Yes, the content management system we use supports any number of languages and translations. The cost for the site still would depend on the various functions you want on your site. A breakdown of pricing can be found here: http://www.newspaperwebdesign.com/packages

The hosting is a special we are currently running for newspapers by providing the service for free. Normally hosting for our newspaper websites costs in the range of $200-$300 per year (depending on bandwidth and space needs), which includes e-mail accounts in the package.

Right now, this is included in the package prices. However, each of our packages do not need to be stand-alone, so if there are services you do not need from a specific package, we can adjust the price accordingly.

No. There are no limitations for languages on the sites we build. Both regular content and the administration pages can be built for Spanish and many other languages, including right-to-left page, text and site rendering.

CMS is short for Content Management System, which allows users with the proper permissions (or roles) to control every aspect of their website, from the articles, layout positioning, images and interactive content.

For our newspaper CMS, we have customized each aspect of the system to run smoothly with the demands editors and publishers need in launching and managing daily and weekly newspapers.

Each site we create for newspapers (or other media), is created using content provided from each individual news source. Any design, programming and graphics created by Maine Web FX is copyrighted by Maine Web FX until the final payment on the site is made, at which time the copyright switches over to the newspaper.

Copyright for content is the sole ownership of the newspaper and its affiliates and is bound by outside sources terms of service, such as (but not limited to), Associated Press articles.

The copyright for design and programming does not extend to any part of the site that uses open source code, which is governed by its own General Licensing Policy.

This is a matter of opinion, but we believe they can benefit your site both in readership numbers and advertising revenue. See item: RSS: good or bad for newspapers? for more about this issue.

Search engine optimization is the process of implementing several key factors into your website to increase your search rankings in the major search engines such as Google and Yahoo.

No one thing is search engine optimization, and no magic bullet exists to get the top spot. However, Maine Web FX uses state of the art monitoring tools and procedures to help you achieve very high rankings. Our techniques have resulted in top 10 placement for each newspaper website we have designed and developed thus far.

Yes and no. Any website can be viewed on an iPhone. But if you are referring to a regular, web-enabled cell phone, some modifications need to be done to your site to make it readable. Please see PDAs, cell phones and iPhones for more information about this; and check out our web packages for pricing and implementation information.

The time frame for the website is really dependent on your needs. To be thorough, we would like to have a solid four weeks to get a full evaluation of your newspaper complete and enough time to properly program and design it.

However, if you come prepared with your needs and wants, a week could be shaved off the timeframe: 3 weeks.

The rule of thumb that you should generally go by is this. (Which was actually taken from another Website, but summed up everything really well): If you have the technical know-how to construct an email with an attachment, create a formatted document with Microsoft Word, and navigate through a web site, you have the skills needed for content management. It really is that easy, provided you have the right content management software.

Yes.

These are very basic instructions that are usable for most newspaper websites built by Maine Web FX.

Download Instructions

Full statistics and more than you will probably ever need are built right into the site. Clicks, pageviews, time spent on site, which feeds are used and how often, most, e-mails, most viewed, etc. Ads can be tracked through sent e-mails, but amount of times read through e-mail (automatic e-mails like news alerts) cannot be tracked. This is because once the story is e-mailed, it leaves the server and cannot be tracked. However, the ads associated with the automatic e-mails will reside on the server, and therefore can still be tracked for statistical purposes.

33% due before work on site is started (non-refundable)
33% due within 30 days
33% due before site is live launched

All billing is done in monthly cycles for site maintenance, changes, additions, search engine optimization, and other one-time and on-going services. However, DEPOSITS OF 50 PERCENT ARE REQUIRED FOR ALL SITE MAINTENANCE.

Site maintenance billing carries a minimum charge of 15 minutes work time.

All payments are due on receipt of invoice with a $20 administrative fee added each month to each invoice 30 or more days late.

Accounts that are late, will not be serviced by Maine Web FX until FULL payment arrangements are made and/or account is brought current. A 100 percent deposit may be necessary for accounts that are continually late.

All hosting accounts must be paid in full prior to hosting activation and/or hosting renewal. Late payments will result in hosting not being activated until account is paid in full.
Maine Web FX will seek collections for all accounts 90 or more days late. Collections fees will be added to all accounts sent to collections.

New websites (including site redesigns) have the following payment schedule:
33% due before work on site is started (non-refundable)
33% due within 30 days of deposit
33% due before site is live launched (or within 60 days of deposit for client-side delays)

Maine Web FX reserves the right to take down websites for clients who are 60 or more days late with payment.

We don't have any monthly (or weekly or any other) fees. Unless you need Maine Web FX to make changes to your site, you WILL NOT be billed.

The only recurring fee that you will have when Maine Web FX develops your website is an annual hosting fee of $200 per year. This is not technically a recurring fee, because we will ask you if you want to renew each year and not do anything until we hear from you.

No, the Houston Chronicle is not made with Drupal. I am not sure exactly which content management system they are using. For the most part, CMS systems work on the same principle of managing content and layout, and many offer various plug-ins to extend the functionality of the site.

After the website is launched, Maine Web FX does not retain any copyright to the site whatsoever. The website is yours to use and modify anyway you want. You are more than welcome to use in-house or other designers and programmers to make any changes or additions at any time after the launch. The sites are built using the Drupal content management system, which is an open-source program that is freely distributed and modified.

However, should you have any problems after the launch, Maine Web FX would be happy at any time assist you with your site no matter who has been working on the site.

The better question is what file formats do we NOT accept. Because we run Macs for all our programming and design, we CANNOT accept Microsoft Publisher files. They just do not work on Macs.

A partial list of what we can accept: jpeg, gif, png, MS Word, Excel, Photoshop, InDesign, Illustrator, Corel Draw, Corel Painter, txt.