Web Design Tips & Tools
By Dave Davies – WeDoHosting.com

What’s Inside:
1) Web Design Tips
2) Scripting – Don’t Reinvent The Wheel
3) How To Choose A Web Design Company

I feel it necessary to note before getting into the information in this article, that this information is simplified and will, in a couple cases, give tips that do not fit in with “best practices”. For our web design clients, this will pretty much give you info you already know – though some of the links provided below may be of some interest and use. For those of you who have hired web designers and are reading this out of interest, please do not apply these changes without first consulting with your designer. This is VERY important as some scripts and design changes can have unanticipated results.

Web Design Tips –
Web design is a complex and wide-ranging field. Below are just a few tips and resources and you might find useful along the way. I must mention here, many web designers go to school (sometimes for years) and have experience with utilities and software packages (as well as design and graphics manipulation) that enable them to do the jobs they do. This section is not a substitute for hiring a web designer. I could not possibly cover all the areas of web design in 100 articles let alone one. What will be covered here are tips for adding features and functionality to your web site.

Initial Design Considerations –

Sitemap – Draw out a site map before designing (or redesigning) your site. Get an idea of what you want it to be/do before you even get to the actual design phase. This step alone will help you determine how you want it to link between pages which is key to the functionality of your website. Keep this handy, you may want to make a sitemap page for your site later on.

Navigation Buttons – Where do you first look for links when you want to navigate a website? Left hand side perhaps? Why? Because that’s where the vast majority of sites put theirs. Why? Because that’s where you first look for links. This may sound like a chicken and egg scenario and while I’m not sure which came first I do know that if you want your site to be easily navigated you’ll put them where people expect them to be and make them clear. If your site format does not include such a navigation bar that’s quite fine, but make your links easily found and label them in an easily understood format. If people don’t find what they’re looking for quickly they’ll move on even faster. We’re dealing with seconds here … and each one counts. Don’t make your visitors work to find information. If you are using a navigation bar on the left or right hand sides, place all important links where they will be visible immediately on a monitor set to 800x600 dpi. This will insure that even without scrolling down the page, your visitors will be able to see all your key pages (sections) immediately on the load of your page into their browser.

Scripting – Perhaps one of the greatest tools of the webmaster if properly used. Scripts (such as JavaScript) add virtually unlimited capabilities to websites. There are a huge number of scripting languages, each one useful in its own way. What type of scripting should you use? We’ll cover that in a bit more detail below in the section entitled “Scripting – Don’t Reinvent The Wheel”.

Statistics – As a client of WeDoHosting.com you have access to detailed graphical web statistics. You can log in to check these statistics at http://stats.wedohosting.com (only applies to clients of WeDoHosting.com). And what will these stats tell you? More than you probably think. If you have a website and are redesigning it take a very good look at your stats while you’re thinking of the design. It will give you information like where are you clients coming from, which page they are leaving your site from, and even which search keywords were used to bring traffic to your website from the search engines. Don’t underestimate the importance of your stats. Understanding what brings visitors to your site and what makes them leave should be taken in GREAT CONSIDERATION when doing your redesign or design of a new site.

Scripting – Don’t Reinvent The Wheel -
The use of scripting, especially JavaScript, has become an integral part of many popular websites. Scripting can turn your site from a “nice” one into something that will capture the eyes and imagination of your visitors, making possible virtually anything from “Bookmark This Page” links to very interesting graphical and text effects. Now most of us don’t have the time (or will for that matter) to learn an entire scripting language just to add a few neat features to our sites. Fortunately you don’t have to (and thus the title: “Don’t Reinvent The Wheel”). Below are links to various scripting resources. Most of them will offer these scripts free of charge. Browse around, you just might find something you’ve always wanted to add or, better yet, something you never even thought of but just know your visitors would love. Before giving the links I feel it necessary to warn: make a backup of the page you are adding the script to. This is an important note so I’ll state it again … make a backup of the page you are adding the script to. Many of these scripts are untested by the sites listing them. You’ll want to have an original copy of your page on the off-chance that it doesn’t produce the effect you wanted.

Free Scripting Sites:
JS Made Easy: http://www.jsmadeeasy.com/
JavaScript Kit: http://javascriptkit.com/
J-Scripts: http://www.j-scripts.com/
Free-Javascripts: http://free-javascripts.com/

These are not the only sources of scripts out there. Far from it in fact. If you are unable to find a script to do what you require among these resources try search engines. Try typing in something like “scrolling text javascript” if you’re looking for a script to scroll text across your screen. If you still can’t find it try other search engines. They all offer something different. I used to stick with Google exclusively and while it is still my primary search engine due to its simple interface, with specific searches I often have to try a few other engines (I recommend alltheweb.com, yahoo.com, altavista.com and overture.com just to name a few).

How To Choose A Web Design Company
There are many reasons that you would want to hire an outside web design company rather than do it yourself. First would be skill level. I for one have never tried to do my own dentistry. I will leave that job to someone trained and experience in it. Much the same, web designers (true web designers) are trained professionals, with experience and portfolios to back their words. Whether you own a bed and breakfast or you have a great idea about a new business and want to take it to the Net, unless you are trained in web design it is at least worth considering having it designed for you. While it is more costly to hire a web designer than to do it yourself, it is far more costly still to do the job yourself using FrontPage, or one of the other piece-it-together programs that will create a site for you based on limited input and without the vast options available that a designer will have with Dreamweaver or, better yet, direct HTML programming.

That said, not all web designers are created equal. Here are a few things you will want to take into consideration when you’re looking for a designer:

Who has the designer worked for in the past? With this information you can look at the sites the designer has created.

What languages will they be using? Many designers program in specific languages. If your designer cannot program ASP but can program PHP you will have to host on a Linux server whereas if the reverse it true you will have to go on a Windows box. This is assuming that the designer will even be using these languages at all.
How much can you afford to spend? You will want to be completely clear with your designer about what you want and what you can afford to spend. Bring up any future changes you might want made at the time you are negotiating the contract. It is unfair to the designer to expect them to make changes after-the-fact. They will have put many hours into your site during its development. If you agreed on a price before the site was done that will be for everything discussed then. They will probably charge you for additional changes. It would also be wise to note the areas that might be changing in the future and confirming a price at the time of the initial negotiations. You will be more likely to get a break on the price if you’re negotiating it all a once rather than piece-by-piece.

How Well Do You Work Together? This is perhaps one of the most important factors. Can you work well with your designer? Do your views of what your site should be match, and do you feel confident when speaking with them that they will provide the product that you want? These are all important gut-reaction things which you should pay close attention to. If you do not feel that you and your designer will work well together … get a new designer. This is a very personal project and one that should be taken seriously, BUT it can and should be an enjoyable one and if it’s not them something is wrong.

Article by Dave Davies.

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