1) Email/Phone number to contact them. Then Address/Location
2) Quality of a web site can only reflect well upon the company. That said, I've had plenty of good experiences with companies that have ugly web sites. If a site is too complicated, surely I'll leave.
3) I'm not picky
4) A way to transfer files easily to them.

1. What is the first thing you are looking for when visiting a printer’s website?
-Technical capabilities, prices and turnaround time.

2. Do you think that the quality of a printers’ website may be an indication of their services quality? If a site is too complicated - do you leave it and forget it or are you trying e-mail or call them?
-I would expect a competent and professional printer to likewise respect the quality of designer's work and invest in a conceptually sound and aesthetically pleasing website. At the same time, I would rather go for a relatively simple and crudely made site, then a confusing multi-tabbed juggernaut of marketing nonsense. I expect my relationship with the printer to be direct and personal, and the latter type of a site, would suggest the nightmarish future of being bounced between faceless departments, with all of the confusion, mistakes and misunderstandings that can arise from that.

3. Do you prefer to get a quote on-line or do it over a phone?
-Online (via email) if possible.

4. What else would you expect from a good printers’ website?
-Easy transfer of large files, examples of prior work, easily accessible templates for commonly used cd's and folders, list of preferred formats and file specs.

_____________________________________________
Personal Art and Design Portal of Ivan Gulkov
www.ivangdesign.com

1. Contact information... even if its on every page!

2. Yes, I think it will really reflect on the printer as do all websites. Keep it really simple no flash crap! People will only spend about 30 seconds on a page maybe less and if they can't get what they're looking for they'll just go back to google!

3. I dont mind really, I don't like to fill in online forms I prefer an email address with a fast responce. (maybe a standard price list, but not loads of reading)

4. Some examples of work shot professionally, work done by previous designers... a small bit dont go crazy!

The most important thing is to keep it simple don't over design it.

NO ON-LINE QUOTES!
I never get quotes on line or on the phone. I e-mail specifications to printers and I ask them to send me quotes back by e-mail.

I find that no printer's web site quote apparatus is sufficient for me to convey all the info I need to give them. I have a boilerplate spec form that I customize to each project. I rarely get calls or e-mails asking me to clarify specifications. When I try to convey specifications via inadequate on-line forms I always get calls about what I meant. Usually the calls are stupid calls that could have been answered by the caller if she/she had taken 2 more minutes.

Other than that, I want to know what kinds of books they produce, and especially what their binding capabilities are. I like to be able to see what kinds of text stock they keep on the floor.

& I don't care about the ability to upload files to a website or ftp site. I always send printers a stack of page proofs anyway, so I might as well burn the files to a CD and send it along. Not that much time difference.

I realize that the quality of a web site has little to do with the quality of a finished book. But still, if I have to look at these things, I do hope they will be easy to navigate, at the very least. I do not want to see any stock photos of one person peeping over the shoulder of someone else sitting at a monitor.

powers

I like to see pictures of the actual shop. A clean and well organized shop makes me feel that he will deliver on time and on specifications.

Héctor

I'm with Will, but I don't mind getting quotes over the phone. Perhaps I just don't trust myself or the printer enough. But I find that a conversation must take place in between myself and the printer. Discussing the project is where a lot of the bugs get worked out. If I only get a quote from a list of specifications and I don't get any remarks I worry that they are only scanning over what I've requested and are not really focussed on what I need.

Thank you very much!

________
AL ▪▪▪▪

Let me expand on what I earlier wrote.

I only specify and buy printing for books, casebound and paperbound. I work with only six printers at the most over the course of a year. Sales and service staff at these printers and I know one another quite well. Specifications for books such as we publish are for the most part pretty standard. It is in the details where each differs from the others.

That's why I type out my specs and require in return quotes that can be shown on paper: I want that paper trail.

Plus: I am a bit constrained in my bidding process by state purchasing regulations. The paperless office is not yet here: the Finance office requires a paper copy and I keep one on hand for reference. Storage of quotes will always be an issue: paper in file cabinets or files on a server which is already overcrowded.

powers

Dear Typophiles,

I'm pleased to announce that the new PrintHouse website is now on-line:
http://www.printhouse.co.uk

Your feedback will be very much appreciated.

Thanks!

Aleksander