Monday, September 17, 2007

Illusion Technologies: Web Site Design

Custom Website Design - The Cost
By

[http://ezinearticles.com/?expert=Dustin_Schwerman]Dustin

Schwerman

I would be remiss if I got into a discussion of custom
website design without discussing the cost involved. There
are always hindrances for any benefit, and before you
decide for certain if originality is the path to follow, you
should consider the detriments involved. In this case, the
costs are mainly money, time, and effort.

In terms of actual monetary cost it should be noted that the
cost is not owed to the custom nature of the site. The cost
is essentially a prerequisite based on the fact that you are
not able to use less expensive templates. If you want an
original design, you will need a skilled designer.

Presumably, you are reading this article because you are
not, yourself, trained in that field. This, then, means hiring a
professional.

Professional web design can be costly. Even simple sites
often cost more than $100, and more complex sites can
range to $500, $1,000, or more. The most advanced sites
can cost several thousand dollars to design.

Since your site is to be customized, it is likely that you will
also need graphics, multiple pages, and specialized
programs. Thus, you would be best served seeking out a
website design company that charges based on overall
complexity, rather than in discreet amounts by hour or page.
Hourly rates in particular should be avoided, as you will
likely require several revisions to get the effect you want.
Which leads to time. These sorts of websites are not simple
drag-and-drop processes; they often require detailed
stylesheets, complex programs, and unique graphics. If an
immediate on-line presence is required, you may very well
lack the time for custom work. Additionally, as noted
above, you are not likely to get the proper effect from the
first design. The greatest advantage of customization is
likewise a potentially significant disadvantage; everything is
subject to change. The site is not done until you say it is.

Literally, until you say it is. If you want to optimize for your
business, you can’t just give your designers some
instructions and leave them to handle things. Your input will
be required. You know your field, your audience. You
know which pages are most important, what functions can
improve your business. Your knowledge is an integral part
of the design process, which means that you will have to
spend your own time and effort considering the site,
communicating with your designers, and making decisions
about the options and drafts they present.

Custom website design can be useful. I would argue that
the most effective website is one created in this manner.
But this doesn’t mean that there are no costs or penalties
involved. Time, money, and effort will all be required to get
the site up and running the way you want. If you desire
your web pages to be created in this manner, then don’t shy
away from these costs, but go into things with them in
mind—and take advantage of any opportunity to minimize
them.

Copyright © 2007 Dustin Schwerman.

Dustin Schwerman is the primary web designer at
[http://www.trulyuniqueweb.com]Truly Unique--Affordable
Custom Website Design. Truly Unique specializes in
impressive, custom sites designed to capture the essence of
the businesses they represent, as well as creating useful
web-based programs to improve and simplify some of the
tasks of running a business. Their goal is to provide these
services at affordable, pragmatic rates based on effort
involved, rather than arbitrary costs based on number of
pages or hours.

Article Source:

http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Dustin_Schwerman

http://EzineArticles.com/?Custom-Website-Design---The-Cost&id=718950

Friday, September 14, 2007

Illusion Technologies: Web Site Design

Graphic Website Design- How You Can Do It Yourself Fast, Easily and Cheap Over and Over
By [http://ezinearticles.com/?expert=Christopher_James]Christopher James

Graphic website design is not as hard as it sounds. With a little professional touch and very short learning curve, within minutes, you can get your self into web site graphic design in a way you never imagined if you know the exact secrets of doing it. I am here to tell you exactly how you can supercharge your graphic website design portfolio if you are not a professional, by revealing to you how you can leverage the work of expert graphic designers with web site design skills to create the kind of websites that artists who design graphic websites are paid highly for. At the end you will be able to use this knowledge to design your personal graphic web site.

To start with, it is a fact that you cannot design an affordable design in few minutes without first learning about things like color matches and other technical junks that people will admire and respect, this is why you need professional quality. This problem can easily be overcome by getting blank graphic designs that is created by professional graphic designers, then inserting your specific needs by following simple instructions a little child will understand, such as, click here-save-export and so on.

For example, if what you need on your site is a header, then get blank headers that are created by professionals; if you want your color match to be blue, then get a blue blank header. If your header text is “ get fast solution to chicken recipes here”, then insert the text into the blank header and so on. Do this for ecovers, logos, brochures and other graphic website designs. You will get a professional quality website graphic design only those in the know use.

Once you get your blank graphics, you need a system such as software to simplify the process for you. With software, by choosing just your colors, fonts, shadows, bevels and any other style you want, you will see your graphic in few minutes completed.

This is the excellent secret many graphic designers don’t want you to discover. You can get these blanks from graphic design websites on the net. However, the best graphic design website I know that can give you lots of excellent header, logo and ecovers, together with or without pictures is found at the link below.

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Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Christopher_James http://EzineArticles.com/?Graphic-Website-Design--How-You-Can-Do-It-Yourself-Fast,-Easily-and-Cheap-Over-and-Over&id=722416

Thursday, September 13, 2007

Illusion Technologies: Web Site Design

Why Your Website Needs a Great Navigation System
By [http://ezinearticles.com/?expert=Dominic_Foster]Dominic Foster

Traditionally the navigation menu is placed just below the header area or on the left hand side of the web page. Usability studies have shown that web site visitors instinctively look in these areas first.

Wherever you decide to place your navigation menu, remember that consistency is important. The most important thing is to place your navigation menu in the same spot on every one of your web pages. If you use an image to represent a navigational button, use the same image and the same color for that image on each page of your website. For example, if you use an image of a green house in the left hand corner of your web page as your "Home" navigational link, use the same green house image in the left hand corner of every one of your web pages to designate the "Home" link.

Your visitor should be able to find what they are looking for within 3 clicks of your home page. This is usually not a problem for small sites. However, if you have a large site with many pages, you will need to design a navigation menu that provides access to all areas of your website without getting your visitor lost or confused.

You may want to use a bread crumb trail type of navigation system for large sites (Homepage > Category > Subcategory > Content). Another option is to use a dynamic menu that changes according to the page your visitor is, but be aware that search engines may not be able to spider sites using dynamic menus.

Usability studies have shown that a navigation menu should contain no more than 8 links. The more choices a user is given, the more difficult it will be for them to make a decision. Also, if you have many links, your visitor may get the impression that your site is complicated and difficult to navigate.

If you have only a few links, use mouse rollovers to visually enhance your website. You will need to add some Javascript that pre-loads the rollover images and then add "onMouseover" events to your image links. Alternatively, use CSS for text rollovers that change the link color when the mouse cursor hovers over a link.

Navigation links should be considered the most important part of your website for two reasons:

1) They are used by your visitor to find content on your site.

2) They are used by search engines to spider your site.

The reason users visit your site is to get information. If visitors can't find the information they are searching for, they will click away, perhaps never to return again.

While different search engines have different rules on how they spider and rank a site, basically a "bot" or "spider" will visit a site, search for a "HREF" link and follow the links to other pages, indexing the pages as it goes along. If the "bot" or "spider" doesn't find a "HREF" tag on a page, it is blocked from going any deeper into the site. As you can see, you need to design your navigational system so that a search engine can spider all pages of your website.

When designing your website, take the extra time to design a good navigational system. It is vital to your success!

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Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Dominic_Foster http://EzineArticles.com/?Why-Your-Website-Needs-a-Great-Navigation-System&id=228306

Wednesday, September 12, 2007

Illusion Technologies: Web Site Design

CSS Website Design
By [http://ezinearticles.com/?expert=David_Sielicki]David Sielicki

Cascading Style Sheets (or CSS for short) have slowly but surely become a website design standard over the past few years. It was not that many years ago that people used Frames to position their content across their web pages and Tables gradually replaced this. Many low-end website developers are still very comfortable with Tables, as it ‘does what it says on the tin’. However, more and more people are now moving over to CSS, as virtually all the layout options can be achieved using the code.

One major problem with CSS is that not all Web browsers produce the same results and it has not been helped in the past by the various browsers employing their own way of interpreting certain CSS conventions. You can think your CSS design looks OK in the current version of your preferred browser and can then be crestfallen when you view your Web pages in another version that has destroyed the formatting. Therefore, when moving over to CSS, it is important that you use the capabilities that are consistently supported across the entire range of popular browsers. It is interesting that the new version 7 of Microsoft's Internet Explorer has fixed a number of earlier anomalies, but many people are now waking up to the reality that IE7 has in fact caused problems arising from their earlier workarounds!

So why not bother with CSS, if Tables work for you? The principal advantages are as follows:

1. Web page code is generally much easier to follow;

2. The amount of code used to achieve the same result is much less. The general view is that by switching to a CSS layout, the typical page size reduction is between 50 - 60 per cent;

3. Download speeds for CSS pages are generally faster than their Table-driven counterparts. This is because browsers have to read through the table code twice before they are able to display the contents. They do this firstly to figure out the structure and then again to understand the content. It should also be recognised that a Table's contents can only be presented to the screen in one go, whereas CSS content will drop in separately, thereby giving a better user experience. It is also possible to govern the order in which specific screen elements appear, so the user is not distracted by the more bulky and slower to load image files. Furthermore, because all the code involved with CSS page layout is held in one external CSS document and is cached, it is faster than Table layouts that need to be interpreted every time a new page is displayed;

4. It is much easier to edit existing pages and to add new pages, particularly in the area of subtle formatting amendments. For example, you can change the font or colour scheme across an entire website in literally minutes;

5. CSS delivers enhanced accessibility. In recent years the number of people using web browsers on hand-held devices has risen significantly and CSS plays an important function in delivering content to PDA's etc through additional CSS documents. This just isn't possible with Table-driven layouts;

6. CSS is considered to be more Search Engine friendly because they can spider CSS pages quicker. However, it remains to be seen if this has any tangible benefits such as an improvement on the your page ranking.

On the flipside, there are a few disadvantages to CSS web page design you should consider:

1. As compared with Tables, CSS involves a much bigger learning curve;

2. Because of cross browser support issues, the time spent implementing workarounds should not be underestimated;

3. New browser versions can catch website developers napping if you are not careful. You can find that earlier workarounds have been overcome and the look of your website has changed overnight.

Ultimately, your decision on whether or not to move over to see CSS will probably depend on your level of technical capability and the time you're able to devote to understanding CSS layout alternatives.

David Sielicki is Features Editor with [http://www.fetcher.co.uk/] Fetcher the UK’s products and services directory. He is also a freelancer with [http://www.webaffinity.net/] Web Affinity

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=David_Sielicki http://EzineArticles.com/?CSS-Website-Design&id=406359

Tuesday, September 4, 2007

Illusion Technologies: Web Site Design

Web Site Design - 8 Steps to Web Site Design
By [http://ezinearticles.com/?expert=James_Krawder]James Krawder

If you are interested in web site design, there are 8 steps that you need to understand when it comes to web site design. By coming to an understanding of these 8 important steps, you will be well on your way to enjoying web site design success.

1. When it comes to web site design success, you need to make sure that you understand how to make a web site visually appealing.

2. In addition, in your efforts towards quality web site design, you need to ensure that any web site you build is user friendly. How easy is it for your visitors to use.

3. Content is fundamental when it comes to your web site design efforts. You must ensure that the content is interesting, informative and entertaining as necessary.

4. Along these same lines, you will also want to make sure that you apply search engine optimization principles to the creation of the content for your website.

5. As part of your web site design efforts, you need to ensure that you properly install metatags appropriately throughout your web site.

6. Of course, as part of your web site domain efforts, you need to make certain that you select an appropriate domain name for your web site.

7. Consider adding keyword enriched articles to your web site in order to enhance the amount of traffic that is drawn to your website.

8. Make certain that if you are interested in professional web site design that you set up a solid technical support system for your clients.

Use these eight steps to design your web site and you will be on your way to web site success.

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Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=James_Krawder http://EzineArticles.com/?Web-Site-Design---8-Steps-to-Web-Site-Design&id=701916

Monday, September 3, 2007

Illusion Technologies: Web Site Design

The Advantages For You In A Custom Web Site Design
By [http://ezinearticles.com/?expert=Lee_Hopkins]Lee Hopkins

A custom web site design is a great asset to any business, regardless of its size. It not only brings more customers to your business, but also makes people remember your company. To develop web site materials that are creative, unique and compelling, you are giving your business the edge it needs to compete with other businesses. A custom web site design also gives your business that professional appearance customers trust.

You can find several companies online that will create a custom web site design made specifically for your company. At www.intrinzicdesignz.com, you can create a website design by picking a pre-made template that is relevant to the services or products that your business offers. This online company offers you the opportunity to develop web site materials by yourself -- so you can be sure that your website will be unique and specific to your business. They also have a custom administration area so you can maintain your custom web site design by yourself. With reasonable prices and a website design by you, this is an ideal way to promote your company's products.

Another online company that will develop web site materials for you is www.customwebsitedesign.com. This custom web site design company has a long name but it provides a great service to businesses needing custom web site designs. They offer a variety of graphics and information that you can put on your website and offer buying and selling options for customers who visit your page. Their custom web site designs are attention-grabbing and give potential customers a reason to return for more.

Several online companies provide custom web site design services. The professionals at www.webdesignoffice.us are no exception. These highly-trained designers can give you the best possible custom web site design to increase your customer base and give you a competitive edge against others in your industry. You can also be sure that their affordable rates and packages are ideal to fit your custom web site design needs, while still working within your budget.

Custom web site designs are vital to the success of a company in today's online world. You can do a custom web site design yourself, but hiring a custom web site design company will give you that extra touch of professionalism. It will also save you time -- so you can concentrate on making your products and services superior to that of your competitors instead.

Lee Hopkins the author of over 130 articles on business communication, and is recognised world-wide as one of Australia's leading experts in online business communication, including Social Media or Web2.0 as it's also known as.

To connect with him, please call him on +61 8121 4444 any hour of the day or night; if he's asleep you can leave a voice message!

Visit his site at http://www.LeeHopkins.com to find many more articles on business communication. Whilst there, why not pick up a complimentary copy of his 'Social Media White Paper', which explains all about this latest seismic change to the business communication landscape!

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Lee_Hopkins http://EzineArticles.com/?The-Advantages-For-You-In-A-Custom-Web-Site-Design&id=640266

Sunday, September 2, 2007

Illusion Technologies: Web Site Design

The Advantages For You In A Custom Web Site Design
By [http://ezinearticles.com/?expert=Lee_Hopkins]Lee Hopkins

A custom web site design is a great asset to any business, regardless of its size. It not only brings more customers to your business, but also makes people remember your company. To develop web site materials that are creative, unique and compelling, you are giving your business the edge it needs to compete with other businesses. A custom web site design also gives your business that professional appearance customers trust.

You can find several companies online that will create a custom web site design made specifically for your company. At www.intrinzicdesignz.com, you can create a website design by picking a pre-made template that is relevant to the services or products that your business offers. This online company offers you the opportunity to develop web site materials by yourself -- so you can be sure that your website will be unique and specific to your business. They also have a custom administration area so you can maintain your custom web site design by yourself. With reasonable prices and a website design by you, this is an ideal way to promote your company's products.

Another online company that will develop web site materials for you is www.customwebsitedesign.com. This custom web site design company has a long name but it provides a great service to businesses needing custom web site designs. They offer a variety of graphics and information that you can put on your website and offer buying and selling options for customers who visit your page. Their custom web site designs are attention-grabbing and give potential customers a reason to return for more.

Several online companies provide custom web site design services. The professionals at www.webdesignoffice.us are no exception. These highly-trained designers can give you the best possible custom web site design to increase your customer base and give you a competitive edge against others in your industry. You can also be sure that their affordable rates and packages are ideal to fit your custom web site design needs, while still working within your budget.

Custom web site designs are vital to the success of a company in today's online world. You can do a custom web site design yourself, but hiring a custom web site design company will give you that extra touch of professionalism. It will also save you time -- so you can concentrate on making your products and services superior to that of your competitors instead.

Lee Hopkins the author of over 130 articles on business communication, and is recognised world-wide as one of Australia's leading experts in online business communication, including Social Media or Web2.0 as it's also known as.

To connect with him, please call him on +61 8121 4444 any hour of the day or night; if he's asleep you can leave a voice message!

Visit his site at http://www.LeeHopkins.com to find many more articles on business communication. Whilst there, why not pick up a complimentary copy of his 'Social Media White Paper', which explains all about this latest seismic change to the business communication landscape!

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Lee_Hopkins http://EzineArticles.com/?The-Advantages-For-You-In-A-Custom-Web-Site-Design&id=640266

Saturday, September 1, 2007

Illusion Technologies: Web Site Design

Web Site Design - 4 First Steps to Web Site Design
By [http://ezinearticles.com/?expert=Sean_R_Mize]Sean R Mize

The internet can rightly be considered as the most important source of information exchange and sharing today. The number of websites on the World Wide Web is rising constantly. As a result of this ever increasing number of web sites, the field of web designing is becoming very important now. Never before was it as important as it is today. As the number of web sites is increasing at a very fast pace, all web sites need their unique selling points to stay in business. If they do not pay all due attention towards these small points, they will not be able to survive the competition. This is the reason that web site designing has become as very important art and science in the present world.

If you want to design a web site for your web base business, you can either design it yourself or you can hire a professional who can help you in this regard. Your web site can be a really good one if you pay close attention towards those issues which are vital to the success of your online business. First of all, you need to be sure about your business’s requirements. If your business is a selling business, you need a specific type of web site, if it is entertainment oriented; your web site needs to be designed in an entirely different way. Once the frame work is there, you must pay attention towards the space you have on your web site. You can sell some space to other web sites by placing their links on your web site.

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Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Sean_R_Mize http://EzineArticles.com/?Web-Site-Design---4-First-Steps-to-Web-Site-Design&id=650652

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