Introduction
Having a website is almost a prerequisite for a modern business. There is, however, more to having a business website than simply having a web presence. The internet is now such an ingrained tool in our lives that clients will often do their research on the business through viewing their website. It is at this point that the client’s first impressions of the business are made. If the business is to be successful in gaining clients then the business owner needs to understand what is involved in designing and producing an effective website.
Website advertising is especially popular among businesses who want to show their stocks and sales without the expensive cost of advertising on TV or billboards. An ineffective or poorly designed website can be just as detrimental to the business as not having a site in the first place.
There are a variety of tools available for the use of website design. Dreamweaver is one of the best tools currently available. Dreamweaver allows designers to develop a webpage without having to use and understand html code. This means that anyone in any line of work can design a website. It also means that there are a whole range of poorly designed websites on the internet because sites are being developed by people with little or no understanding of the importance of the preplanning and designing aspects of websites.
To develop an effective website there are a number of areas to consider such as pre-production, client needs and accessibility. This article will explain the stages involved in website development and the significance of these stages in developing a site that meets the clients needs and helps to promote and develop the business.
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Pre- Production
Client Relationships
When considering a website the client and the designer need to sit down and establish the needs and goals of the site and clearly establish the parameters under which the website is going to operate. This includes establishing such things as the colour scheme, images and logos, body text and headings. It is at this point that the site plan is established. A site plan clearly establishes all the pages required and how the user will navigate from page to page throughout the site. For a site to work effectively the designer needs to understand exactly what aspects or features the business wants to show in the website. Sites that have pages added on at later dates become difficult to navigate and make the business look disorganised. Once the clients requirements have been established then the client and the designer should sign off on the development stage. This is for the protection of both the designer and the business. For the business it means that you can ensure that all your requirements that have been agreed to have been delivered as requested. For the designer it means that any changes, from the original specifications, requested by the client are subject to new negotiations.
Once the clients needs have been established it is then possible to move into the preproduction phase and to develop a mock up to present to the client. A good designer should produce 2 or 3 mock ups for the client to choose from. The mock up should include the flowing features: Colours, sample text in the selected font, navigation toolbars and a site map. An effective site will also include the page title, client contact information, date last updated and feedback forms.
Graphic and Design Principles
Graphic and design principles apply to the sites visual specifications. This includes the images, the colour design and navigation toolbars. The first page of the web site should be visually attractive and engaging. It is important that the product and content of the website is easily identifiable on this page. The key to this is finding the visual “hotspot.” This is the spot people first see when they look at the website. It is where their eyes are drawn to; this is the designers’ most potent weapon. It is perfect for putting a well placed image or piece of information that changes the entire nature and scene of the site. When designing the page you need to remember to name your page. This means that when the user is navigating the site they will understand where in the site they are. The page name will appear in the title bar at the top of the web page. Page names are also helpful in allowing search engines to locate the page. Page names should reflect the content and the nature of the page.
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Colours
The colour scheme of the web page determines how people react to the website and the mood/tone it sets to the audience. The colour scheme will determine how the user will feel about the product or point of view you being sold. Colours that relate to the theme and nature of the business should be chosen. Using corporate colours as a theme to coordinate with the business logo helps to produce a consistent design. When considering colours it is important that web accessibility issues are also considered. Contrast between foreground and background and text colour need to be carefully evaluated. Web accessibility guidelines available from http://www.w3.org/TR/WCAG10/ state that it is important that information conveyed with colour is available without colour and that colour contrast have sufficient contrasts for people who have difficult determining colour or when viewable in black and white.
Font
The font chosen should be appropriate to the content of the website. Clear fonts such as Arial and Verdana are better for body text as they are easier to read. Sans serif fonts are more commonly used on large web sites as they are much easier to read on a Visual Display unit. Decorative fonts can be a problem as they will only show up if the font is installed on their system. Fonts must work in conjunction with the images, products and design of the website. People must be able to get a general idea of the website just by looking at it. Font size and type is very important to ensure content can be easily read and understand that font to large or too small can deter the user from investigating the site.
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Navigation Structure
Being able to navigate successfully through a website is essential if the business is to attract and keep customers. There are many different types of navigation structures and some are more easy to use than others. A tiered structure can be effective for small sites with little information but in large sites this can be cumbersome and create a wall of links. A top heavy structure would have the links to each item on the main page but within that the links are organised into tiers.
Figure 1 top heavy 2 tiered system
Production
Once the initial design has been established and signed off b y the client then it is time to move into the production phase of the site. One of the first things that should be done is the site definition. Dreamweaver has an easy to use wizard for this process. It guides the designer through the process enabling them to clearly define the site name, file locations and paths. Without this tool files and folders can be disorganised and result in an ineffective site that may not upload effectively. Image names and the site name must be organised at this particular stage. Relative file paths should be used to ensure easy uploading of the completed site. Relative paths ensure that images will load and that style sheets will work properly.
Site map
A site map is an extremely important feature of a website. It lists all the links of all the pages of the site according to their hierarchy and order. It also acts as a links page for search engines and can help users to navigate their way through the site. It is a good idea to test the site map on families and friends to determine if they successfully and easily navigate your site.
Images
Images allow for a visual component for the webpage, text only web pages make the readers lose interest quickly. A few things must be taken into account when using images, for example; resolution, size and downloading time. Large images need to be compressed before being uploaded onto the website, this makes loading time much quicker. A well placed image can also change the very nature of the website making it more interesting and more appealing to look at. Images also work well when used to back up the points that the text has made and when text and images work in conjunction with one another. It is essential that all images have alternate text available this allows people with text only viewers to understand the site content.
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Menu bars
Effective and well placed links are essential to a good website. Links can be used in a variety of ways such as navigation bars, email and feedback forms. Navigation bars should always be used on the left or top as this is the most common location and where the user will first look to find them. The link names should be clear and relevant and it is essential to ensure that they work properly. The use of icons instead of text in menu bars can confuse the user. It may be difficult for them to know where they are navigating to and what the content of the page is about.
Cascading style sheets
Cascading style sheets are the easiest and best way of formatting text in the website. They allow for centralised design and are the only way to effectively ensure consistent style. Style sheets also offer flexibility in terms of the presentation effects that they provide. Properties such as color, background, margin, border, and many more can be applied to all elements. With style sheets, the designer only needs to specify styles once and only in one place. Style sheets also reduce download time when one file contains all the style information. The use of style sheets can also allow different browsers to view the content appropriately.
Hyperlinks
Effective and well placed links are essential to a good website. Links can be used in a variety of ways such as navigation bars, email and feedback forms. Any link names should be clear and relevant and it is essential to ensure that they work properly; using text is more effective than using icons. Hyperlinks also allow the designer to use external sites for the client to access. It is essential however, that you receive permission form other sites to include a link to their content from your web site.
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Testing and Proofing
The Evaluation is the process that the client and the designer go through before the website goes live. It is important to review all the key points of the website and the clients needs to ensure that all the requirements have been met. The original specifications that the client signed off should be used at this stage. All links should be tested to ensure they work correctly and that pages navigate correctly. Any errors should be identified at this stage and corrected before the web site is uploaded.
Post production.
The job of producing a good web page does not end here. The site needs to be uploaded and hosted. Websites can be uploaded using FTP (File transfer protocol) using the Dreamweaver site management wizard. The business or the designers need to have a hosting site for the website. The site also needs to have a domain name or URL that the user can use to locate and access the site.
The site should also be evaluated by the clients’ users to determine whether or not the site meets their needs. It is a good idea for the business to determine whether or not their web presence actually impacts on business. Surveying clients to determine how they found out about the business is one means of doing this.
Conclusion
In an effective website less is more, the more you can do with just a few small things the better. As little as fifteen years ago websites were cluttered. People placed everything they knew, such as marquees and other tricks, on their sites. Doing this made the websites extremely busy, but at the time it was accepted because it was new and exciting. Now we have web accessibility guidelines to follow, as well as document standards to apply. As people have become more web savvy they expect more from a web site. Now, we want a clear effective site that has clear text and relevant images with easy navigation. If the client and the designer want to produce an effective and reliable website that supports and complements their business then it is important that the guidelines outlined above followed. Good luck and good designing.
Bibliography
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Copyright comes into effect immediately, as soon as something that can be protected is created and "fixed" in some way, e. g. on paper, on film, via sound recording, as an electronic record on the internet, etc. It is a good idea for you to mark your copyright work with the copyright symbol (c) followed by your name and the date, to warn others against copying it, but it is not legally necessary ...
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