Internet Marketing Blog » website design

The Hidden Added Value In Web Design

Click Consult — Thu, 03 Jun 2010 12:23:17 +0000

For the web designer, it can be tricky charging clients by the hour for design work, because of the difficulty in estimating how long it will take to come up with the perfect concept for a brief. The web development process initially requires hours of thought in order to generate ideas, and this time could be spent walking in the countryside, in the studio scribbling on paper, or even while leafing through an art book.

Although on rare occasions the time taken for inspiration to strike is shorter than expected, usually clients end up getting far more for their money. An able designer cares about each project, because its success reflects upon their abilities, and because web design is what interests them. The design process may be long and involved, with the designer mulling over possibilities while eating, bathing, and perhaps even while sleeping.

Charging by the hour does not really fit the way design work is generated, but it is probably the best method available for most projects. In addition the client is paying for the designer’s years of education and experience, all of which are brought to bear upon the website design process. Another part of the equation is the designer’s ability to produce results that meet the requirements of a given brief. As designers will usually have proved they can do this time after time, the client is more or less assured of a suitable outcome.

At Click Consult, our experienced web designers know how to come up with the perfect design for your website, to ensure that your internet marketing campaign is maximised to its full potential.

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Literacy Leads To Better Web Design

James — Thu, 01 Apr 2010 08:05:01 +0000

Designers tend to see everything in terms of graphic or visual elements. Text becomes a shape, or block, rather than collections of individual words with meaning. This is not helped by the fact that, during a web development project, content creation is often left until last, with designers accustomed to fitting their pages around columns of dummy text.

It is better if content is there from the beginning, to be read by the designer before work begins. Then visual aspects of a page can be fitted thoughtfully around the sense and tone of the words. Appropriate colours and images may be used to enhance text. Armed with understanding, the designer can compose a page that breaks large columns into more readable sections and brings important phrases to attention. The result is a more coherent and powerful website, with style and content working together harmoniously.

Where the designer has manipulated empty blocks in place of actual content it is a common side-effect that the words in the final version are difficult to read. The background may be too dark, the font too pale, or the combination of colours used might dazzle the reader’s eyes. This can be avoided if content is placed at the forefront of a project to remind the designer that it is more than just a shape on the page. The words have something important to say that, when combined with sympathetic design, could have the ability to move the reader. At Click Consult, we integrate content and web design to produce successful websites for an internet marketing campaign.

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Web Design Is Different From Print Design

James — Mon, 29 Mar 2010 08:05:50 +0000

The similarities between designing for print and design in web marketing may seem obvious, but the differences may be greater. Print designers arrange text and images strikingly on the page, and knowledge of typography and colour are important. This is also true in web design but there are other variables to take into account.

Colours are different on the web, being made from red, green and blue light (or RGB), as opposed to the CMYK (or cyan, magenta, yellow and black) system of printing inks. Web images are necessarily lower in resolution, 72dpi rather than the typical 300dpi used for print, or pages would take an extremely long time to load.

Reading text on screen differs from viewing print on paper, and typography that works well in print may appear less impressive on a web page. As not all computers have every font installed, visitors may even see something completely different. It can be prudent to stick to fonts that are generally found on most computers. Even then, some users’ browser settings may substitute another typeface.

Print design has a fixed size, while a web page may expand or contract to fit the screen. Web pages are not viewed whole. Visitors scroll down, revealing a little at a time, so the design is never seen in its entirety. Web development uses links to navigate from page to page, unlike print where all pages are present at all times. At Click Consult, we recognise the differences between web design and design for print.

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Web Design Across Different Browsers

James — Wed, 24 Mar 2010 08:05:47 +0000

One day it might be possible for web development to take place without worrying about the differences between browsers. Until then, designers will continue to allow for the fact that the pages they design might be displayed in a variety of ways, according to the browser in use.

This could be viewed as a creative challenge, and web designers have methods to ensure that web pages look the same across a range of browsers. These involve the use of CSS, the code that governs how pages look on screen. What are known as CSS hacks involve writing CSS code that, while invalid according to web standards, will force a particular feature to work. CSS filters, on the other hand, are sections of valid code designed to show rules specific to certain browsers.

The disadvantage of using these tricks is that, over time, browsers develop and change the way they implement CSS. In the future, clever workarounds could be useless, or even lead to seriously broken pages. Before using them, it is always wise to check whether simple mistakes in the original code might have been overlooked, as these can easily be fixed.

If a problem is definitely caused by a browser, it might be preferable to tolerate a minor error, such as a slight misalignment, rather than resort to web development using invalid code that may cause future problems. In later versions of the browser, its handling of CSS may improve and the problem might be resolved. At Click Consult, our web design takes browser variation into account in an internet marketing campaign.

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Web Design And Usability Testing

James — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 08:05:43 +0000

Carrying out usability testing as part of the web marketing and development process is potentially beneficial, but there are a number of pitfalls to avoid. Tests can be unreliable if they are not carefully planned and results can be useless if they are taken in isolation rather than as part of a bigger picture.

One obvious benefit of usability testing is that it can reveal glaring errors made by the web design team. Other more subtle aspects of tests can be easier to miss. Selection of the right participants is crucial. If a user is asked to carry out a task he or she has no interest in, the results will differ from those of a more motivated person. If the aim of a test is to help streamline a site for new visitors, it is no use testing with participants selected from existing users, as they will already have come to terms with the established system and will find it familiar.

Results must be analysed with caution. If a person visits lots of pages, does that show extreme interest or could it mean that the information that was sought for could not be found? Alternatively, a user lingering on one spot could be a good sign, and mean that the page was engaging, or it could be that the visitor was unsure how to proceed. Awareness of such possibilities makes it more likely that testing a web design will prove fruitful. At Click Consult, our web development professionals fully understand the pros and cons of usability testing.

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The Use Of JavaScript In Web Design

James — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 08:05:15 +0000

JavaScript is a programming language which is often used in web development. When present in web pages it enables the addition of a range of features. Users surfing the internet will already be familiar with the effects of JavaScript, as it is responsible for the appearance of pop-up windows, and interactive events such as those that occur when visitors move the cursor over an image. JavaScript also causes the alerts that appear if the wrong details are typed into an online form.

In more subtle ways, JavaScript is employed to collect information about a user’s operating system, browser type, screen size and resolution. Similarly, details of the time and date can be gathered from a visitor’s computer. JavaScript can also be used to carry out calculations and for text manipulation, including putting new text into an existing document.

All of these simple options can be combined to powerful effect. For example, JavaScript could check in detail whether a form was correctly completed, including filling in all the boxes, supplying a valid email address, and making any appropriate selections. It would then be used to warn the user if they had made any omissions or mistakes.

It should be remembered that JavaScript can only work if it is enabled in a user’s browser. For this reason, it can be risky to rely on JavaScript for vitally important parts of a website to function. Our web design experts at Click Consult know how to make full and proper use of JavaScript in web development and web marketing.

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Knowing The Basics Leads To Better Web Development

Gareth — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 08:05:21 +0000

There are numerous web design programs available which enable the user to create pages for websites. Some, such as Dreamweaver, are well-known, and a beginner might assume that it is necessary to invest in such expensive software in order to build web pages at all. It often comes as a surprise to find that websites can be made by writing code with a simple text editor, such as Notepad.

More complex programs for web authoring tend to have something called a WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get) option where users can arrange elements on the page visually without seeing any of the underlying code. The program writes the code itself so that someone who had no understanding of HTML could, in theory, design a site.

Unfortunately, understanding how to code makes all the difference if someone wants a finished site that exactly fits his or her requirements. With no knowledge at all, fine-tuning of web pages could be impossible. Professional designers will know how to alter the underlying code themselves even when using WYSIWYG for convenience.

Web design programs may come up with code that does not meet web standards, and users could end up trying to fix problems that would be easily solved if only they understood what had been written. This is not to say that web authoring software should not be used but that designers who already know the basics will get the best out of such programs. At Click Consult, our web marketing and development is based on understanding the basics as well as the more advanced aspects of web design.

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It’s Not Just About Looking Up And Down

Gareth — Fri, 05 Feb 2010 08:00:06 +0000

While every form of web design quite obviously considers the header or banner at the top of a web page as being of the utmost importance in attracting attention and displaying vital information, it is easy to forget about potential usages for the footer at the bottom. Whether it is given an equal amount of space and identical styling as the header to create a ‘book ends’ type of feel to the page, or if it is simply allocated as a basic space to index links to other important pages within the overall web design, the footer is something that should certainly not be overlooked.

Whatever the objectives of a website might prove to be, design functionality is certainly just as vital as ensuring that the most basic of details are clearly readable in a coherent and legible text format. Therefore the process of web development needs to stay abreast of current trends and innovations in design technology, as well as in marketing strategy and new ways to encourage the greater flow of traffic to a website.

Competition can be amazingly fierce for any company doing business in today’s tough economic environment, and that means web design must also remain competitive if it is to stay ahead of the proverbial curve. So here at Click Consult, our web design considers every inch of the page to be important, whether a company is looking for a minimalist concept or something more elaborate and complex.

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Seeing The Importance Of Being Equally Diverse

Gareth — Mon, 25 Jan 2010 08:00:07 +0000

Using web design that has been developed with specific multi-lingual capabilities has the very real power to reach out to whole new markets that many companies might previously have been cautious about considering; whether that be from worries over-accurate translation issues, or simply from the technical perception of having to create all those extra added pages and links that multiple languages would require.

A multi-lingual user should never be accidentally sent to the wrong language page, or linked incorrectly back to the English language homepage, and while not every internet user has English as a first, second or even third language, as part of our specifically tailored web development here at Click Consult we have the expertise to incorporate many other languages into consideration with our web design, and we have both the knowledge and experience to market companies through the use of such added tools as multi-lingual email or multi-lingual press releases and databases, without having such things become obtrusive to the English language user.

Whether a company is already global or looking to expand into other countries, language is an important factor in marketing as well as specific operations. Noticing that pages have already been translated for a potential audience, without the need for using external translation software that can often be generalised or inaccurate, can certainly be a powerful added marketing incentive that demonstrates how a company has taken ethical diversity into account in forward planning for an expanding target audience within its web design.

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Be Prepared To Feed The Need

Gareth — Fri, 15 Jan 2010 08:02:02 +0000

On the whole, RSS XML feeds tend to lean toward breaking news and the distribution of vital information, but there is also huge potential for these feeds to meet marketing needs as well by, amongst other things, helping to snowball press releases and online newsletters, whilst staying fresh and interesting for shopping and consumer updates. Using RSS XML feeds on your website for document listings can also be dynamic for any target audience in that it decreases the need to keep continually checking back for updates.

Feeds enable valuable information to be shared on the simple things too, like relevant holidays or calendar events that might have an impact on business, and can enable both product and service providers to stay ahead of any potential problems or delays that can be a natural part of doing business. Feeds easily allow for an up to the minute flow of current threads and content on what is happening in related blogs and forums.

RSS XML feeds have been demonstrated to cultivate an active and dedicated following of subscribers so it then becomes vitally important to keep them interested by featuring regular updates either hourly, weekly or on whatever timescale is necessary to quite literally feed the need.

As part of our web design strategies here at Click Consult we believe that these feeds are certainly a vital part of any marketing campaign and should be taken seriously as a widely available marketing tool, because incorporating RSS XML into web development provides an immediate relevancy to doing business online that can easily boost website traffic.

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