 |
Keep
it simple:
It's
not that easy shaving away excess matter to create
a simple design, but it's worth the effort. Ultimately
a simple, effective visual design with good use
of hypertext is more likely to ensure that users
can find, use and enjoy the content you've got.
|
Elements
like spinning logos, scrolling tickers and banner
ads can make it difficult to achieve your objective.
That's why we prefer to keep it as simple as possible.
Keep It Appropriate: The appropriate use of all
elements in a website is very important and the site
as a whole has to be appropriate to the needs of its
owner. A small retailer wanting some level of ecommerce
will most likely want a different site to a professional,
a small cultural institution or a non-profit body.
That's
why Byron Bay Online Design delivers solutions that
are appropriate to the needs and resources of its
clients.
 |
Make
It fast: Despite what some people in Government
and inner city areas would have us believe, high
bandwidth nirvana isn't here yet. And for most
of us, it won't be for some time. If you live
in a regional area, the situation is even worse. |
When
alternative sources of information or competitors
are a click away you don't want visitors to your site
waiting for pages to download, 'cause most of the
time, they won't. It gets back to that simplicity
thing again: fewer and smaller graphics, simple layouts,
focus on content.
Make
It Usable: Net research consistently shows that
poor navigation and slow download times are the major
headaches for internet users. Usability is
critical to the success of a website.
Many
sites are difficult to navigate. Content may be there
but if people can't find it easily...click... No
blind alleys or confusing twists and turns. Byron
Bay Online Design makes sure the sites it builds are
easy to navigate.
|
And
Finally, Make It Maintainable: Up to date
information and fresh content are essential. Establishing
and building user and consumer trust is critical:
a poorly maintained site lacks credibility. |
Constant
maintenance and the development of content costs money.
Doing it yourself takes time and a steep learning
curve may be involved. These issues are important
and require careful consideration. Byron Bay Online
Design takes the worry out of it by being flexible
and developing solutions that will meet your needs.
|
Should
I Use 'FRAMES' in my website?
A
very good question that deserves a good answer.
CLICK HERE to
find that answer
|
Here
are some things you can do to prepare for you meeting
with Byron Bay Online Design
1)
Define the purpose of the your web site: marketing,
selling, education or some combination thereof.
2)
Define your audience - this influences the design
and layout.
3)
Draw a rough layout of your web site using a box diagram
in order to identify the main sections e.g. welcome,
about us, links, contact us.
4)
Look at some web sites and identify ones that you
like - record the URL's of these sites and bring them
with you.
5)
Gather together text, pictures, logos and materials
you would like to include on your web site.
6)
If you have a logo and color scheme in mind - bring
it with you.
7)
Do you have an Internet provider, hosting package,
domain name? If not your web developer may offer hosting
or suggest some hosting companies that can save you
money. A domain name i.e. www.yourcompany.com or .net
.org etc must be registered each year and you can
only have it if it is available. If you have a name
in mind and you are not sure if it is available you
can do a search here: http://www.directnic.com or
for .au here: http://www.melbourneit.com.au/.
The registration cost varies between $25-$150 per
year, the .au names being the most
expensive. (you don't have to have
a .au domain name just because you
are in Australia. You can use the .com .net
or
.org, etc.)
8) If you are considering selling your products on-line
there are many ways to do this, some are economical
others can be quite expensive. The development time
for real time shopping carts is going to be several
weeks at the minimum because it involves setting up
merchant accounts (2 weeks to process) and the development
and testing phases are more critical.
