Notes from the bay
Field notes, written plainly.
FILE: NOTES.SYS — 6 ENTRIES
What we learn on the tools, written for the people who hire us.
NOTE.011
Rebuild or fix? How to tell
When a site is worth repairing and when it should be replaced — including when the answer is fix it.
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NOTE.010
POPIA and your website: what to actually change
A developer-side checklist, not a legal one. What to change on the site itself.
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NOTE.009
Do you actually own your website?
Five checks, five minutes: domain, hosting, code, licences and analytics.
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NOTE.008
What to do when your web developer goes quiet
Locked out of your own site? The order to do things in: domain, hosting, email, then the files.
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NOTE.007
How long does a website actually take to build?
Realistic ranges for a South African build, and the one thing that decides whether you hit them.
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NOTE.001
What a website actually costs in South Africa
Real 2026 price ranges, what moves the number, and the red flags inside a cheap quote.
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NOTE.002
Why your website is slow, and what it costs you
The four usual causes, how to spot them, and what good performance looks like.
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NOTE.003
White-label development without the horror stories
How agency dev partnerships work and what to check before you commit.
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NOTE.004
Shopify or WooCommerce for a South African store?
The real trade-offs: rand costs, payments, shipping and control.
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NOTE.005
How to brief a web developer and get a quote you can trust
Five things a quote needs from your brief, and the thing that wrecks projects.
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NOTE.006
AI chatbots for small business sites: what actually works
Where an assistant earns its keep, where it embarrasses you, and what good looks like.
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READ ENOUGH?
If a note raised a question, ask it.
Most projects start exactly this way — someone reads a note, then sends us the situation behind the question. One working day, plain answer, number attached.