WebDesignQuest.com

You can get templates sites for next to nothing, even in some cases you can get them for free! Sounds like a great oportunity right? To have a pre-built web site with all the bells and whistles on it for a cheap price, but is it really worth it? Template site are perfect for anyone who needs or wants a site available quickly or does not have the desire or patience to learn how to use web design software.

 Downsides:

1.   If you don’t have the patience to learn the ins and outs of desing, then you probably don’t have the patients to run a web based business.
2. Free templates can cause significant design flaws and can end up causing significant damage to your web business image.
3. If using a fee web page template, your files are often distrubuted freely around the internet and is used by thousands of web sites.

Problems with SEO:

1. Many templates are only optimized for one or 2 web browsers (the most popular is Microsoft Explorer), this means that a user that is not using the certain browser that the template site is not optimized for they most likely will not be able to access your site. 

How to protect yourself if you do use a template:

1. Modify any CSS fukes that are included and rename or replace any image files.
2. Test the template across a number of popular browsers ( This is a very effect and fast way to test a template site)

I suggest not setting up and using a template site, instead use a template site for inspiration to build your own site. Use templates for inspiration instead than the solution. Some good inspirational template sites are www.opendesign.org or www.oswdshots.org . If you want a website up and running quickly and don’t mind your site looking similar to other sites, then a template site could be for you. On the other hand, if you don’t make changes to the template file and test it in various Web browsers then you should forget about using them altogether. If your web site is vital to your business, then you should hire a web designer to create a personal, professional, and unique site.

The topic of flash multimedia is a highly debated topic. On the one hand you have the you have to rich media evangelists and on the other you have the usability experts. Each side has good arguements, but which side do you need to be on? You could be on the side of the usability experts who argue that flash is evil and that the technology uses to much, while the media evangelists stick to their guns claiming that bad web designers should be to blame for excess not the techonology.

 There are a couple different kinds of ways that you could use flash. There are complete “flash sites” where the whole site is complete flah integrated site, although it can be effect most users find that there is too much flash on the site.  You could also add some flash to a simple HTML designed site. These sites are recommended by the usability experts, if you want to add flash to your site.  Some flash only sites are accomadated by non-flash sites, to cater to a wider variety of users. A few other ways that you can use flash mutltimedia is in banner advertising and interactive button advertisments.

So should you use flash on your website? My answer would be yes. But consider a few of these details:

• Flash content is not properly indexed on search engines - Although search engines are able to index information from flash animation, I would not recommend putting important information in a flash animation. Most search engines pass up the information because they can not properly index the information
• Complex flash animation can introduce usability issues - For example, a user may try to use the back button on their browser to return to the previous page, but it will just restart the animation! This is something a desinger will nee to consider when building a flash interface.
• You can’t be sure that all you visitors will see the flash content - Pretty obvious, you will want to have alternative content for when the flash does not load.

96% of web developors have flash mutltimedia on their browsers! Does this prove that flash is something that you need to use? No!  There are a few questions that you consider before you decided if you need flash:

• Will flash help me communicate with my audience? - The first thing that you need to consider is if flash makes sense to use. Will you be able to convey your point better to the audience in how you will adress their concerns, as well as keep the users needs and perspectives in mind.
• Will my audience have the right plug in? - The estimate is that 85% of users have the flash capabilities, with new browsers being shipped with flash already built in. But that still leaves 15% of people who don’t have the capability or have an outdated version.

Now the big question is, Is flash a friend or a foe? I would say both. There are some ups and downs of the use of flash and it is hard to decide when you need to use it or not. I hope though, that I have informed you enough for you to make the right decision for your website.

It is in my opion that there are a few things that you must do to create a REALLY good site. It is hard to balance out all the aspects of what a site requires to appeal to the different types of viewers that might find your site.  Your site will also need to able to accomplish several different activities that are easily understood. Averagae users and owners of website don’t really comprehend the details that are needed to put together a GREAT site.

Firstly your site needs to look good, which is the most obvious of all of the details needed.   A good looking website needs to portray your company and keep people interested. But don’t go over board! I have seen some sites that use too much flash or change colors on each page. Flash is always nice, but with a hefty amount on your site it will take the user longer to understand who you are, what you do, and how you do it. Also, If you use to many colors, or change a pages color layout it may confuse the user into thinking that they have been directed to another site and will leave.

Another thing to consider is the load time of your site. The longer your site takes to load the less and less people will visit your site.  Often this aspect is not considered, I strongly suggest considering your loading time.

In another one of my blogs I wrote about stickiness and making your site easily navigated. Your site MUST be easily navigated for your users. If your site confuses users or makes them work harder than they need to they will leave your site. Ultimately, they might be going to your competition for the services they are searching for.

I bet when you first decided that you were going to build a website there was one major goal that the website was suppose to accomplish.  Weather the site was to have potential clients contact you or produce more sales and awareness of your business, make sure that your site meets the major goal that you had in mind and easily channels users towards that goal.

When it comes time to update your site, as most sites information becomes outdates and incorrect, you will want your site to be easily updated.  When a great website is built it was built with the ability to easily update when needed. Make sure that you consider this when you build you site.

Of course you will want your site to have great rankings on search engines, as everyone benifits from good ratings. Make sure that your site is easily accessable by the search engines spiders. This will allow them to better read and rate the content in your site.

Finally, you want to be able to have you site work with a variety of different web browsers.  Some of these web browsers you would/should include but not limit to  FireFox, Microsoft Internet Explorer, Mozilla and netscape. You also should consider that every web browser will render your page differently, and there are other ways to access the internet other than using a computer now so your site might need to be compatable for those options.

Of course, these are not the only things that you will need to create a wounderfule site. These are the ones that I think are the most important to consider.  Your website will need to able to be compatable with search engines, easily navigated, achieve it’s goals, be easily maintained, and be easily updated. Creating a site that can be created with all of these site abilites takes a lot of skills and you may not find a web designer that can offer you all of the services required.

Before you decided to work with a developer there are some things that you should ask them, to better know if the developer is the one for you.  With millions of options out there for you to choose, you’ll want to know a few things to ensure that your making the right choice. Below are a few things that you should ask web designers to separate the real result-getter’s from the rest.

1.How many years has your company been building web sites?
Of course, this is the most explanatory question. Usually, a company that that  has  more experience in the business knows what you want and what needs to be done for a successful web site. If you already know the question to the answer or the company is well known, you should be asking them how technologically up-to-date the company is and if they are designing web. 

2.Where can I see samples of your previous work?
A company with a portfolio online can display past projects to the public, this is a valuable asset to you so that you can see the past products and quality.

3.Can the company provide you with Flash animation?
You don’t ever want to have to much flash animation on your site, but it will add an extra edge to a website.

4.What industries have you created websites for?
If the company is familiar with your industry it can be beneficial to the build of your site. They can help add ideas and information that will be helpful and keep users coming back to your site.

5.What is the largest project you have worked on and why?
A company with well known clients are more credible for their work, this is also like a portfolio of their work online.

6.Do you offer web hosting?
If they do offer web hosting, it will usually be offered at a discounted price because they designed your web site. Normally, it is a good idea to go with the company that builds the site for you because they will offer you hosting at a lower rate then what you would find on your own.

7.Do I have to host my web site with you?
If you do find another site that can offer you cheaper hosting you should be ale to. You have the right to host your site wherever you want to.

8.What do I have to provide to you?
Usually you will have to provide the text, images, and feedback. If you can not or do not want to, you can ask if the web design company can offer these services to you from their stock photos and copywriting.

9.Are they able to offer the option of an online shopping cart?
If you do plan to do an e-commerce in the future, but you are putting the plan on hold for the first couple of stages, be sure that they have the resources to provide this service.

10.How do you measure success of you website?
Some companies will measure the success by the actual site itself; others measure it by the amount of traffic the site gets. This will all depend on what you are looking for.

11.Will I own the code after completion of the project?
You paid for the codes therefore you should own it, make sure that the answer is YES.

12.Do you have a formal project process?
If the company really has everything together they will have an easy process that will be organized and easy to follow.

13.What is the payment structure?
Usually there is a down payment of roughly 33%. Normally they require another 33% during the development and the final payment is due when the site is finished or goes online.

14.How will we communicate about this project?
I hear all the time about how people gave a designer a lot of money to get the project worked on, and then they couldn’t get a hold of the developer. Make sure that you can communicate by e-mail, which is usually more convenient and more effective. However, you can address your needs also by telephone.

15.  What browsers do you test the site on?
Testing should be done at the minimum of these four browsers
 

                                  1.Microsoft Internet Explorer
                                  2.Mozilla
                                 3.FireFox
                                 4.Netscape

16.Are your codes clean and up to date with open standards?
If the code is clean, it will load faster. Also that are more portable if you ever decide to switch to another designer in the future.

17.How long will it take?
A typical small business website takes roughly a month, but it usually depends on how involved you are in the project.

Normally the designer you are looking for has a good reputation and can offer you the services that you are looking for. If you do find one or two things that you do not like about a web designer, continue to search for one you are happy with but don’t completely scratch that company out. Not all the companies that you will speak with can offer you exactly what you are looking for, weather it be for the companies rules or their software they work with.