Custom Web Site Design Strategies

Web site design has certainly, in the past decade, evolved tremendously. More clients now are demanding custom design, as opposed to the 'cookie cutter' sites of yesteryear.

Where once there existed a limit as to the types of fonts used, the types of coding languages used, and the styles themselves, there is now the possibility for more variety in Web site design than ever before. This has come about because of the advances in technology that did not exist even a few years ago, and it has opened up many creative avenues for Web site designers in the creation of custom designs.

Web development overall, has to be more competitive, and take into consideration the needs of clients now, when literally billions of Web sites compete for attention online on a daily basis. A Web site is the first impression the owner of an E-commerce business makes on their own potential clients, and the competition factor, has now led to the burgeoning of more creative designs and implementations to deal with this competition factor.

Web development now needs to speak to the needs not only of the clients that are building the Web site, but the needs of the visitors who are, overall "potential prospects' of the Web site owners.

E-commerce needs have created some rather unique approaches to Web development, from the most beautiful to the most garish, unfortunately. In an attempt to have their own E-commerce sites 'noticed', some business owners have become too individualistic, and there does abound many sites that are not easily navigable, nor especially pleasing to the eye. A Web designer needs to use good judgment when making choices about how much is 'too much' individuality.

Web site designers can avoid the pitfalls of becoming overly creative, and yet do much now to make a client's site, very appealing and eye-catching by keeping a few simple rules in mind:

A. Are the colors pleasing to most visitors, without being garish and hard to view?

B. Are the fonts easily read by most visitors, which means not too large (too much scrolling), or too small, (too much squinting)?

C. Is the navigation and usability of the site what it can be? Can visitors find features easily?

D. Is the site clean and uncluttered? It should never look like your grandmother's attic, where thirty years of junk abounds in every corner!

At the same time, the E-commerce functionality can be maintained with advanced creativity, as navigability and usability can be implemented flawlessly also. The new advances in technology now have led to the following changes that increase the ability to improve creativity:

1. A staggering number of font sizes that can be flawlessly implemented to distinguish a site. Up until just a few years ago, Web masters were limited in the choice of fonts, and font sizes. Times New Roman and Arial were the two standard fonts used, as some browsers could not effectively display other fonts with any reliability, changing fonts that were not Times New Roman and Arial into the Sans Serif, which is not all that attractive. This was a big deterrent to the creative use of fonts. With new embedding technologies, this is no longer a real problem, and many designers are now using great new fonts that make a site 'stand out' effortlessly.

2. Original layouts can be more easily implemented due to the emergence of CSS (Cascading Style Sheets) technology. Prior to CSS, it took much work (and therefore much money) to create designs with 'punch' as every design demanded hours upon hours of work with HTML (Hypertext Markup Language), the old standard for writing and creating custom designs. CSS has freed Web designers from these restrictions, and of course, saves clients a great deal of money spent on man hours, leading more clients to demand great looking custom designs.

3. Navigation and usability have also increased, once the restrictions were lifted from the creation and development of custom sites. Oddly enough, for some reason, many years ago, it was thought 'common knowledge' that all sites should contain a left-hand navigation bar, and nothing else. This was the old standard that designers had used for decades and no one thought to question this practice. This gave rise to sites that were for the most part 'cookie cutter' varieties, each having the same standard layout and left-hand navigation bar layout. Creative use of right-hand navigation bars and other techniques have created sites that are very much different in layout and navigation than the old standards, and this has not proven to be a detriment for most E-commerce businesses. In fact, uniqueness seems to be more memorable, and may indeed be a competitive edge in itself.

4. The emergence of WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get) HTML technologies has opened up a whole new world of creative fonts, creative color schemes, and creative layouts. With WYSIWYG, designers can see exactly how a site will appear all through the process, eliminating much of the time consuming trial and error that preceded this. Even novice designers and those that seek to create their own site can benefit from WYSIWYG, as most Web site creation software and online sites used for Web site design incorporates this technology, which is easy to use for almost anyone and requires no coding language knowledge.

5. Better flash techniques have also been discovered and employed in the past several years, leading to greater effectiveness of flash sites, and faster upload speeds (a problem with flash prior to the technological advances was slow loading). Sites that employ flash now have a more professional look and feel to them, and flash is used often now in the construction of online videos and games that appear on sites and educates and entertains visitors.

The past decade in technology has indeed lent itself to the emergence of superior creativity in Web site design and Web development by Web masters. Gone are the old days of stagnantly designed sites, the 'same old, same old' fonts, dull colors, and slow-loading and ineffective flash. It seems now, that the sky is the limit with customization of sites, and this can only be called one of the best developments of this century. Beautiful sites, that will hopefully bring beautiful results to personal and E-commerce clients, are now standard, and the future looks brighter than ever for Web site designers and developers!

Copyright 2005 Nathan Sire

Nathan Drew Sire, President of Captain Media, services the web design/development market. He's been developing code since the age of eight. You can read more about his company at http://www.captainmedia.com or contact him at http://www.captainmedia.com

travel from Midway Gilman .. Lockport Chicago limo O’Hare
In The News:

First driverless semi delivers 100 loads in Texas, transforming logistics with AI. Tech expert Kurt “CyberGuy" Knutsson gives his takeaways.
A new scam using Elon Musk's name is making the rounds, promoting "energy-saving" devices and falsely linking the Tesla and SpaceX leader to the products.
China recently unveiled a new bullet train prototype with a test speed of 280 mph that is poised to break records and set new standards.
Hackers sometimes find ways to exploit iPhones, and Apple recently discovered a vulnerability in iOS that may have been exploited for over a year.
Stay up to date on the latest AI technology advancements and learn about the challenges and opportunities AI presents now and for the future.
Lynx the robot dog from China is pushing boundaries of what autonomous mobile robots can achieve with a groundbreaking design and unique mobility.
A startup claims to have developed the world's first entirely artificial intelligence-designed and 3D-printed shoe, the brainchild of a 25-year-old.
Creating an email alias can help clean up your inbox by organizing emails based on purpose, like creating different aliases for shopping, newsletters and work.
A multipurpose robotic system promises to transform how items are stacked onto pallets, aiming to maximize space utilization and reduce shipping costs.
Stay up to date on the latest AI technology advancements and learn about the challenges and opportunities AI presents now and for the future.
The number of people affected by a UnitedHealth data breach in February 2024 was actually higher than previously reported and was the largest medical data breach in U.S. history.
A phishing campaign uses Google Calendar to schedule fake meeting invitations that appear legitimate, redirecting targets to phishing sites.
Toll road text scam: Fake messages claim unpaid fees, seek payment via fraudulent links. Kurt “CyberGuy" Knutsson says this scam is becoming increasingly sophisticated and widespread.
Kurt “CyberGuy" Knutsson says these steps ensure that your friends and family get to the exact moment you want them to see. Try it out and streamline your sharing experience.
Tech expert Kurt “CyberGuy" Knutsson offers tips on how to protect your identity: Be vigilant, monitor accounts, use smart security, know theft response.
Tech expert Kurt “CyberGuy" Knutsson says cybercriminals are exploiting iMessage phishing protection, tricking users to reactivate links.
It's hard to imagine life without in-flight Wi-Fi these days – but sky-high web surfing comes with its own set of privacy concerns. Here's how to protect yourself.
Over 400,000 cases of credit card fraud were reported in 2024 to the Federal Trade Commission. The CyberGuy explains how to protect against becoming another victim.
A nondescript metal box transforms into a fully functional electric motorcycle that blurs the line between vehicle and urban infrastructure.
Many apps unrelated to location still ask users for tracking permission, and Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton has filed a lawsuit seeking to end this alleged practice by Allstate.
Stay up to date on the latest AI technology advancements and learn about the challenges and opportunities AI presents now and for the future.
Melody, the artificial intelligence-powered robot, is life-sized and represents a move toward creating robots that resemble people in appearance and interaction.
Here are five easy smartphone rules from the National Security Agency that you can follow to better protect your mobile device from hackers and scammers.
A U.S. robotics company has developed "Jennie," a robotic pet powered by artificial intelligence that's designed to comfort those facing mental health challenges.
Healthcare records for more than 184 million Americans were breached in 2024, but you can take steps to minimize that risk. Kurt the CyberGuy explains.

How To Get A Pay Raise From Your Web Site

How many of the visitors to your web site take... Read More

How to Choose Web Design Company?

Before deciding on which web design company to choose, you... Read More

Can a Webpage Created Without HTML?

The HTML editor is usually a webpage design software that... Read More

10 seconds is all it takes? (How to grab the attention of your audience with your web site)

FACT: 30 to 60% of visitors tend to drop off... Read More

Website promotion Ideas: 10 Web Site Add-Ons To Increase Your Traffic

If you're not getting a lot of traffic to your... Read More

Web Advertising: 10 Little Known Tricks To Help Convert Your Traffics To Buying Customers

You may not believe it, but people still judge things... Read More

Creating Quality Websites

Websites, there are literally billions of them out there in... Read More

How To Boost Your Chances at Having a Successful Web Site

New Web sites are springing up online by the millions.... Read More

Pages to Include in Your Website

What pages need to be included on your website? The... Read More

Choose & Use the Best Colors, The Psychology of Color

Are you using the best colors for your web site?... Read More

Website Maintenance: What Does it Take to Manage Your Website?

Every action has a beginning phase where you launch your... Read More

Three Things You Must Do When Designing and Building Your Small Business Website

If you are going to have a web presence for... Read More

Freelancers Bite Back!

The Internet has seen an explosion in so called 'lance'... Read More

Website Creativity: Why It Matters Now More than Ever

If one more business owner tells me their website sucks... Read More

Top Ten Website Design Secrets for Internet Marketing Success

When it comes to marketing your website, you should really... Read More

Bad Design Characteristics For A Website

Making a poorly designed website is one of the easiest... Read More

How to Hire The Right Web Design Firm

Regardless whether you manage a small business, charitable organization, or... Read More

Digitalize It! : (Modification of images with tools such as Adobe CS and Corel)

Then it was a choice among crayons, paints and palettes... Read More

The Seven Deadly Sins of Web Business Design

Before you take a road trip it is usually a... Read More

Building Web Sites Using Web Templates

Gone are the days when you had to rely on... Read More

Design With Purpose

If your website is falling through the cracks, the chances... Read More

Flash - To Use Or Not To Use?

Out there in the WWW there are thousands sites using... Read More

You Too Can Have an Amazing Website

It is a well-known fact that a successful business depends... Read More

What You Should Ask a Web Designer Before You Hire Him

You've thought about it and you're ready to go. You're... Read More

Give Your Web Wite Visitors What They Really Want - Information!

Surfing the internet is basically an information-fest! From intellectual discussions... Read More

private aviation FBO ground transportation Wonder Lake ..