SurfScranton
On The Web
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SurfScranton |
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Site Design
Designers Now we get down to the visual "look and feel" of your site. The attitude and professionalism you show here can make worlds of difference. Most likely, you will hire somebody for this step. The tools to do the job get easier to use every day, and it seems like every junior high kid in the country has built a home page, so you really could get a "dummies" book and do it yourself. But you should probably go for real pros here.
Maybe you've seen sites that have so many ads and links that it's hard to tell exactly what their business is, or so many animations that you can't keep your eyes on the stuff you came for. Such designs are the opposite of simple and they tell me that I can't hit the Back button quickly enough. Sizzling graphics are fun, but they take time to load. You only have a few seconds for a customer to decide your site can help her before she hits the Back button. It's cool to get a "wow" when people see your page, but it's even better to give them information they can use in a way they can understand. Keep things simple for the best chance of browser compatibility. Remember there will be customers with computers, operating systems and browsers you have never heard of. Don't make pages they can't see! Be careful around designers who want to show off their JavaScript and Dynamic HTML skills. Quality Costs Money Any number of places will offer free or dirt cheap page design, but you’ll get what you pay for, probably a single page "yellow page" style ad that won’t bring in one customer. I have a whole folder of rate pages I have printed from various designers, rangin from the sublime to the ridiculous.
First Things First Dig out your vision statement. It is key to remember what you hope to accomplish and what your customers hope to accomplish. With these firmly in mind, focus every part of the site on the mission. Don’t let the artists show you graphics, or even start doodling too soon. Once you’ve seen a design, you may have trouble letting go, and find yourself standing on your head to make your mission fit the page. Make the design follow the mission. By the way, your audience is not the owner of the company or your boss. Resist the urge to make a design please them, or you'll wind up with the annual report on-line. Focus on the customer! Copyright © 1999, SurfScranton |
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As far as style tips, the key words in design are
simple and fast.
For serious design work I’ve seen hourly rates from $40 to $120, page rates
from $75 up. Higher rates should include scans from your photos or logos, so
resist paying extra for grunt work. But you should expect to pay at some hourly
rate for custom graphics or heavily doctored photos.