If you decide that you want to host your website somewhere else, move your domain name to a different registrar, or take your current site to a new design company, can you? Does your current web design company or tech firm help you to do that?
Many web design and development companies force you to host with them by controlling your domain. Often clients who try to leave a company are not able to obtain physical files of their website or their data from their service provider. This prevents clients from switching their web hosting or taking their site to other developers. It prevents you from ultimately having true control and ownership of your online property! Sometimes when these unscrupulous companies go out of business, domains and site files are lost forever.
It should be every web design company’s objective to build the best site for their client; one that the client owns and can have freedom of choice with, like any other product or property. This not only means registering domains under the actual website owner’s name and providing site files when asked, this also includes creating files and formatting data in such a way that it can be easily moved.
As we move into the next generation of internet usage and computing, we will see more and more reasons to allow for this sort of portability. In an age of cloud computing, where all files, applications and other data will be online, data portability becomes crucial. What does this mean to you? Essentially, you will be able to one day access everything you need or want to use from any internet connection instead of relying on your physical personal computer and its software and store of documents. Theoretically, when the web evolves to this level of full internet integration (what many call Web 3.0) you will not need your personal computer or the software for your job or home use – you can access everything you need from anywhere via the internet.
Because of the cloud computing future of the web, all web design companies should be developing easily portable, transferable websites, business tools, interactive programs and data that adhere to Universal Web Standards. Because technology and the web are constantly changing and evolving, all tech firms should prepare by creating quality goods with sound, honest practices.