website design 101

Building a website can be a fun, enlightening project, or it can be a stressful and joyless chore. My aim is to make the process painless and the end result successful.

I believe websites are about communication; delivering your message, reinforcing your image and giving the visitor what they want. In other words, helping you reach more people and do more business.

how to determine the best design for your website

We will already have most of the answers to strategy so, what's the best design?

The best design will be one that helps communicate your message, that supports your image, that doesn't distract, one that helps a visitor find the information they are looking for and that aids in achieving your goal. And one that you like.

It doesn't have to be complex or clever, and I think this sums it up:

less is MORE

Good design means that a first time visitor can quickly understand the layout of your website, and find the information they are looking for. Intuitive navigation should be a priority and needs to be considered at the beginning of any serious website design/redesign project.

Good design shouldn't distract a visitor from your message, but should help them move quickly through the website to the information they want.

If you want a site with lots of clever animation and music, and you're not Madonna or selling Sony Playstations, then it's likely that you'll be wasting resources and annoying your visitors.

Whatever your objectives, I doubt it is an award from the websitesthatsuck people!

My first step is to find out what information and features your target visitors need/expect from your website. This will dictate the Information Architecture (structure) of the site and give me an idea of site complexity.

Before we reach this stage it is impossible to give you a price estimate, but as people like to have a ballpark figure, the starting price for a professional-looking website with a fully functional CMS is around €3.000 + tax.

This is "from" price and bells and whistles addup quickly.

Next, positioning your website...