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Web design industry has been influenced significantly by open source software in recent years. The last few years has seen a shift from static websites to the design of dynamic Web sites and web applications powered by powerful content management systems and other useful features. The rise in the popularity of open source software has revolutionised the way a web design company or an experienced web designer builds websites.

Web Design Companies and freelance web designers often claim that it offers many benefits compared to the average commercial software. Commercial products may appear favourable initially, however this could be easily influenced by the way they are marketed and presented to users.  Most commercial products emphasise the features that are common and in high demand. However it is often difficult to measure the intrinsic qualities such as stability and scalability of the application in the long run.

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Web design has become less complicated than what it used to be a few years ago. With changes in web design industry and technological advancements, designing websites has become a relatively simple process. There is an abundance of web design software and web authoring tools available in the market today. State of the art web design authoring tools such as Dreamweaver and Go Live have made designing a website a far less technical experience than what it used to be in the early stages of web design.

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Photoshop in Web Design

A Web Design company may use Photoshop for many reasons. The use of graphic design tools such as Photoshop can reduce the time required to develop a website and also leads to better quality of design. Photoshop is one of the leading graphic design software available in the market and popular with Website design companies, freelance web designers and other graphic design professionals. Photoshop is a must have tool for a web design company as well as any other business that has regular communication and media requirements. One of the main advantages that make Photoshop different to other graphic design software is its simplicity. Read the rest of this entry »

Designing a website has become relatively easier with time. There are many web design authoring tools and software that can help you design a website with basic experience or skills. Whether you are designing a professional website or personal one, there are some basic web design tips you can use to improve the quality of the website.

There will be many questions when you wish to design your website. Would the website work properly, whether it will be able to attract your clients and so on. Here are some favorable tips that can help you to keep track when you design a website

Screen Resolution

For Web design company or freelance web designer, this used to one of the biggest concerns when designing a website for their clients. Recent advancements in technology have meant that browser inconsistencies have been largely reduced. Today, ensuring the design of the website appears consistent across different screen resolutions is not be a major concern however a web designer nevertheless needs to address this issue during the design phase of a project. An innovative website demands an accurate design layout otherwise customers may experience problems and simply choose to close the browser window or navigate to a competing website. Customers need to feel comfortable and only then only will they remain on your website long enough to read your content.

Navigation and Links

Easy to use navigation and active links on your website are important. Web design companies and web designers have always argued that navigation is one of most important factors in usability of the website. Navigation issues can be easily addressed with common sense and thought. It is important that it should be done properly on your site to ensure coverage of all web pages on your website. Research has found that clients only read the current page if the navigation doesn’t work and is not easily visible. Poor navigation can prevent users from exploring your website further.

Loading of your web page

Time is becoming increasingly important for internet users. Internet users do not want to waste there time in finding information that is useful to them. Users expect to find valuable information within a few minutes. Web design experts often advice on minimizing graphics, flash and scripts on a web page in order to reduce the time of loading and making it faster to display the information on your web page. Unwanted tags and scripts that are not being used but often left on a web page can also contribute to higher loading time of a website. Try to optimize all possible large files on the server. Using coding techniques such as SSI (Server Side Includes) to reduce page size can also prove useful for your website.

Attractive and readable Layout

Although other factors discussed above are important for a website, the design itself will play a major role for your website. It is better to use a clutter free lay-out with sufficient empty space between website elements. The use of white space is a certain and necessary method that enhances your website and makes it easier to read.

A Web Design Company or a professional web designer uses many tools to assist in web design. There are many web design software available in the market. Some may be available free of charge but professional tools have to be purchased. Dreamweaver is one of most of the most popular web design software available in the market today. Dreamweaver can be purchased either independently or as part of a combined Software suite that includes other useful web development tools such as Flash and Fireworks.

Although an experienced Web Design Company or a professional designer can build a website purely by hand coding HTML in a standard text editing software, using a professional web design tool or software is highly recommended.

Some of the features that make Dreamweaver the leading web design software are discussed below:

Graphical Interface for designing websites

Like other popular Web design software, Dreamweaver provides an easy to use Graphical user interface to help build different pages of a website. With Dreamweaver, a web designer can design a website by dragging and dropping objects as opposed to having to code it from scratch. Dreamweaver offers a WISYWIG method for web design. WYSIWIG refers to ‘What you see is what you get’. It is a common terminology in software design used commonly to describe software in which content displayed during editing appears almost identical to the final output. This makes the web design process easier and more efficient as you are able to view the end result while editing the web-page.

Can be used by Web Designers as well as non-technical users

Dreamweaver has many built in features that make it relatively easy to design a professional corporate or personal website. It is popular with both, professional web designers as well as non technical users with limited web design and development experience. It makes it possible to design a website without having to code any part of it. This has also made Dreamweaver popular among non technical users. Although use of advanced features will require some web design skills and experience, basic features can be utilised simply with the help of self-thought tutorials easily available with the software and available on the internet.

Design as well as Code view

The latest version of the software, Dreamweaver CS series has been regularly voted as the best web design tool for coding and design professionals. One of the main reasons behind Dreamweaver’s original rise to popularity as a professional web page designing tool, was its introduction of the split view workspace showing both editable layout as well as code view on top of the other. This allowed experienced web designers and developers to be able to edit the code directly in code view while being able to see the design in real-time in the design view.

Database Capabilities

Gone are the days when experienced web developers preferred to build websites purely by coding it by hand. Innovative web design software such as Dreamweaver is equally effective for designing static HTML websites as well for designing dynamic database driven websites. Dreamweaver works equally well for designing database driven websites.

Support for CSS, JavaScript and XML

Advance support for handling JavaScript, Ajax and Xml is another reason behind the success of recent versions of Dreamweaver. Ajax is a popular new technology that is used widely in development of modern websites. It combines JavaScript, CSS and XML to update website content without requiring a new page or reloading of the page. The new Dreamweaver CS series includes built in support for handling new web design approaches including Ajax. This has proved for experienced web developers and designers who are able to utilise the latest technologies in designing websites.

Dreamweaver includes professional support for handling CSS Styles. The built-in CSS Panel makes it easy for a web designer to create and edit style sheets.

Group Working

Dreamweaver also offers Group working capabilities. This can prove particularly useful for a Web Design Company or a Team of web designers. It allows a designer to ‘Lock’ a page to prevent other team members from overwriting or editing the same part of the web page. The notes feature of Dreamweaver on the other hand allows web designers to keep a note of their changes.

Built in FTP

Dreamweaver has built-in FTP software that allows web designers to manage the completed files on server with ease. Traditionally a Web Design Company or a web developer would use different software tools for designing a website and for updating files on the server. Dreamweaver makes this easier by combining FTP capabilities into its design software.

Summary

Dreamweaver is one of the most popular Web authoring tools used by Web Design Companies and Web Developers. A Web Design Company can not only save time by designing a website faster but also produce better quality of designs. It can allow a Web Design Company to keep better control over projects thereby allowing them to work on multiple web design projects simultaneously. Dreamweaver can also prove useful for businesses that wish to manage their web design and development in-house within their own company. It can be beneficial for both; experienced developers as well as non technical users who wish to design websites themselves.

Design of a Successful Website is based on a number of factors. It is vital for your company’s website to be distinguishable and stand out from other websites. Companies can easily make the mistake of concentrating on the design of the website only and not focusing on other factors that are equally important for the website to succeed.

For a website to be designed, there are so many rules and regulations that have to be followed. A company can build a website on their own. The website may appear professionally designed and have the right balance of colors. However the website may still lack qualities required to make it successful. Websites designed by a professional web design company or web designer will focus on mixture of elements required for building a successful website. The expertise of A Web Design Company or development agency will have the right expertise to help you identify the requirement in detail and design a website that does not only look professional but also adds value and appeals specifically to the market you are targeting. A professional Web design or development company will be able to use its experienced to apply the right mixture techniques for your website.

Design

When visiting your website, one of the first things your clients will look at is the presentation of your website. The design of your website should be pleasing with sharp images and graphics, clear fonts, right combination of colors and proper usage of white space. A clean lay-out with sufficient white space between elements ensures the website is clutter free and easy to read. The website pages should load within a few seconds. Using images that have not been opitmised is one main reason for websites taking time to load. Optimising images so they are reduced in file size, is a straightforward and easy to do but often overlooked by web designers.

Navigation and Usability

On a website we deal with customers differently to bricks and mortar businesses. We may not have the opportunity to interact with the customers in real-time. On website customers rely on navigation to available on the website. Non standard websites should offer detailed guidance through F.A.Q’s or help section on the website. In formation on the website should be easy to read and it should be easy to find information. Browsing your website should be a stress free experience and the information presented should not be confusing.

SEO

Many companies overlook simple issues such as broken links or navigation on the website. This is easy to fix and overlooking it can affect lower rank for your website on search engines. Because search engine optimization has an important role for the website, all efforts should be made to ensure the website is properly optimized for search engines. Both on-site and off-site factors should be used. Basic SEO tips are easy to research and should be applied. Simple tasks such as appropriate use of meta tags, title tags, links and alt tags for images will help your website in search engine rankings.

Content

The language you use on your website should be simple and understandable. The content should be proof read and grammatically correct. Regular updates are important but it is quality that is more important that quantity. The fonts should be clear and easy to read.

Resources

Offering resources that add value for those who visit your website promotes visitor loyalty and encourages them to visit your website again. It is common for a company to offer other free resources on its website to encourage customers to visit the website. A company can offer free newsletter to customers who register on its website or offer a blog or forum. Successful websites invest time and effort to keep the resources up to date as it attracts new customers and promotes loyalty.

Tools to monitor performance

There are many free tools that webmasters use to improve websites. A successful website uses a combination of tools to measure and monitor its performance. Most of the tools are easy to use and are designed to be used without technical skills or experience. Google Analytics provides real-time reporting and statistics on website visitors. Google also offers a free tool for website owners called ‘Google Webmasters Tool’. A company or website owner can create a free account to monitor their website. Once you have added your website to webmaster tools, Google will provide you with useful information on your website. This is useful for improving your website’s performance and quality.

Web design companies and freelance web designers play a key role in designing websites for businesses. A majority of company websites are designed by external web design companies or web design contractors. Although, designing a website for your company is quite straight forward today, there are many issues that need to be considered. Businesses are used to leaving the entire responsibility to their web design company or web designers. However in order to build a successful website, you should be involved in certain parts of the web design process.

Online business is booming in spite of the unstable global economy. Whenever we think on online business, we think about our website. A company’s website is at the heart of online business. Designing your company’s website is straightforward. Today, It is not a big thing to design a website.

However in addition to web design, many other elements need to be considered. One of the main challenges for a company is not necessarily the design of the website itself, but other surrounding issues that will determine your company’s success online.

Web design strategists often argue that one of the biggest mistakes companies make is remain aloof during in web design process. Not being involved with the design of the company’s website and leaving it completely to web designers is one of the most common mistakes made especially by smaller companies.

A lack of understanding and knowledge of web design and the rules and regulations associated with different aspects of web design is one of main factors behind lack of involvement and input in web design. Understanding the concepts of web design and how different design elements impact the business can be useful for any company no matter how small or large. An understanding of different aspects of web design and close involvement in the web design process can play an active role in the long term success of its website.

In this article we explore some of the main aspects of web design and how you can work closely with webmasters and web designers to devise and implement ideas for a unique and successful website for your business.

Given below are some of the ways in which you can be involved during the design of your company’s website.

Identify key features and characteristics of your website

You have a better understanding of you business than your web design company, no matter ho professional and experienced they may seem. It is thus your responsibility to identify the main sections and characteristics you would like your company’s website to include. You should communicate this to your web design company or web designers. You should understand and identify your target market and communicate this clearly to your web design company. It is your web design company’s responsibility to ensure your company’s website is designed with your target market in mind. However it is your responsibility to ensure this information is communicated clearly to the web designers.

Competitive analysis

Next thing to do is identify your main competitors. You can do so by visiting and analysing rival websites, understanding how they attract visitors to their business. This research is fairly easy to do via the help of search engines; and you can offer suggestions to your web design team accordingly. You can initiate a discussion about the features of competing websites and ask your web designer to do the same.

The main feature that you have to make 100% sure is this the navigation should be done easily to navigate And make sure to put only active links in your web pages apart from this ask them to put your link in every pages that your clients easily go to homepage without using back button.

Provide your input in deciding the colour scheme

The color scheme or colour combination of the website is another important element where you should have some involvement. You can leave this to web designer but it is advisable to provide suggestions especially as the colour scheme will play an important role in developing your brand. If there are any specific colours or shades that your company is associated with, then it is important to communicate this to your web design company. In general however, any arrogant or loud colours should be avoided unless part of a specific campaign that demands it. Subtle, cool combinations of colors that will catch the eyes of your clients are advisable to use. In general it is advisable to stick with neutral colours.

First impressions still count

The phrase, ‘first impression is the best impression’ applies strongly in web design. It may seem obvious, but first impression that customers form when they visit your website will play a major role in its success. On your website the first page the clients will visit, is most likely your homepage which should include summarise all the information of the entire website. You should ensure that your website developers create a homepage that is pleasantly inviting so visitors are fascinated enough to explore the rest of your website.

Provide your own content

Quality of content makes your website more attractive for your visitors. The importance of content has increased significantly and it plays a very important role in your website’s success. A recent study by an independent web design company in UK found that a significant percentage of businesses do not provide content for their website and instead leave it to their web design company to do so. This is more so in the case of smaller businesses. This is one of the biggest mistakes a company can make and greatly under powers the effectiveness of your website and the message you wish to convey to your customers.

Use bespoke images and design templates

Design templates and image libraries are essential and widely used in web design. However instead of using the web designer’s collections of templates and images you can create your own. This will be unique to your website. Many web design companies and web designers tend to use common design templates and image libraries. Although the images and design are professional and eye catching, there is a high probability of finding the same on other websites on the internet.

Knowledge of technologies used in Web Design

If you want to be involved with updates and amends to the website on a frequent basis, then you will require basic knowledge and experience of key technologies used in web design. It is important to have a clear knowledge and understanding of FTP, HTML, CSS styles for web design and java script at the least in order to build or update a professional website. Without this it is almost impossible to design or update a professional website. A professional website for your company may be one of the first steps in building an online business; however frequent updates and amends will play a greater role in its success. Both search engines as well as your visitors will expect constant updates and fresh content on your website on a regular basis.

Whether you are a web designer or a company that owns a website, getting more from your website is one of your key considerations. A well planned and profitable website can help a company to remain ahead of competitors. The quality of web design is an important concern for a company today no matter how small or large the business may be. Almost every company has a website today. And every company wants its website to play an important role in its growth and profits. Customer expectations have increased with time. Consumers today have access to a vast amount of information on the internet. If your company’s website is not able to meet the expectations of your market, you are unlikely to succeed.

Mistakes in web design can cost a company dearly. Whilst it may not be possible to design a perfect website, the risks can certainly be minimized by addressing the common mistakes made in web design. Below you will find ten common mistakes made by Web Designers and Webmasters that may drive your customers away.

Poor Colour Scheme

The choice of Colours on the website is not only important for the visual appeal of the design but also for usability of the website. Lack of contrast between the background and colour and the font colour on the website can make the font difficult to read and have a negative effect on the usability of the website. It is important to keep the colour scheme in mind when designing your web site. One of the popular principles in web design suggests that you should not use more than three colors in the design of your website.

Poor Navigation

Visitors to your website will use the Navigation present on your site to find information that is interest to them. Your own business or your web design company may have a good knowledge of your website and its structure so you may not have trouble locating information. However visitors to your website are less likely to have this knowledge and will rely purely on navigation that is available on the website.

Navigation is mostly available in the form of menus. The menu should be consistent on every page to avoid confusion. Customer behaviours and trends also need to be considered when designing the website. Studies have also shown that web surfers prefer the standard left or right side navigation over other layouts.

Illegible Fonts on the website

Similar to navigation, the fonts used on the website should be consistent on different page. Both, font style as well as size should be consistent. E.g. If your home page content is in Verdana with font size of 10, then you should ensure that all other pages are also the same. There are exceptions to every rule and web design is no different. Sometimes it may be appropriate and acceptable to use a smaller font for disclaimers, terms and conditions, and so on.

Poor and disorganised Content

Content on the website is important and will ultimately influence customer loyalty. One of the most common mistakes is the use of poor quality content on your web pages. Internet users are impatient and do not want to spend more time on a web page that they have to.
It is important to ensure that the content is professionally written and thoroughly proof read. Make sure to break up your paragraphs often and use subtitles and headings where required. Most visitors to your website will scan through the web page hence when your paragraphs are small and separated by logical headings; it will make it much easier for your visitors to read.

Incorrect Semantics

The correct use of semantics is vital o teh design of any professional website. In web design, Semantics refers to the mark-up of the content on the website. It is important that the correct principles and guidelines are applied in the content mark-up on the page. Instead if using in-line font tags the styles should be defined in the CSS document. Similarly it is advisable to use appropriate headings or bold tags within the content. The use of correct mark-up is important to improve usability and also promotes better indexing by search engines.

Contact Information not prominent

Contact information plays multiple roles on a website. Nevertheless it is surprising to find how many websites conceal this information on the website. Contac information should be visible on a prominent palace of the website and be easily visible. It instills confidence in your visitors. This is particularly important for e-commerce website that sell products on the site. It is advisable to have your contact information on every page instead of hiding it from customers who visit your web site.

Long Page Loads or scripting errors

Another common mistake made by web designers is a website that takes long to load on the browser. This is usually when websites are designed with a lot of graphics that have not been optimized. Research shows that if your web site does not fully load within 10 seconds, your files are too large and you should take steps to minimize the load time. Make sure the graphics and videos on the website are optimized properly. Animated graphics can also make the page load page slowly.

Absence of Meta Tags on the website

Meta tags are HTML code invisible to the human eye but used by search engines to collect information about your website. While these don’t have as much of an impact as they used to a few years ago, most search engines rely on this information when displaying your site in the search results.

Promoting the website too early

Another very common mistake website owners make is either promoting their website too early or too aggressively. Some experts advise that any major promotion should be withheld until the website is about two months old. It is better to put more time on writing posts or building content for the website which will add more value in the long run.

Incorrect Resolution

Web designers used to lay great deal of importance on screen resolution when designing websites. Although it is not as important now, not designing with lower resolutions in mind can still cause potential problems in how your website appears on different resolutions.

Different customers have different resolution settings on heir screen. It is advisable to design your website with lower resolutions in mind. If you do this then your website will be more consistent and usable. Although technology has evolved rapidly and most PC screens will be set to a resolution higher than 800 x 600, it is advisable to design your web pages to fit lower resolutions like 800 by 600. If you do this then you will be able to serve a wider user-base without loss of usability or usability.

The web design industry is booming in spite of poor economic conditions worldwide. The importance of a professional web design strategy has increased as there are more reasons to cut down marketing and business costs. A company has many reasons to build a profitable website. A profitable web design strategy can play a crucial role in a company’s growth. Whenever we think of a profitable website, one of the first things we think of is a professionally designed website that is visually pleasing. However in addition to the design of the site itself, there are many other issues we need to consider.

Simple but effective layout

It is important to achieve a simple but effective and attractive layout; but one should be careful not to go over board at the same time.

Content

Content of the website is equally important than the design. However at the sane time it is important to avoid lengthy content. A majority of the users want the ability to search for the information on websites as quickly as possible. As a web designer or website owner one your concerns should be to save their time by providing only well edited and researched content. Lengthy content can easily irritate your users whereas shorter well edited content can be more attractive for users.

Font styles

We should also realize that some of the users may also be put off or irritated with small, illegible fonts. It is important for your website that the content can be read easily without straining the eyes to read the words.

Images

With regards to images, it is important to ensure that the images used on the website are optimized and in minimum file size. Large images can take a long time to load. Although a majority of users now use broad band, using too many large images can still have an impact on how long it takes for a website to load. Smaller, properly optimized images on the other hand will be easily loaded. Research shows that clients do not want to waste more than 2 to 5 min on the entire website under normal circumstances. It is also best not to use scripting languages for images or too many visual effects.

Navigation

With regards to the navigation, good navigation can play an important role to ensure your customers are satisfied with your website. You may have a good idea about the information on your website, but your customers will not have this knowledge and will largely depend on navigation on the website to search for information on your website. Because we have to take all types of customer in mind when we design our website, in every manner they must be comfortable with our website.

Call to action

One of the most important objectives of website planning should be to lead customers to either buy or enquire about your products or services. If you have an ecommerce website then the buy button should be prominent and you should include relevant information about your products. The overall buying process on the website should be simplified.

Use of Multimedia

Website means a bulk of information about a company, from typical website clients can know easily the information or this and that about the particular company. So when we create a website it must be highly professional and influential to the customers, the main thing is to make your website popular with all browsers. Increase the perceived value of your products or services. Include video, music, and pictures on your websites. This multi-media content can be a selling point for many people who want their websites to be interactive. If you don’t have a copy of Flash studio, you may want to invest in a copy, because creating dynamic, interactive websites is the best way to make more profit with your website design.

Focus on Quality

Better quality not only sells products but it also ensures good placement on the search engines. Make your content interesting and keyword rich. You have to show your visitors that you believe in what you are selling. It’s always nice to mention your product often and in as many ways that you can. This strategy makes it easy for visitors to judge the quality of your product and decides whether they want to buy your offering. It also gives the search engines something to work with when they index your website. Quality content conveys a compelling message to the visitors about your sales process.

Search engine optimization

The search engines will bring in most of your traffic. And more traffic means more sales. You will get maximum exposure if your site is listed higher on the search engine. Your focus should be on keywords and targeting the right market but don’t sacrifice your content at any cost. Once you have finalised your content then utilize Meta tags like description and title to optimise your website. Use your keywords when naming your pages and also for paragraph headings. Following these simple suggestions will improve your site’s chance of listing on search engines. However on-page or on-site factors are not sufficient on their own to receive the desired listing. It is a good starting point nevertheless.