Blink is a virtual corporation. We consult and design. We typically either join a team or form a team to build sites for our clients. So far, this approach has worked out pretty well for us. We hand-pick team members on a project by project basis according to their temperament and specialty. This is good for our team members because they get to do the things that they love and work for clients that they like. It's good for our clients for a number of reasons...

• We can offer a wide range of technical options because we're not obligated to sell any one vendor's solution.
• The constant influx of new talent helps keep our creative approaches and our problem solving skills fresh.
• We can deliver quality sites at a fraction of the cost of the big guys because we don't have to support a large permanent staff.

     Like our clients, most of us were originally lured to the Web by its promises. Some of them were pretty bold... adaptive interactivity. Seamless multimedia. Global reach. Secure commerce. Infinite scalability. The impact of broadcast for the price of print. Not to mention unlimited access to the largest, most affluent and savvy audience the world has ever seen.

    We've all seen the promises and the projections. As business people, we are hopeful. As pragmatists, we are skeptical. Cautious. Though it may look like print, move like film, and sound like radio, the Web isn't exactly like any of those things. It's kind of a paradox wrapped in an enigma, and while the early adapters have been experimenting with varying degrees of success for almost a decade, the dot com bust has caused others to remain cautious. For many, the thought of venturing out onto the Web still raises the inevitable questions... how does this fit into our business model?... Is the timing right?... How much will it cost?... What kind of a return can we expect on our investment?

    Despite the hand waving and the hype, the truth is that none of us can tell you exactly where the Web is going. We can, however, assure you that you will probably need to be here in order to compete in the business climate of the future. But you already knew that.

    Unlike the sites we design for the general public, which tend to have more of an advertising look and feel, this is a working site. It's mostly about building your business on the Web. While hammering away at a single theme in two-screen bites is a powerful technique for building mnemonics, we'll be discussing some fairly complex and far-flung subjects here, so we hope you'll understand our need for a textbook density. We'll try to keep it interesting.

    Although the place is admittedly a little light on eye candy, we've packed it with information which will help you to familiarize yourself with the core issues of site development. We've also thrown in some practical, down-to-earth advice which should help keep you from going over your budget and out of your mind during production. We hope that these two elements will serve as an acceptable substitute for slick, impressionistic sales pitches and vague promises.

    Get comfy. Look around. We'd like to think that we've built something useful here, but sometimes it's hard to tell. If you can shake a minute loose, please feel free to write to me (michael@blinkworks.com) and let me know how we're doing. I welcome your comments and suggestions.

Michael Ferraro