We explore the exciting area of poster design in what is an essential examination of everything that goes into making a poster what it is. It looks at how the colour, artwork and typography are used to achieve a successful design, which must be attention grabbing, succinct, convincing and memorable.
If you would like to see more Information about Poster Design Please Visit TopHatSolutions - Poster Design Wexford
Thursday, September 20, 2007
Logo Design
What is a logo?
A logo is a name, symbol, or trademark of a company. Logos can be made up of text that is made in a unique way. Your logo can be an illustration with your company's name on or around the illustration. Or your logo can be a symbol. A logo may also be a combination of these.
Why use a logo?
A logo serves as the visual stimulation to kickstart the audience's memory, leaving a greater impact than words alone can do. It is the simplest and most direct way in promoting a business presence.
Logos give brand name recognition and add visual appeal to any document or web page. Because your logo is a unique graphic image, your visitors' eyes will naturally be drawn to it both on the web and on your printed materials.
Types of Logos
Text Logos
Words in their purest form ARE images. Type fonts come in all shapes and sizes, which convey different impressions on the audience. A thick font conveys strength and power. A script font conveys elegance, and a slanted typeface conveys movement. Your company name thus can be your own logo, provided your type font displays the intended qualities of the organization.
Symbol Logos
A symbol uses an image or images that convey an actual or abstract representation of a business. Because a symbol alone is less direct than text, it leaves itself open to a wider interpretation of what the business is about.
Text and Symbol Logos
A brief amount of text, or sometimes just an abbreviation, compliments the symbol and provides that extra bit of clarity of what the business is about.
There are many choices to consider when deciding the logo that best fits the image of your company. Never limit yourself to one option. It can be very easy to see an image you personally like and think it would look attractive in one format without giving thought to how it will look everywhere else.
logo designs should be simple
logos should be simple is because people process an image in their mind more readily than words alone. The other reason that your logo should be "simple" is that the simpler your logo is, the easier it will be for your graphic designer to resize and recolor it for various design purposes. You should have various logo sizes (small, medium, and large), a web version and a print version of your logo, and a black-and-white and color version. Always plan beyond your initial design purposes for your logo since the ultimate goal of your business is to expand.
Your logo should be unique
There are two reasons you need an unique logo. First, you want people to see a visual representation of your company or business. When people see your logo, you want them to immediately associate that logo design with you and no one else. Using an image or a typeface that is all too common defeats the purpose of having a logo, and can even have a negative backlash among your audience who would view your company as unimaginative.
Second, a unique corporate identity is important because you don't want to violate any copyrights or trademarks of other companies. If your logo is too similar to another company's logo, it is in your best interest to modify or redesign the logo.
If your logo is simple and unique, and if people visit your web site repeatedly, people will associate your logo with your company. When done properly, a logo is one of the simplest ways to make a brand name recognition impact.
Thank You
For More Information Visit Logo Design Wexford
A logo is a name, symbol, or trademark of a company. Logos can be made up of text that is made in a unique way. Your logo can be an illustration with your company's name on or around the illustration. Or your logo can be a symbol. A logo may also be a combination of these.
Why use a logo?
A logo serves as the visual stimulation to kickstart the audience's memory, leaving a greater impact than words alone can do. It is the simplest and most direct way in promoting a business presence.
Logos give brand name recognition and add visual appeal to any document or web page. Because your logo is a unique graphic image, your visitors' eyes will naturally be drawn to it both on the web and on your printed materials.
Types of Logos
Text Logos
Words in their purest form ARE images. Type fonts come in all shapes and sizes, which convey different impressions on the audience. A thick font conveys strength and power. A script font conveys elegance, and a slanted typeface conveys movement. Your company name thus can be your own logo, provided your type font displays the intended qualities of the organization.
Symbol Logos
A symbol uses an image or images that convey an actual or abstract representation of a business. Because a symbol alone is less direct than text, it leaves itself open to a wider interpretation of what the business is about.
Text and Symbol Logos
A brief amount of text, or sometimes just an abbreviation, compliments the symbol and provides that extra bit of clarity of what the business is about.
There are many choices to consider when deciding the logo that best fits the image of your company. Never limit yourself to one option. It can be very easy to see an image you personally like and think it would look attractive in one format without giving thought to how it will look everywhere else.
logo designs should be simple
logos should be simple is because people process an image in their mind more readily than words alone. The other reason that your logo should be "simple" is that the simpler your logo is, the easier it will be for your graphic designer to resize and recolor it for various design purposes. You should have various logo sizes (small, medium, and large), a web version and a print version of your logo, and a black-and-white and color version. Always plan beyond your initial design purposes for your logo since the ultimate goal of your business is to expand.
Your logo should be unique
There are two reasons you need an unique logo. First, you want people to see a visual representation of your company or business. When people see your logo, you want them to immediately associate that logo design with you and no one else. Using an image or a typeface that is all too common defeats the purpose of having a logo, and can even have a negative backlash among your audience who would view your company as unimaginative.
Second, a unique corporate identity is important because you don't want to violate any copyrights or trademarks of other companies. If your logo is too similar to another company's logo, it is in your best interest to modify or redesign the logo.
If your logo is simple and unique, and if people visit your web site repeatedly, people will associate your logo with your company. When done properly, a logo is one of the simplest ways to make a brand name recognition impact.
Thank You
For More Information Visit Logo Design Wexford
Brochure Design
A professionally designed company brochure is an essential part of your marketing collateral. It is an opportunity to impress potential customers with your capabilities and the professionalism they can expect when they choose your company.
However, a poorly designed brochure that does not project a professional image compromises your company’s image, professionalism and the likelihood of acquiring that customer.
More information at Brochure Design Wexford
However, a poorly designed brochure that does not project a professional image compromises your company’s image, professionalism and the likelihood of acquiring that customer.
More information at Brochure Design Wexford
Book and Magazine Design
The difference between having an ultra-attractive book cover and an average one can be the difference between an book with five downloads, and a book with five thousand downloads.
Distinctive and professional book covers are proven to increase sales significantly. You can use them in advertisements to lure people to your book. They also entice people to actually read the ad copy, something many Internet surfers just dread doing. When it comes to Internet advertising, pictures speak louder than words.
book design is also important for distinguishing your book from a crowd of look-a-likes. You want your cover to be unique and to let people know that yours is the best book of its kind!
Not the least of the benefits of our service is that our quality design shouts to potential readers that they are getting the BEST product. On the Internet we judge a lot by appearances. With our services, when the verdict from your potential customers comes in, your book will be judged to be worthy of downloading -- and paying for!
We understand that when you first begin to market your book, your budget for marketing will not be high.
Don't wait to get a book cover that will make yours a best-seller.
More Information at Graphic Design Wexford
Distinctive and professional book covers are proven to increase sales significantly. You can use them in advertisements to lure people to your book. They also entice people to actually read the ad copy, something many Internet surfers just dread doing. When it comes to Internet advertising, pictures speak louder than words.
book design is also important for distinguishing your book from a crowd of look-a-likes. You want your cover to be unique and to let people know that yours is the best book of its kind!
Not the least of the benefits of our service is that our quality design shouts to potential readers that they are getting the BEST product. On the Internet we judge a lot by appearances. With our services, when the verdict from your potential customers comes in, your book will be judged to be worthy of downloading -- and paying for!
We understand that when you first begin to market your book, your budget for marketing will not be high.
Don't wait to get a book cover that will make yours a best-seller.
More Information at Graphic Design Wexford
Wednesday, May 9, 2007
What is website navigation
Stick to the standard.
There is a good chance your customers use the Internet regularly and are accustomed to certain standard navigation formats. Keep your navigation simple, and don’t stray too far from the user’s comfort zone. For instance, most Web users are accustomed to primary navigation always being at the top or left side of the page.
Provide a sense of scale.
Making the web site’s hierarchy visible through drop-down menus under the home page’s main headings on the home page is a good way to give the user a sense of a site. If one of the primary headings on a home page were “Tools,” the drop-down menu would list “Hammers,” “Saws,” and so on. With larger sites, it’s always a good idea to provide a search box to avoid frustrating users.
Make it intuitive.
visitors to a web site should be able to find what they need in no more than three clicks, and proceed to the first step in less than eight seconds. In order to achieve this ideal, the direction on each page should be clear and consistent.
To start, consider that upon entering a brick-and-mortar store, most people first search for a sign indicating the section they are seeking, such as Housewares. Once in the Housewares section, it makes sense to look for signs that point to particular products, such as lamps or rugs. A web site should have a similar intuitive layout.
Show the steps of progression.
If you want your customers to complete a process, try giving them a clear picture of how far they’ve come. If they can clearly see that they only have one more step to go, they may be more likely to finish. Across the top of the page, the first step in the progression might read “Your Information,” which is where customers enter a billing and shipping address. The next step might be “Payment Method,” followed by “Review Your Order,” then “Submit” to complete the purchase. Make sure throughout the entire process, the customer can see not only every step going forward, but the current step and the step or steps that lie ahead.
Give the user flexibility.
If a user goes down any path on the web site, make it easy for them to back out. This can be accomplished easily by keeping a global navigation on every page. The step navigation described above also should assist users with backtracking if necessary.
Keep the customer on track.
Remove extraneous navigation once a customer is in the final steps of what want you’d want them to accomplish. The primary goal of any business site is conversion, which may mean getting the customer to contact you, make a purchase or register for a special offer. Therefore, a web site should have has obvious conversion paths, i.e., make it easy for the visitor to contact you, place an order or get to the registration form. Also, navigation should integrate call-to-action conversion accelerators
Web Design Wexford
Visit TopHatSolutions.ie for more information
There is a good chance your customers use the Internet regularly and are accustomed to certain standard navigation formats. Keep your navigation simple, and don’t stray too far from the user’s comfort zone. For instance, most Web users are accustomed to primary navigation always being at the top or left side of the page.
Provide a sense of scale.
Making the web site’s hierarchy visible through drop-down menus under the home page’s main headings on the home page is a good way to give the user a sense of a site. If one of the primary headings on a home page were “Tools,” the drop-down menu would list “Hammers,” “Saws,” and so on. With larger sites, it’s always a good idea to provide a search box to avoid frustrating users.
Make it intuitive.
visitors to a web site should be able to find what they need in no more than three clicks, and proceed to the first step in less than eight seconds. In order to achieve this ideal, the direction on each page should be clear and consistent.
To start, consider that upon entering a brick-and-mortar store, most people first search for a sign indicating the section they are seeking, such as Housewares. Once in the Housewares section, it makes sense to look for signs that point to particular products, such as lamps or rugs. A web site should have a similar intuitive layout.
Show the steps of progression.
If you want your customers to complete a process, try giving them a clear picture of how far they’ve come. If they can clearly see that they only have one more step to go, they may be more likely to finish. Across the top of the page, the first step in the progression might read “Your Information,” which is where customers enter a billing and shipping address. The next step might be “Payment Method,” followed by “Review Your Order,” then “Submit” to complete the purchase. Make sure throughout the entire process, the customer can see not only every step going forward, but the current step and the step or steps that lie ahead.
Give the user flexibility.
If a user goes down any path on the web site, make it easy for them to back out. This can be accomplished easily by keeping a global navigation on every page. The step navigation described above also should assist users with backtracking if necessary.
Keep the customer on track.
Remove extraneous navigation once a customer is in the final steps of what want you’d want them to accomplish. The primary goal of any business site is conversion, which may mean getting the customer to contact you, make a purchase or register for a special offer. Therefore, a web site should have has obvious conversion paths, i.e., make it easy for the visitor to contact you, place an order or get to the registration form. Also, navigation should integrate call-to-action conversion accelerators
Web Design Wexford
Visit TopHatSolutions.ie for more information
Monday, March 12, 2007
What is a Domain Name
Domain name, what the heck? Probably there is millions of people exists out there who doesn't know or indeed have no idea about what domain name is. They aren't jerks, just because they didn't need to know what domain name is. You can fall in that category; even if you don't why don't we give a second look at domain names? Domain name is a name that can identify a web site in the World Wide Web. In web there has to be a way to identify each different web site. So the easiest way was to give a name, just as like as we call each other by our names. But it is bit different from our names. Every name has something to add on, as you have probably visited www.yahoo.com you can see 'www' followed by 'yahoo' and 'com' separated by comma (.). Now 'www' stands for world wide web and .com .net .info are domains. With 'yahoo' together they call as domain name. Domain names can be may types like .com .info .co.uk etc.
Domain name registration. You have to register your domain name to create and publish a site in World Wide Web (internet). In the past it was extremely difficult to find out affordable domain name registration. All domain name registrars used to charge around $70 to register your domain name for 2 years. ituation has changed now. Many new company offering domain name registration at an affordable cost. Some will register your domain name for less then $15 for a year. Especially if you are registering multiple domain names for multiple sites for a number of years at the same time.
Domain name registration process can be confusing if you are a first time buyer. Literally there are number of terms to worry about. But according to many experts and even to those who have gone through the process of domain name registration said domain name registration process is such an easy and quick procedure. It is easy if and only if it is coupled with the effort and interest of both the domain name consumer and domain name registrars. About domain name consumers, it is indeed true that they play a great part in the domain name registration process since it is in their hands that the success of the domain name registration depends. Of course the domain name registrar play a part in the domain name registration process for the fact that they are ones who have the power to amend and control the domain names.
For More information about Domain Names - Visit http://www.tophatsolutions.ie
What is Web Hosting
This article will end confusion about different hosting types. Below are described all hosting types you need to know about.
Free hosting - is a type of hosting where you don't have to pay for your space with money, but the service is often compensated with advertisements. Free hosting offers poor or no support at all and has many other disadvantages. Free hosting is more a thing of past, since hosting has become very cheap.
Shared hosting - is the most popular and widely used type of web hosting. Shared means that multiple sites are hosted on the same hard drive and the same server. Each user is limited to a specific space allotment and data transfer.
Reseller hosting - means reselling hosting accounts for a web host under your own brand, pricing structure and everything else. Reseller is provided with all the things he needs, and does not need any hardware. His job is marketing and selling accounts.
Virtual Private Server - is a low cost solution for your own server. Virtual means that you do not rent a real server, but rather split hardware with other virtual servers on the same machine. However Virtual Private Server (often called VPS) provides everything that a real server does: root access, installing your own programs, hosting unlimited domains and more.
Dedicated Server - is an advanced type of hosting which includes rental and exclusive use of a computer, software and internet connection. Dedicated server provides far more control than any other type of hosting, but also means a greater responsibility, since the client has to manage the server himself. Dedicated server is the best solution for big web sites with lots of daily users.
Managed hosting - is an expanded dedicated server hosting. With dedicated server the client takes care of the server, but with managed hosting it is the responsibility of the hosting provider. It includes all the benefits of dedicated server plus server management, maintenance and monitoring 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
Colocation - is a type of hosting where you bring your own server to your hosts data center. Hosting company provides you rack space, internet connection, controlled environment (air temperature, security, redundancy) and IT staff available for help.
Clustered hosting - is a hosting type used by the greatest and most important web sites. Clustered means that the same content is served on multiple servers (often referred as mirrors). This enables better resource managing and redundancy.
For more information visit TopHatSolutions.ie
How to Choose a Website Hosting Company
Twelve thousand? you think. For this beautiful piece of land? What a deal! You're about to say "I'll take it" when she adds one more thing...
"However, there aren't any utilities here. You'll have to arrange for all of that yourself."
Not such a great deal now, is it?
This is the kind of trouble you may run into if you choose your website hosting company based on price. It may seem like a good deal, but if the company doesn't provide everything your website needs, you're choosing the wrong company. Here are a few things to consider when choosing a new hosting company or evaluating your current one.
How much disk space do you need?
One of the criteria that usually separates one hosting plan from another is the amount of space you get on the server for your website files. This is similar to space on your computer's hard drive, and is calculated the same way--in gigabytes, megabytes, and kilobytes. You can calculate the amount of space you need by adding up the size of all the website files. Don't forget to include all the graphics and images.
How much bandwidth do you need?
Bandwidth is calculated by the size of each file a visitor to you website sees multiplied by how many times a visitor sees it. For example, if your home page file is 11K (kilobytes) and it has two 7K images on it, that will add up to 25K of material transferred every time someone looks at your home page. So if you have 700 visitors in a month who look at your home page, that will be 17,500K transferred, or about 17M (megabytes). This will be calculated for every page a visitor looks at, as well as any video, audio, or other files they download onto their computer.
Most hosting companies set a limit on the bandwidth you can use per month, but make sure that is the case when comparing plans. Remember, one gigabyte equals 1024 megabytes, and one megabyte equals 1024 kilobytes.
What email options do you get?
Some things to look for are the number of email addresses you can have, mailbox storage size, POP3/SMTP service (you can send and receive email from your account), if you can have email aliases or forwarding (an address that sends all messages to another address's mailbox), online email access, and spam filtering. Consider your company's current and future needs when evaluating this.
Can you make changes to your website yourself?
Depending on the level of website expertise in your company, you may want to handle updating your website in-house, or you may want someone else to do it. There are many website hosting companies that offer website maintenance as part of their package, and you may find this an attractive option. But be aware of two things--one, how quickly will the company make your changes? And two, will they allow you or a third party (that you hire) to make changes, or do all changes have to go through them? The term to look for is "FTP access," which means that you have access to the username and password which will allow you or someone that you authorize to add new pages or change files on your website without going through a middleman.
What special scripts or functions will your website use?
Depending on the purpose and functions of your website, and who designs it, you may need your hosting company to support any of the following: databases (such as Microsoft Access, SQL, or MySQL), Flash/Shockwave, multimedia, e-commerce, and various scripting languages (such as ASP, PHP, and ColdFusion, all of which come in various versions, cgi, and perl).
If you are considering moving your current website to a new hosting company, talk to the website designer/developer to see which of these, if any, apply to your website. And if you are planning to have a website created, choose your designer/developer first and then have him or her assist you in determining which scripts or functions the website will be using.
Can you easily track and analyze your visitor traffic?
Some hosting companies include a traffic statistics program will all of their hosting plans. Some offer it as an add-on service. And some don't bother with it at all. If you want to have any clue about whether your website is making a positive difference for your company, you'll need to have access to good traffic statistics. Personally, I favor the program Urchin, which is offered by several hosting companies. It is easy to use and allows you to look at a variety of data in various time ranges. You can also export data to Microsoft Excel or Word or a text file.
What customer support options are available?
Most hosting companies will offer free support by email, but you may also want to be able to talk to them by phone. See if they charge for that. Some also offer "live chat" over the Internet at certain times, which may or may not be helpful, depending on how many customers are trying to use it at once.
What do other people say about them?
Check out third party reviews at sites like www.web-hosting-reviews.org or www.findmyhosting.com. Focus on the customer's experience with using the hosting service, if there is good customer support, and what their experience is with "downtime"--times when the hosting company's server is not working, and no one is able to visit your website. This should be close to non-existent.
Things to avoid
Free website hosting is usually not a good deal. They are likely to display ads on your website that you have no control over, to have little to no customer support, and they may close up shop without warning. Quality website hosting is available now for a very low price from many companies, so being miserly in this area will only hurt you.
You will also want to carefully read a hosting company's terms of service before signing up with them. Some have restrictions on what material you can put on your site or what kind of email you can send (such as ads that might be regarded as spam). If there are restrictions, make sure you can live with them, or find a different hosting company.
Does price mean anything?
I started this article with the idea that you shouldn't choose a company based on price. But should the price have any affect on your decision? Sure it can. If two hosting plans are equal in all ways except the cost, go with the cheaper one. But your main criteria should be the rest of the items discussed in this article.
One last point--if you choose the wrong hosting provider, it's usually not hard to switch to a new one! So don't get bogged down with trying to find the perfect hosting company. There are many good ones out there. The important thing is to get your website on the Internet!
For more information Visit http://www.tophatsolutions.ie
Web-Site Navigation
Web Navigation (Very Important)
A very important point to consider while designing a website is proper navigation. You must ensure that potential clients or customers are able to find the information they are looking for without too many clicks. As a quick rule of thumb, visitors to your site should be able to visit all your pages by using, at most, 3 clicks. This is also important when considering search engine optimization (SEO) because search engines will only spider (or index) pages that are 3 clicks deep into your site. Not only does proper navigation allow users to find information they are looking for, but it also allows search engines to spider (or index) the information they are looking for. This is essential if you want high quality search engine traffic directed to your website.
Different types of websites employ different navigation styles, so it is probably best to visit websites similar to your own to see which navigation structure they have chosen. The most common locations for your navigation menu are either on the left side of the page or at the top of the page.Read more about WebSite Navigation at http://TopHatSolutions.ie
TopHatSolutions - Web Design Ireland
Wednesday, March 7, 2007
Planning a Design for a Website
An approach to the design and planning of websites which, like architecture itself involves technical, aesthetic and functional criteria. As in traditional architecture, the focus is properly on the user and on user requirements. This requires particular attention to web content, a business plan, usability, interaction design, information architecture and web design. For effective Search Engine Optimisation it is necessary to have an appreciation of how a single website relates to the World Wide Web.
Since web content planning, design and management come within the scope of design methods, the traditional Vitruvian aims of Commodity, Firmness and Delight can guide the architecture of websites, as they do physical architecture and other design disciplines. Website architecture is coming within the scope of Aesthetics and Critical Theory and this trend may accelerate with the advent of the Semantic Web and Web 2.0. Both ideas emphasise the structural aspects of information. Structuralism is an approach to knowledge which has influenced a number of academic disciplines including aesthetics, critical theory and postmodernism. Web 2.0, because it involves user-generated content, direct the website architect's attention to the structural aspects of information.
"Website architecture" has the potential to be a term used for the intellectual discipline of organizing website content. "Web design", by way of contrast, describes the practical tasks, part-graphic and part-technical, of designing and publishing a website. The distinction compares to that between the task of editing a newspaper or magazine and its graphic design and printing. But the link between editorial and production activities is much closer for web publications than for print publications.
Web Design Safe Colours
Web safe colors
Designers were often encouraged to stick to these 216 "web-safe" colors in their websites; however, 8-bit color displays were much more common when the 216-color palette was developed than they are now. David Lehn and Hadley Stern have since discovered that only 22 of the 216 colors in the web-safe palette are reliably displayed without inconsistent remapping on 16-bit computer displays. They called these 22 colors the "really safe" palette; it consists mainly of shades of green and yellow, as can be seen in the table above, where the "really safe" colors are underlined. [6]
Web Design Ireland
A website is a collection of information about a particular topic or subject. Designing a website is defined as the arrangement and creation of web pages that in turn make up a website. A web page consists of information for which the website is developed. For example, a website might be compared to a book, where each page of the book is a web page.
There are many aspects (design concerns) in this process, and due to the rapid development of the Internet, new aspects may emerge. For typical commercial web sites, the basic aspects are:
- The content, substance and informational value of the site, from its target public's point of view;
- The usability of the site, navigation scheme, intuitive interface, compatibility and reliability of dynamic functions;
- The appearance, what's communicated by the styles, aesthetics, and professional appearance of the pages;
- The visibility of the site on the Internet, particularly within the major search engines, effected by compatibility with those search engines and all of the above.
A website typically consists of text and images. The first page of a website is known as the Home page or Index. Some websites use what is commonly called a Splash Page. Splash pages might include a welcome message, language/region selection, or disclaimer. Each web page within a website is an HTML file which has its own URL. After each web page is created, they are typically linked together using a navigation menu composed of hyperlinks.
Once a website is completed, it must be published or uploaded in order to be viewable to the public over the internet. This is done using an FTP client. Once published, the webmaster may use a variety of techniques to increase the traffic, or hits, that the website receives. This may include submitting the website to a search engine such as Google or Yahoo, exchanging links with other websites, creating affiliations with similar websites, etc.
A relatively new technique for creating websites called Remote Scripting has allowed more dynamic use of the web without the use of Flash or other specialized plug-ins. Leading the various techniques is Ajax, although other methods are still common, as Ajax is not a fully developed standard.
Multidisciplinary requirements
Website design crosses multiple disciplines of information systems, information technology and communication design. The website is an information system whose components are sometimes classified as front-end and back-end. The observable content (e.g page layout, user interface, graphics, text, audio) is known as the front-end. The back-end comprises the organization and efficiency of the source code, invisible scripted functions, and the server-side components that process the output from the front-end. Depending on the size of a Web development project, it may be carried out by a multi-skilled individual (sometimes called a web master), or a project manager may oversee collaborative design between group members with specialized skills.
Issues
As in most collaborative designs, there are conflicts between differing goals and methods of web site designs. These are a few of the ongoing ones.
Lack of collaboration in design
In the early stages of the web, there wasn't as much collaboration between web designs and larger advertising campaigns, customer transactions, social networking, intranets and extranets as there is now. Web pages were mainly static online brochures disconnected from the larger projects.
Many web pages are still disconnected from larger projects. Special design considerations are necessary for use within these larger projects. These design considerations are often overlooked, especially in cases where there is a lack of leadership, understanding or concern for the larger project to facilitate collaboration. This often results in unhealthy competition or compromise between departments, and less than optimal use of web pages.
Liquid versus fixed layouts
Programmers were the original web page designers in the early 1990s. Currently most web designers come from a graphic artist background in print, where the artist has absolute control over the size and dimensions of all aspects of the design. Many of these web designers have knowledge in Macromedia Flash, Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator. On the web however, the Web designer has no control over several factors, including the size of the browser window and the size and characteristics of available fonts.
Many designers compensate for this by wrapping their entire webpage in a fixed width box, essentially limiting it to an exact pixel-perfect value, which is a fixed layout. Some create the illusion of liquidity by building the graphics for their webpage at a size larger than any current standard monitor size. Other designers say that this is bad because it ignores the preferences of the user, who might have their browser sized a specific way that they like best. These people propose a liquid layout, where the size of the Web page adjusts itself based on the size of the browser window. Many prefer to set a standard browser size like 1024x728 and say on the web page that the website should be viewed with the said browser setting.
In some cases, it is difficult to create fixed layouts which work well given the amount of content needed, and the fact that one has to try to cater for the needs of all prospective users.
Similar to liquid layout is the optional fit to window feature with Adobe Flash content. This is a fixed layout that optimally scales the contents of the page without changing the arrangement or text wrapping when the browser is resized.
Flash
Adobe Flash (formerly Macromedia Flash) is a proprietary, robust graphics animation/application development program used to create and deliver dynamic content, media (such as sound and video), and interactive applications over the web via the browser.
Flash is not a standard produced by a vendor-neutral standards organization like most of the core protocols and formats on the Internet. Flash is much more restrictive than the open HTML format, though, requiring a proprietary plugin to be seen, and it does not integrate with most web browser UI features like the "Back" button unless a hyperlink is programmed to link a new html page from the Flash file, in which case the animation of the previous page would reset. However, those restrictions may be irrelevant depending on the goals of the web site design.
Flash as a format has become very widespread on the desktop market. According to NPD study, 98% of US Web users have the Flash Player installed [2], with 45%-56%[3] (depending on region) having the latest version. Numbers vary depending on the detection scheme and research demographics.
Many graphic artists use Flash because it gives them exact control over every part of the design, and anything can be animated and generally "jazzed up". Some application designers enjoy flash because it lets them create applications that don't have to be refreshed or go to a new web page every time an action occurs. Flash can use embedded fonts instead of the standard fonts installed on most computers. There are many sites which forego HTML entirely for Flash. Other sites may use Flash content combined with HTML as conservatively as gifs or jpegs would be used, but with smaller vector file sizes and the option of faster loading animations. Flash may also be used to protect content from unauthorized duplication or searching.
Flash detractors claim that Flash websites tend to be poorly designed, and often use confusing and non-standard user-interfaces. Up until recently, search engines have been unable to index Flash objects, which has prevented sites from having their contents easily found. This is because many search engine crawlers rely off of text to index websites. It is possible to specify alternate content to be displayed for browsers that do not support Flash. Using alternate content also helps search engines to understand the page, and can result in much better visibility for the page. However, the vast majority of Flash websites are not disability accessible (for screen readers, for example) or Section 508 compliant.
The most recent incarnation of Flash's scripting language (called "actionscript", which is an ECMA language similar to JavaScript) incorporates long-awaited usability features, such as respecting the browser's font size and allowing blind users to use screen readers. Actionscript 2.0 is an Object-Oriented language, allowing the use of CSS, XML, and the design of class-based web applications.
CSS versus tables
Back when Netscape Navigator 4 dominated the browser market, the popular solution available for designers to lay out a Web page was by using tables. Often even simple designs for a page would require dozens of tables nested in each other. Many web templates in Dreamweaver and other WYSIWYG editors still use this technique today. Navigator 4 didn't support CSS to a useful degree, so it simply wasn't used.
After the browser wars were over, and Internet Explorer dominated the market, designers started turning towards CSS as an alternate, better means of laying out their pages. CSS proponents say that tables should only be used for tabular data, not for layout. Using CSS instead of tables also returns HTML to a semantic markup, which helps bots and search engines understand what's going on in a web page. Today, all modern Web browsers now support CSS with different degrees of limitations.
However, one of the main points against CSS is that by relying on it exclusively, control is essentially relinquished as each browser has its own quirks which result in a slightly different page display. This is especially a problem as not every browser supports the same subset of CSS rules. For designers who are used to table-based layouts, developing Web sites in CSS often becomes a matter of trying to replicate what can be done with tables, leading some to find CSS design rather cumbersome due to lack of familiarity. For example, at one time it was rather difficult to produce certain design elements, such as vertical positioning, and full-length footers in a design using absolute positions. With the abundance of CSS resources available online today, though, designing with reasonable adherence to standards involves little more than applying CSS 2.1 or CSS 3 to properly structured markup.
These days most modern browsers have solved most of these quirks in CSS rendering and this has made many different CSS layouts possible. However, some people continue to use old browsers, and designers need to keep this in mind, and allow for graceful degrading of pages in older browsers. Most notable among these old browsers are Internet Explorer 5 and 5.5, which, according to some web designers, are becoming the new Netscape Navigator 4 — a block that holds the World Wide Web back from converting to CSS design.
How it Looks vs. How it Works
Since so many web developers have a graphic arts background, some may pay more attention to how a page looks, without considering how visitors are going to find the page via a search engine. Some may rely more on advertising than search engines to attract visitors to the site. On the other side of the issue, search engine optimization consultants (SEOs) obsess about how well a web site works technically and textually: how much traffic it generates via search engines, and how many sales it makes, assuming looks don't contribute to the sales. As a result, the designers and SEOs often end up in disputes where the designer wants more 'pretty' graphics, and the SEO wants lots of 'ugly' keyword-rich text, bullet lists, and text links. One could argue that this is a false dichotomy due to the possibility that a web design may integrate the two disciplines for a collaborative and synergistic solution. Because some graphics serve communication purposes in addition to aesthetics, how well a site works may depend on the graphic designer's visual communication ideas as well as the SEO considerations.
Another problem when using lots of graphics on a page is that download times can be greatly lengthened, often irritating the user. This has become less of a problem as the internet has evolved with high-speed internet and the use of vector graphics. This is an engineering challenge to increase bandwidth in addition to an artistic challenge to minimize graphics and graphic file sizes. This is an on-going challenge as increased bandwidth invites increased amounts of content.
Accessible Web design
Accessible Web design is the art of creating webpages that are accessible to everyone, using any device. It is especially important so that people with disabilities - whether due to accident, disease or old age - can access the information in Web pages and be able to navigate through the website.
To be accessible, web pages and sites must conform to certain accessibility principles. These can be grouped into the following main areas:
- use semantic markup that provides a meaningful structure to the document (i.e. Web page)
- use a valid markup language that conforms to a published DTD or Schema
- provide text equivalents for any non-text components (e.g. images, multimedia)
- use hyperlinks that makes sense when read out of context. (e.g. avoid "Click Here.")
- don't use frames
- use CSS rather than HTML Tables for layout.
- author the page so that when the source code is read line-by-line by user agents (such as a screen readers) it remains intelligible. (Using tables for design will often result in information that is not.)
However, W3C permits an exception where tables for layout either make sense when linearized or an alternate version (perhaps linearized) is made available.
Dynamic web design
The traditional method of laying out web pages, HTML, is static. There are two ways of delivering content dynamically:
Server-side
A web server, running special software, constructs an HTML page 'on the fly', according to the user's request and possibly other variables, such as time or stock levels.
Suitable scripting languages include:
- ASP
- ASP.NET
- ColdFusion
- JSP
- Lasso
- Perl
- PHP
- Python
- Ruby
XSLT can be used to translate data from XML format into HTML.
MySQL and PostgreSQL are popular free SQL databases, suitable for use with the above. They can be used to allow users, subject to password access if required, to update content.
Client-side
Client-side scripting works at the user's browser, and therefore should not be used for "mission critical' work, where the user's capabilities are not known – it is more suited to adding decoration and other ephemeral content. It is most often achieved through JavaScript.
Client side DHTML can pose major problems for Web accessibility and search engine optimization. Most software designed for assisting people with disabilities, and most search engine robots do not support client side DHTML.
If a web site's menus are built with JavaScript, it is usually impossible for search engines to find the pages listed in the menus, unless an alternative navigation scheme is provided elsewhere on the page. (NOTE: By using nested lists for navigation menus, and slightly more complex, DOM-based scripts, this problem may be overcome.)
Website Planning
Before creating and uploading a website, it is important to take the time to plan exactly what is needed in the website. Thoroughly considering the audience or target market, as well as defining the purpose and deciding the content will be developed are extremely important.
Purpose
It is essential to define the purpose of the website as one of the first steps in the planning process. A purpose statement should show focus based on what the website will accomplish and what the users will get from it. A clearly defined purpose will help the rest of the planning process as the audience is identified and the content of the site is developed. Setting short and long term goals for the website will help make clear the purpose and plan for the future when expansion, modification, and improvement will take place. Also, goal-setting practices and measurable objectives should be identified to track the progress of the site and determine success.
Audience
Defining the audience is a key step in the website planning process. The audience is the group of people who are expected to visit your website – the market being targeted. These people will be viewing the website for a specific reason and it is important to know exactly what they are looking for when they visit the site. A clearly defined purpose or goal of the site as well as an understanding of what visitors want to do/feel when they come to your site will help to identify the target audience. Upon considering who is most likely to need/use the content, a list of characteristics common to the users such as:
- Audience Characteristics
- Information Preferences
- Computer Specifications
- Web Experience
Taking into account the characteristics of the audience will allow an effective website to be created that will deliver the desired content to the target audience.
Content
Content evaluation and organization requires that the purpose of the website be clearly defined. Collecting a list of the necessary content then organizing it according to the audience's needs is a key step in website planning. In the process of gathering the content being offered, any items that do not support the defined purpose or accomplish target audience objectives should be removed. It is a good idea to test the content and purpose on a focus group and compare the offerings to the audience needs. The next step is to organize the basic information structure by categorizing the content and organizing it according to user needs. Each category should be named with a concise and descriptive title that will become a link on the website. Planning for the site's content ensures that the wants/needs of the target audience and the purpose of the site will be fulfilled.
Compatibility and restrictions
Because of the market share of modern browsers (depending on your target market), the compatibility of your website with the viewers is restricted. For instance, a website that is designed for the majority of websurfers will be limited to the use of valid XHTML 1.0 Strict or older, Cascading Style Sheets Level 1, and 1024x768 display resolution. This is because Internet Explorer is not fully W3C standards compliant with the modularity of XHTML 1.1 and the majority of CSS beyond 1. A target market of more alternative browser (e.g. Firefox and Opera) users allow for more W3C compliance and thus a greater range of options for a web designer.
Another restriction on webpage design is the use of different Image file formats. The majority of users can support GIF, JPEG, and PNG (with restrictions). Again Internet Explorer is the major restriction here, not fully supporting PNG's advanced transparency features, resulting in the GIF format still being the most widely used graphic file format for transparent images.
Many website incompatibilities go unnoticed by the designer and unreported by the users. The only way to be certain a website will work on a particular platform is to test it on that platform.
Storyboarding
Storyboarding is the process of taking into account the purpose, audience and content to design the site structure that is most suitable for the website. In this process the organized and categorized content is used to develop a diagram or map. This creates a visual of how the web pages will be laid out and interconnected which helps decide how the content is portrayed. There are three main ways of diagramming the website organization:
- Linear Website Diagrams will allow the users to move in a predetermined sequence;
- Hierarchical structures (of Tree Design Website Diagrams) provide more than one path for users to take to their destination;
- Branch Design Website Diagrams allow for many interconnections between web pages.
In the process of storyboarding a record is made of the description, purpose and title of each page in the site and they are linked together according to the most effective and logical diagram type. Depending on the number of pages the website will include, methods include using pieces of paper and drawing lines to connect them or alternatively, creating the storyboard using computer software. Storyboarding can be considered like a creating a prototype for the website – a model which allows the website layout to be reviewed, resulting in suggested changes, improvements and/or enhancements. This review process increases the likelihood of success of the website. Some people refer to this as a "tree" because it branches from the main page.
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