Graphic designers can now create more than just brochure websites without the need to know coding, thanks to 900dpi.
Abby Larner, a designer by nature, would have to ask her brother, Aaron, for help with back-end development on static websites she created, especially when clients needed content management systems. The two of them, along with fellow entrepreneur Adam Perkins, set out to solve this problem that they felt others were facing.
“900dpi was born from the assumption that there were other freelance designers out there that were having the same issues,” Abby Larner said.
How it works is that users save their HTML, CSS and JS files into a Dropbox folder, and 900dpi automatically syncs the files to its servers while creating a CMS. 900dpi also can add forms and external HTML pages.
“(We focused) on making the website creation process as simple as possible,” Larner said. “We put the tools in the hands of the designers and allow them to create robust websites with the HTML and CSS they already know. This allows designers to have full control over the look of the website and what their clients can edit.”
The service costs $20/month per website or $216/year per website. The company, which exited private beta last month, is currently bootstrapped.
According to Larner, the name “900dpi” is a play off of 300 DPI, a resolution for printing digital images, and having three founders with names that begin with the letter “A” (3 founders x 3 “As” = 9).
“When we were originally coming up with a name for our company, we really wanted something that resonated with designers,” Larner said. “We see our competitors as the ‘300s’, companies that claim to be the best. However, we wanted to strive to have a product that is better than the best.”
Future plans include more marketing and possibly adding other cloud-based file hosting services, such as Google Drive.