about dotsimple

dotsimple Established 2003 28 years experience in information technology and computers	Dotsimple was started in March 2003 by Martin Bolter with the aim of providing simple, cost-effective websites to small businesses in the area of Desborough, Northamptonshire. Martin's interest in music and photography has been almost life-long. His interest in information technology started in 1977 and developed into a fascination with computers in 1980 when he set his eyes on a Sinclair ZX Spectrum for the first time. He bought an Oric-1 computer the following year and had articles about its inner workings published in a national magazine. By then he was one of a very small band of people writing programmes for the Oric which then ceased production. He progressed to an Amstrad 6128 that loaded programmes from a disk - a revolution because up until then home computers loaded their programmes from a cassette tape (while the user made - and drunk - a cup of tea!) As IBM compatible PCs were introduced in greater numbers into the workplace, Martin explored their workings and their programmes. It was not until 1986 that he finally managed to set up a 'proper' PC at home. In 1990 he discovered the internet and started to learn the programming languages associated with compiling websites. In 1992 he designed and published his first website of five pages for St Giles Church in Desborough. This then led him two years later to design and publish a website for the town of Desborough. Both were -and still are - provided free and both have now developed a life of their own as they continue to grow. Involvement in local organisations led him to start providing webspace for local organisations - also free of charge. Martin spent 32 years in the Prison Service in the governor grades before taking early retirement in 2003. A former Deputy Governor of Wellingborough Prison, Training Manager at the Officers' Training School and a Midlands Area Policy Co-ordinator, Martin has a wide range of managerial and practical experience to add to his degree in Psychology. He designed and built the first prison website (now defunct since he left) for Leicester Prison. The website design business is aimed at small businesses and individuals who want an internet presence and who find that the prices of most web design companies is far more than they can afford. Dotsimple now has clients all over Northamptonshire and beyond and the businesses span everything from ostrich feather hats to oil and gas instrumentation. After taking over the maintenance of the Barton Hall Studios website he continues to gain business from artists throughout the county who want to promote their work to the public and to art galleries.
Martin is joined on an occasional basis by: his son, Adam, for help and advice on graphic design his son, William, as a trainee website designer and both for advice and help with graphics cards and computer gaming problems.


Early retirement gave Martin the opportunity to convert his hobbies into a business. A piano, church organ, keyboard and guitar musician, Martin's first musical love was always singing. A committed Christian for nearly 40 years, he attended an interdenominational Bible College for a year in the early 1970's. He is a member of the St Giles Anglican and Methodist Church in his home town and was the Director of the Witness Choir, an interdenominational group performing in local churches and prisons. The one-time Music Coordinator for St Giles Church, he now regularly plays the organ at the Desborough United Reformed Church. Over the years he has built up a collection of several thousands of pieces of digital music which have been arranged on the computer and which, with synthesised sounds recorded from real instruments, provide full orchestrations for solo, group or choir performances. Martin is rarely seen without his digital camera and his camcorder - a far cry from the Kodak he started with at 9 years old. Digital photography means no expense on films, greater opportunities for 'developing' and enhancing pictures and greater creativity.