redirect them to your current site.

We are the legal owners of these domain names and have decided to sell them. The registrar we have used to buy these domains is ICANN accredited. Transferring our ownership to you is easy and quick, whether you’re an individual or a business entity.

Just click on the domain name you’re interested in and fill out the bidding form.

Payment

We accept payment via Paypal. When we have agreed on the sale price we will set up an account for you with our registrar. When we receive your payment, we push the domain to your account and email you your user name & password which you can (and should) change. Then you will be the legal owner of the domain and can transfer it to another registrar if you so wish or stay with the current one and point the DNS settings to your webhost or redirect your new domain to your other domain! That’s all there is to it! We can even help you with this (free of charge) if you’re not familiar with these aspects of the web.

Tips on buying domains

• A good domain name can bring in more visitors
• Domains containing keywords (one or two) can help your search engine ranking.
• Keyword-stuffed domains are considered spamming (buy-this-and-that-online-cheap.com etc)
• Only buy your domain from an ICANN accredited registrar

Edian Design Ltd is a fully registered company, based in the UK.

Watford Electronics

Have you ever bought anything from Watford Electronics?
Did it arrive on time? Did it work? Did you complain? Did you think you were hitting your head against a brick wall? If your answer is yes… then you’re not alone.

Watford Electronics own Savastore.com. They sell computer related equipments and other electronic items. Although they seem to be cheaper than elsewhere, you should think twice before you buy anything from them!..

Why?

Here are ten reasons for not shopping at Watford Electronics:

1, They blatantly lie, or are economical with the truth, when it comes to advertising their products
2, They mislead you about the availability of their products. They might say or indicate that an the item is available within a couple of days, yet it arrives a month later
3, They sell products that are dangerous and can cause fire
4, Their sales staff is not knowledgeable about the products they sell
5, They knowingly publish wrong telephone numbers for their supervisors and managers
6, It’s almost impossible to get through to customer services on the phone
7, Even if you do - no one can help, they tell you to email the supervisor
8, You email them - they might not even email you back
9, You might get blamed for the faulty or damaged goods they sent
10,You may not get a refund

So consider the above before you take out your credit card.

You can read some Watford Electronics Nightmares or  Watford Electronics Reviews, or go to this forum where many people have shared their bad experiences.

I bought an Aries Precision 1101 Notebook from Savastore. This is my story…(click on the underlined words to read it).

What is yours????

If you had the misfortune of shopping at their online store Savastore.com, and you want to stop them getting away with misleading people and providing an unacceptable customer service, you are reading the right page.

Firstly, share your experience with us by adding a comment below.  This is a blog and it’s going to be picked up much faster than normal web pages by the Search Engines, so we can warn more people more quickly about them!

Secondly, for the same reason, open a free blog here. Blog your frustration out there too.

Thirdly, if they refuse to give you a refund you can try to claim your money back through Money Claim Online - this is an internet based government funded service that seems to work for getting  money back from Watford Electronics.

Update (20 June 2006)

Recently we have received an email from Mr Hills, the Customer Service Manager, requesting this post be removed because it’s “untrue” and “harmful” to their business. You can read our correspondence with him regarding this issue here. This post was true at the time it was published. If their customer service has improved since last year please defend Watford Electonics below. If it hasn’t, please let us know your comments!

Isn’t it amazing how they care about potentially harmful comments and blogs, yet they don’t seem to give a damn about their customers? If Watford Electronics spent more time on their customers’ problems in the first place, they would not have to turn to blogs and forums to shout out their frustration and disappointment. Wouldn’t that be a better use of energy rather than threatening those who dare to publish their criticism with law suits?  

Savastore

Savastore.com is owned by Watford Electronics. If you’re thinking of buying anything from them - think again. Why?  Because this is what Savastore is about:..

• Their website has misleading information about products they sell
• Their website and telephone sales staff mislead you about the availability of their products:  they tell you that a product will be delivered in a week, which may arrive more than a month later. In the meantime they do not inform you about the delay - you have to chase them
• They sell products unfit for use in the UK  - putting your life in danger!
• Their sales staff don’t know much about the products they sell

Should you have any problems with the product you buy, customer services at Savastore is totally appalling: inefficient, unhelpful and absolutely useless:

• You can only get through to them on the phone after several hours of listing to music (for which they charge a premium rate!)
• When you get through, you can only talk to a sales assistant who has no power to make any decisions. You get told to email them.
• When you email them, they ignore you.
• You then write to the supervisor or manager - they ignore you.
• You might get a reply after several emails - but no proper reply to your enquiry.
• The supervisor and the manager publish their telephone numbers in their emails. These are not real phone numbers - obviously they do not want to be called by customers.
• Many people don’t get a refund or get blamed for faulty products
• Many people have already complained about Savastore to the Department of Trade and Industry.

They have been getting away with this for far too long! Together we can do something about this. The more of us who submit our stories to blogs and forums the more people will stop buying anything from them. You can start by adding your story below. Also, set up your own free blog here and publish your story there too. You could also contribute to this forum, but a blog gets picked up faster in the Search Engines than any other document -  so start blogging now! There is already a blog about Watford Electronics Customer Service - you can start therea. Also, if you have a website or a blog, link to these forums & blogs - the more links they receive the better they will rank in the Serch Engines when people search for Savastore & Watford.

Click here if you want to read people’s stories about Savastore and reviews about Savastore.

Please share your experience of shopping at Savastore, please comment below.

I bought an ARIES PRECISION 1101 Notebook from Savastore, This is my story…(click on the underlined words). What is yours????

Update (20 June 2006)

Last month we received an email from Mr Hills, the Customer Service Manager, requesting this post be removed because it’s “untrue” and “harmful” to their business. You can read our correspondence with him regarding this issue here. This post was true at the time it was published. If their customer service has improved since last year please defend Savastore below. If it hasn’t, please let us know your comments!

Perhaps Savastore should spend more of their time on providing a good Customer Service. If they did so, their customers would not feel the need to express their dissatisfaction and anger on several blogs and forums. Their sale would also improve as people would recommend them to each other rather than warning against them - word-of-mouth is still the most powerful way of making or breaking a business - particularly in cyber world!
 

Aries Precision

Aries Precision 1101 Notebook from Savastore

Are you thinking of getting an Aries Notebook from Savastore.com owned by Watford Electronics? Well, DON’T! This is why:

I ordered an Aries Precision 1101 laptop from Savastore.com. I chose this laptop because it had a good spec for its price and, according to the Savastore website, it was available within 3-6 days. I received no confirmation of the order. I checked out the “My account” section on their site, it said that the order was cancelled. I called them the next day and was told that the order did get through but they were waiting for some parts. I was assured that the laptop would be delivered within 7 days..

I was anxious for the laptop to arrive on time because I had to travel abroad for a week and needed the laptop to work on.  In their terms they say that “It is our policy to contact you to explain the stock and delivery situation ….”, yet it was I who had to call and email them several times before my departure date.

It is almost impossible to get through to customer services. When I did manage to get through, I was told the laptop would be delivered “within a couple of days”. The laptop was not delivered before my business trip and therefore I could not do my job properly causing my company a financial loss.

The Aries Precicision notebook was eventually delivered a month later. However, it had a foreign keyboard, the network card didn’t seem to function and the fully charged battery indicated only 75 minutes rather than the 3hrs they advertised on the Savastore website.

I called them again. After more than an hour on the telephone I got through to customer services only to be told that I had to get some sort of return authorisation number, which I had to obtain online because the laptop was ordered online. They could not give me a specific date for picking up the laptop nor for delivering a replacement.

I tried to get the return authorisation number online - their website was not working. By now I’d just about had enough and emailed the Customer Services Supervisor, the manager & the managing director. I requested that someone in authority called me within a day to explain why the laptop had a foreign keyboard & plug; what could be done about it; how long this would take; and what sort of compensation they were offering, given that they’d misled me for a month about the availability of their product and then delivered the wrong laptop.

I received no reply. I kept emailing them. Jenny, the customer services supervisor replied, but offered no explanation, no help - nor even the merest suggestion of an apology. She had a direct phone number in her signature - so I tried to call her to get some answers. The phone number was obviously phoney, as it was engaged even at 2am!

I emailed them again - they just ignored me. I  was by now so pissed off that I got onto the DTI. Within a couple of hours I had a Trading Standard Officer in my house inspecting the laptop. He confirmed that the plug was unsafe to use in the UK and strongly advised me not use it because it could cause fire. Apparently it is a criminal offence to sell electrical goods in the UK with foreign plugs. Watford Electronics had put my life in danger!

I wrote to Watford Electronics to let them know what the Trading Standard Officer had told me. They offered me a full refund, but no compensation for putting my life in danger - and again offered no form of apology! They said I am only entitled legally to a full refund not to any compensation. This was, of course, my statutory right anyway.

I returned the laptop and got my refund. I’m also considering whether to take legal action against them for putting misleading information about their products on their website and supplying unsuitable & dangerous goods.
 
Apparently I’m not the only nor the first dissatisfied customer. In fact, it seems Savastore and Watford Electronics have a very bad reputation.
You can read more horror stories here about Watford Electronics and Savastore.com
You should certainly read these before you decide buying anything from them.

If you have a similar experience, please submit it here (by adding a comment).

Update (20th june 2006)

We have recently received an email from Mr Hills, the Customer Service Manager, requesting this post be removed because it’s “untrue” and “harmful” to their business. You can read our correspondence with him regarding this issue here. This post was true at the time it was published. If their customer service has improved since last year please defend Savastore below. If it hasn’t please let us know your comments!

We find it unbelievable that Mr Hills gets so defensive about this post, yet when we complained to him about the Aries laptop he didn’t even bother to reply to our emails let alone explain the situation. He should really get some training at John Lewis, where they know how to provide proper Customer Service.

In this category I’m going to give a few tips on digital graphics, logo design, image optimisation, image manipulation, web animations etc. Feel free to ask questions or add comments..

Image Optimisation

 A web page should not take more than 10 seconds to download. Viewers get bored with waiting and click elsewhere. So, if you want to use graphic images and/or photographs you must take this fact into consideration. On your front page you should only put small images - and not too many of them. Small I mean as in kilobites - not in pixels. I know this is very confusing - most non-designers don’t seem to understand this concept.

I’ll try my best to explain it. Let’s say you have a photograph that you’ve scanned in or taken with your digital camera. It has two sizes - one measured in pixels the other one in cm(or inches). The latter determines its real i.e. printing size whilst the former determines its digital size - i.e. how big the picture looks on your monitor. If you want to print this picture - you focus on its real (printing) size. However, if you want to email this picture to your friends or use it in any kind of digital format (in a slide show, on a CD, on a web site) the printing size doesn’t matter. Only the pixel size matters. For example - our picture would be 12×16cm - the pixel size 800X600. The pixel size depends on the DPI setting of your scanner or digital camera. The higher the number - the better the quality - goes the theory. This is true but, again, this matters if you want to print the picture. For computer & web use, the dpi should be between 72-150.

The best thing to do is to scan your picture (or take your picture with your digital camera) or image at a high dpi, then do the following:

1, lower the dpi setting to maximum 150 (72 if you want to have the picture looking small on the monitor)

2, this will automatically reduce the pixel settings of your image - note: the real (or printing) size will not change

3, decide how big your image you want to be on a monitor. If you want to email it to someone aim for about 400x 350 pixels (never bigger than 640×480)

4, if you want to put it on your web site - you must optimise it. Use Photoshop for this and click on "Save for web" . Here you have choices to save your image as a gif or jpg or png. Normally jpg is better for photos, gifs are better for graphics. But not always. Just experiment with the settings - click on the optimised box and it will tell you the size of the optimised version.

By the way I use this even on pictures to be emailed to friends/clients. Why? Because an image (let’s say 400×300pix) of 400 KB gets reduced to 12KB. It’s fast to email - and fast to download on the other side (whilst the quality of the picture is not harmed).

So size matters. By optimising your pictures your pages will download faster. In theory your pictures/images should not be bigger than 15K. In fact aim for 2-5K small images (maximum 10 per page). These can be little animated gifs or still images as long as your viewers don’t have to wait more than a couple of seconds (each) for them to download.

Gif Animation

If you want to spice up your site, add a couple of animated gifs to your pages. But not too many of them and not tacky-flashy ones. They are very simple to create - you only need a bit of imigination..

The best tool to use is Image Ready (part of Photoshop). You can control the speed and time of these animations. People don’t like to see constant movement on web pages so it’s best to allow the animation only to play up to a certain amount of time (1-5 times).

Also, people like being "in control" of web-pages, so allow them to interact with images such as roll-overs that turn into little animations. It’s a surprise for them and they feel in control. Don’t worry about people not realising that the image is supposed to be an animation. Most people belong to the "clickers" category - they click on anything and everthying on a page. I’ll publish a few examples to demonstrate this - I can’t quite work out how to do this here. I’ll have to ask our technical expert!

I’ll be back!