Web Site Creation

Web Site Creation

When designing a web site, there are several conflicting demands on the designer.

The designer wants the page to load fast, as users lose interest and surf somewhere else if the page takes too long to load.
Graphics and animation can add interest to a site, but these same features slow the loading of the page.
Good search engine positioning is done, in part, by using frequent keyword phrases on the page as text. Search engines increasingly ignore the keyword metatags and comment statements to determine positioning. (Titles and descriptions are still important.) If the keyword information is in animation (Flash) files, the search engines will ignore it. For graphic files, you should use ALT tags for your keyword phrases.

As a a professional web designer, we know how to balance these objectives. The web designer must also have communication skills - even to structure a site. A site designed to match a company's organizational structure, for example, would hardly be relevant for a customer looking for a specific product or service to meet their particular need.

Designing for Fast Loading

Most users of the web have incredible short attention spans. You have only seconds to catch the user's attention or they surf on somewhere else. Those fancy flash screens on loading the home page are out. Users won't wait.

This means a professional designer is constantly trading off loading speed for effective graphics, animations, rollover buttons, and other features that add a lot of interest to a page.

Designing for the User

The web site should be designed for the needs of the user. That is why the user came to your site in the first place. You may have a type of entertainment site; but it's more likely you have a content driven site. The site should be designed so that a user can get to the content they need quickly. The solution must be in their language, not your language. The design should be a problem-to-solution format. If you are selling glucosamine for joint pain, the database lookup on the product should be based on joint pain, not glucosamine. Using this simple trick can put you way ahead of competitors.

Designing for a Specific Objective

The web site is designed for a specific purpose. It has a vision, mission, and goals. These need to be clearly defined before the site is designed and analysis methods put in place so that you can measure the success of the site against these objectives.