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Welcome to LANDMARK Designs!

We offer professional quality websites for businesses and professionals. Our mission is to deliver affordable attractive websites and a complete website management solution. If you would like to have an Internet presence to market your products and services without the hassle of managing it, you've come to the right place.

Our Complete Management Solution provides :

- Web Site Design & Maintenance
- High Access Hosting
- Search Engine Optimization
- Search Engine Submisson
- Professional appearance and performance

...all this and cost-effective personalized service.

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This means that we manage all your hosting, design, email, domain name, optimization, graphics and programming requirements without any hidden costs. We also understand the importance of getting your website online quickly. Time is money, and we understand that and make sure your development time is short and cost effective.

We work together with you, designing a custom web site, building it using a wide variety of specialist tools. It is tailored to your specific needs, reflecting your style, not ours. Our approach is to emphasize speed and functionality over bells and whistles that unnecessarily increase site loading times. However, this does not mean that sites should be unattractive.

Read more...

Our Portfolio

Some are new, some are not so new, a couple are from many, many years ago (still going strong!) - and some of the others have been redesigned a few times !!!

  • 1Med
  • Dempsey
  • Flyboyz
  • Kyalami
  • LD
  • PRPhoto2
  • SP3
  • Scales2go
  • TheBB
  • Thin
  • UEC4
  • VC4
  • ab
  • amba1
  • amba2
  • api
  • arboureth
  • avantsmiths
  • bio1
  • bio2
  • brighton
  • cakesdz
  • cm
  • cmmfc
  • comsol
  • eq
  • exec-q-card
  • hct
  • hex-inov
  • hm
  • houghams
  • hprop
  • ia
  • invischurch
  • jencraft
  • jimredman
  • jody
  • kads
  • mkzn
  • mm2
  • mv
  • ni1
  • ni2
  • nps
  • pesco
  • prphoto1
  • redline
  • sacbn
  • sp1
  • sp2
  • stablesmarket
  • therain
  • tmhheads
  • uec1
  • uec2
  • uec3
  • usb
  • va1
  • va2
  • vc1
  • vc2
  • vc3
  • x-posure

 

 

Company Profile - Landmark Designs

Landmark Designs is a niche Website Management Company, providing complete website management solutions for businesses and professionals. The company is structured to provide the best solution to match our customer’s requirements. We have been designing and managing websites since 1999 and many of our clients have specialised requirements which we have been and are able to accommodate.

Read more...

Portfolio !




www.TheBB.co.za The Belly Button online shop sells Belly dancing costumes and accessories as well as selling images taken at various functions and shows. This website also has a Content management system to allow the user to control their own products, stock and orders on-line. Shop catalogue goes through to shopping cart and checkout, and then emails the orders.


www.UEC.co.za The designers, developers and manufacturers of the DSTV decoder has put South Africa on the world's technological map. They are World leaders in high speed information technology products for MPEG-2, DVB and digital television applications.






www.NauticalImages.co.za Nautical Images is a web-site displaying and selling images recorded at Yachting and other events in and around South Africa and include national and international races. Whilst the photographer has many years of experience in the commercial photographic field, he has a special afinity for yachting events. As well as still photography, video footage is also available of most yachting events.


 

www.SportsPics.co.za A professional photography image bank, SportsPics covers mainly motorsport events in KwaZulu-Natal and South Africa, including the South African round of the Moto-GP and World Superbikes. Also covered are Moto-X, Equestrian, Karting, Trials, Yachting and Archery events as well as the SA F1 Powerboat Grand Prix.




Others ...

www.1MedPipeBand.co.za (Scottish Pipe Band)
www.CakeDesignZ.co.za (Cakes)
www.CMMFC.co.za (Cato Manor Model Flying Club)
www.DempseyEngineering.co.za (Engineering)
www.AutumnBreeze.co.za (Shop)
www.TheBB.co.za (Shop)
www.Biotrans-UK.com (Craftsman)
BrightonPark.co.za (Housing Complex)
www.GDL.co.za (Product Support)
www.HighwayMotoring.co.za (Radio show)
www.ModelsKZN.co.za (Photography)
www.MediaVerge.co.za (Software)
www.Pesco.co.za (Property)
www.PRPhoto.co.za (Photography)
www.TheRainbow.co.za (Restaurant)
www.Scales2Go.co.za (Shop)
www.VisualAfrica.co.za (Photography)
www.VisualConcepts.co.za (Photography)
www.InvisChurch.com (Church Website)
JenCraft.co.za (Crafts Website)
StablesMarket.co.za (Flea Market)
StudioBB.co.za (Photographic Studio)

 

Packages

WEBSITE DESIGN:

CMS WEBSITE SETUP & DESIGN : A Typical Dynamic (Content managed) Website

Domain name & CMS Installation & Hosting Set-up
R720

Navigation - 6 menu items @ R100/item

ie -
1) Home & Navigation,
2) About us or Company Profile,
3) Products or Services or Gallery,
4) Support or FAQ or News,
5) Ordering or Links,
6) Contact &/or Query


(free items) Terms, Disclaimer, Privacy Policy, Sitemap

R 600
Website page content insertion, editing & optimisation pages for the 6 items above @ R250 / page
R 1500

TOTAL R2820

HOSTING:

LANDMARK Designs is not an Internet Service Provider (ISP) providing dial-up or other internet connections, we focus soley on providing a competitively priced service in web site management, design and optimization, together with web site hosting by a third party Host Provider. Servers currently have an average of 99.8% "Up Time.".

Our Host Provider does hosting only, this means your website does no have to share bandwidth with other services like Users surfing the internet, Voice over IP, ftp servers sharing large files, etc.

Hosting fees are payable in advance, either monthly by debit order or bank deposit ,if paid annually, by cheque or bank deposit.

ACCOUNTS Private Business
  Mini Basic Standard eComm
Monthly Fee R140 R195 R295 R499
Once-off Set-up Fee R250 R250 R400 R600


WEBSITE FEATURES Mini Basic Standard eComm
Disk Space, MB 50 750 1,000 2,000
Transfer, MB 500 3,000 5,000 10,000
Mailboxes 1 50 100 200
Web-based Email (Webmail)  
Forwarding & Autoresponders  
Anti-virus scanning  
Anti-spam Filter  
Full range of MIME types  
99.9% uptime
Weekly back-ups
UPS & Diesel generator
CGI counter/date/time
CGIEMAIL (form-to-mail)
PHP4 & 5  
MySQL 5   1 2 4
Shopping cart   optional
eCommerce (via bank deposits)   optional
Full eCommerce (credit cards)     optional
Google Submission   Free first
submission
SEO & Search Engine Submission   optional Free first
submission


Domain registration cost  

.co.za

R100 registration - R75 pa.

.com, .org, .net, .info, .biz

R150 registration - R150 pa.

.co.uk

R150 pa. (2 years in advance)

PLEASE NOTE: Domain registration costs are non-refundable.



ADDITIONAL:

Add-On

Description

Set-up

Monthly

Set-up or Convert to CMS

You have the option of upgrading your static website into a dynamic CMS site. On Basic accounts or higher only.

R370.00

 

Account Upgrade

You have the option of converting your current account into one of the other, higher account types.

R50.00

 

Account Downgrade

You have the option of converting your current account into one of the other, lower account types.

R150.00

-

POP3-Accessible Mailbox

Independent, pass-worded, remotely accessible mailboxes under your domain.

R25.00

R15.00

Traffic usage above threshold

Traffic usage is monitored on a monthly basis, and over usage invoiced accordingly

Free

0.27c per MB

Additional Disk Space (per 100 MB block)

Add disk space to your current account to meet your growing needs in 100 MB blocks.

Free

R50.00

Domain Parking

Use additional domains to point to the same site as an existing domain.

R75.00, plus name registration

R10.00

Multiple Domains

Multiple domains are hosted on an independent Classic Account (Basic to eCommerce) and each domain can have its own files. Includes:

1 catch-all mailbox (unlimited e-mail aliases)

Online Web Mailbox

R75.00, plus name registration

R80.00

Domain Forwarding

Domain forwarding to an IP-address / domain name of your choice.

R150.00, plus name registration

R50.00

SSL Encryption

Use our server to accept sensitive information.

R299.00

R75

THAWTE Standard Certificate

Verify integrity of encryption under internationally accepted standard THAWTE certificate.

New - $299, annual renewal $259

Free

THAWTE 123 SSL Certificate

Domain validated and cost effective SSL Certificate capable of 128-bit encryption that carries the THAWTE hallmark of trust.

R950.00 per annum

Free

SEARCH ENGINE SUBMISSION

The site is submitted to the major International and local search engines

R175.00

-


Notes:

1) .de registrations require a valid ownership address in Germany.
2) All services are subject to our standard terms and conditions
3) Standard Certificate pricing is taken from THAWTE's schedule and is transferred to the client.
4) Payment is due on presentation of invoice.

 

CONTRACTS:

LANDMARK Designs requires a 12 month signed contract with new clients. Design of your website will commence upon payment of a deposit covering the domain registration, set-up and one website page (approx R650). Cancellation by the client within the first year can be made with 30 days written notice and carries a cancellation fee dependant on the type of website.

LANDMARK Designs can design and create your website at a very cost effective rate. We can provide this, as we only create websites for clients who host with us.

In the event of cancellation of the contract or hosting of a website - the design and copyright of the website can be purchased for R1200 (for a Static HTML website, Databases & programming not included). For a CMS website - the design template and copyright of the website can be purchased for R2100 (Databases & programming are not included as the website CAN NOT be transferred due to being an embedded CMS system which is integrated with the hosting service).



Copyright !


IMAGE PROTECTION:

Like most photographers and artists, you would like to be able to display your images and prints on the Internet without the fear of your work being used commercially without your permission or knowledge. Keep in mind that anything you upload to the Internet can be taken. No method is 100% foolproof. With this said, I would like to mention a few methods which offer various levels of protection for the images and content of your web page.

Watermarking

Both visible and invisible watermarking involve "stamping" your image in such a way that it can be identified as your image. Using a combination of the two is a very good way to make sure everyone realizes that you own the rights to your images. We can easily create visible watermarks in your photo (three styles are shown in the example below). You need to show "© YEAR & Photographer's Name" on the image itself to be able to make any copyright claims. Making this large enough so it is easily readable and not easily "erased" or cropped out of the image.

Invisible watermarks, like those created by Digimarc (starts at $99/year for 1-99 images), are available as a plug-in for your photo editor. The watermark, usually a personal Identification Number, is digitally embedded within the image. While these watermarks can be defeated, they offer proof of your ownership if they ever turn up in a publication without your permission.

Roll-over Technique

For some situations, we can create a roll-over image. This is a simple mouse-over technique, such that, when someone moves their mouse pointer over the image or right clicks on the image, a copyright message is shown and all they can grab is the copyright image. Of course this does not prevent someone from reading the source code and getting the link to the real image. However, it does make them fully aware that the image is copyrighted.

Move your mouse over the image below to see the effect. Try right-clicking on this image and selecting 'Save Picture As...' or 'Print Picture...' - then see that you only save/print the copyright message. Try printing this page (File/Print)...

When you move your mouse over it you will also see that ...
© 2002 Clive King - SportsPics.co.za      This is a COPYRIGHTED image.   Move your mouse off the image to view.


1) the image disappears behind a copyright notice.

2) the windows image toolbar does not appear.

3) the image alt message (message pop-up) reinforces the copyright.

4) the copyright and the Alt message both show the user how to get the image back.





Image compression

The image size and jpg compression level are also carefully chosen. Obviously to allow the web-site to load quickly, but also to have images that are large enough for your clients to want to buy them. The level that the images are jpg’ed to is also set so that when the image is enlarged, the image brings up unsightly artifacts in the photo, further preventing theft. The image below shows these artifacts when the image is enlarged by only 50%
© 2002 Clive King - SportsPics.co.za      This is a COPYRIGHTED image.
IMAGE PREPARATION FOR THE INTERNET

Create an Image Directory on Your Hard Drive

It's always a good idea to create a separate directory for your images. Typically, you could create a directory called "event name" or "images" and place all of your scanned images in it. (You could divide this into sub-directories for different subjects).

Calibrate Your Monitor

Before you view or edit your images, you should make certain that your monitor is properly calibrated. Why? You want to make sure that "What You See Is What You Get" (commonly referred to as 'WYSIWYG'). There is a bare-bone monitor calibrator online, called 'AIM' which will help get you started.

Scanning Your Images

To display the image you're scanning on the Internet, then scan the image in at 100dpi (dpi=dots per inch). Screen resolution is 72dpi and we only need the image to be 400 pixels along the longest side of the image. If you plan to print any of your images from the computer, whether at home on your photo printer or at a lab from cd, it is always best to scan the image in at 300dpi. For more information on scanning your images, see 'Scanning Tips'.

Working With a Copy of Your Images (Instructions are for PhotoShop)

It's always a good idea to work from a backup copy of an image, just in case something goes wrong. (Note: All Instructions are for PhotoShop)

· Open the image you want to work with.
· Click on "Save"
· Be sure to select/check "As A Copy" under "Save Options".
· Click "Save"
· Under Image Options Select "Maximum"
· Under Format Options Select "Baseline (Standard)"
· Click "OK"

Corrections (if any are needed) prior to resizing your image for Internet Use

First, make sure you have the History tab selected on the right side of your screen (you'll see History & Actions in the same palette). The "Auto Levels" adjustment is usually all that is needed most of the time when editing the image colour/brightness/contrast. (Note: All Instructions are for PhotoShop)

· Click on "Image" on the menu bar
· Click on "Adjust"
· Click on "Auto Levels" (Click on "Levels" to do it manually)

If you don't like what you see, you can either click on "Edit/Undo" or go to the History palette and click above "Auto Levels" (which should be "Open"). You can go back and forth on the History palette to see before and after effects if you'd like. Save the Image file (File/Save or Ctrl+S).

You can also experiment with the "Curves", "Brightness/Contrast" and "Color Balance" options under Image/Adjust when you have some extra time. Try experimenting with the white and black droppers as well. Select the white dropper (in Curves or Levels) and point it to the area of the image that should be pure white. Do the same for the black dropper. Personally I find that adjusting the centre pointer in the manual "Levels" is all that is required.

Remember, you can use the History palette to move backwards or forwards after making changes. However, when you save and close a file, the history is discarded.

Cropping Your Image

If your image needs to be cropped, now is the time to do it. Select the "dotted square" in the top left of the editing tools located on the left side of your screen. Once selected, place your cursor at the top left of the area you want to save, press & hold the left mouse button and drag to the bottom right of the image. Release the mouse button. An area will now be selected. Clicking anywhere else on the image will unselect the area. If you want to Crop to the selection, click on "Image" and then click on "Crop". This can also be undone if you decide you don't like it (prior to re-saving the image).

If you do want or need to crop your images, you can resize the image so that it is the same as the rest (or close). The best way to do this is with the Crop Tool.

Save your image before proceeding with the next step.

Sizing Your Image

The standard image resolution for monitors is 72dpi. You need to size the image so that the longer edge is 400 pixels. We will do the final sizing and watermarking before uploading to your website.

· Click on "Image"
· Click on "Image Size"
· Make sure the box "Constrain Proportions" is ticked
· Change the resolution to 72 Pixels/Inch
· Under Pixel Dimensions, make sure Pixels are selected as the unit of measure for
both Width & Height
· Enter 400 to the larger dimension - For example, under Width enter 400 (the proper
Height will be automatically calculated for you. Which should be less than 400)
· Click "OK"

Your image will now be resized to the correct resolution and screen size. Save your image.

Using the Unsharp Mask

At this time, it is sometimes beneficial to use the Unsharp Mask filter. This tool is used to sharpen the edges and should be used with discretion. This is always the last step in the process before the final optimized save, If Landmark Designs is going to be processing your images ie adding watermarks, then this step will be done by us.

· Select "Filter" from the top menu bar
· Click on "Sharpen"
· Click on "Unsharp Mask"
· Select "Preview"
· Suggested settings: Amount: 50-60%;
Radius: 1 pixel (range:0.6-1.6);
Threshold: 0 levels (range:0-3)
· Click "OK" once you see the desired sharpness in the preview box.

Save your image.

Saving Your Image for Your Web Site

Now that you have your image corrected and properly sized, you need to compress and save it for Internet use. If possible save it as a jpg at maximum size (least compression-better quality) which will give the largest file size. We will do the final optimizing, sizing and watermarking before uploading to your website.

Otherwise If you wish to do it yourself - Adobe's Image Ready does a great job in helping you select the degree of compression by allowing you to see what the image will look like before you save it. Try to keep the file size and load time as small as possible. As a rule of thumb, thumbnails - 4k to 6k and main images 20k to 30k.