Website Design Solutions
“Design Preparation”
The Basics
Preparing to design a website is not an easy task and can be very overwhelming without some sort of plan.
Don't panic! What I do is grab a pencil and paper and begin drawing a layout. Using boxes
and scribbles, I will draw some sort of layout that I want to code utilizing the specific items below.
See Figure 1 Under “Design Basics” on the right to see the makings of a simple layout.
Some Specifics
Color and Pictures
It's a variety of expressions. It has aesthetic qualities and is pleasing
to the eye. It adds to the overall value of a website design when used sparingly. Gawdy flash and animated graphics
are generally an indication of a very unprofessional and amateurish design, and adds no real value to a website.
Most websites designed with predominantly flash designs are generally not good for SEO (search engine optimization) purposes
since there is little content and all “flash”.
HTML and Design
I handcode all my websites.
Yes, I occasionally use a template but I generally tear it apart so much that you wouldn't know it was a
template to begin with. You may really want one of the templates that I've designed.
If that's the case, then it's yours. However, when hired to design a website, I do not re–use any of
the templates I create for you since you and your website are unique. So you don't have to worry about some
joe–shmo having a duplicate of your website.
CSS
Acronym for Cascading Style Sheet
and no serious–minded web designer would work without them. In a nutshell, these are special pages or
coding within a webpage that provide a simple mechanism for adding style to web documents. They perform
the "how" your website will be viewed by the various browsers. A truly important tool to know.
If you'd like to know more, read
"
Cascading Style Sheets" by the W3C.
All websites by Distinct Website Designs utilize CSS.
SEO
Acronym for Search Engine Optimization. This means optimizing your website with keywords
and key phrases that are most relevant to your website. Words that people type into
Google, Yahoo or MSN to find information are the words you need to find so that you can
effectively entertain the idea of placing them strategically within your webpage content.
Remember, Content is King. The content will be your words, but I can help you optimize them for the search engines.
Now let's go on to The First Steps in Designing Your Web Site.
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Lindenhurst, N.Y. 11757
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