What Should You Should Look For In A Website Designer?
What Should You Should Look For
In A
Website Designer?
By Jeff
Colburn
Choosing a website designer that you can work with is very
important.
Creating a website can be a wonderful experience, or a headache,
depending
on who you choose to work with.
One of the most important
things
you need to do is find is a website designer that you get along
with and
who listens to you. They should also offer a contract so that both
of you
have a clear understanding of what will be done and what
everything will
cost.
Talk with the designer. If they are in your area,
meet them
face-to-face. However, it's not necessary that the designer be in
your
city. I have clients all over the world. Even though I live in
Arizona, in
the past month I've had clients from New Jersey, Chino Valley (a
hour and
a half drive from me), and I have some potential clients in
Arkansas and
New Zealand. You need to feel at ease with the designer since you
will be
dealing with them for weeks or months while your site is created,
and
maybe longer if they are going to maintain the site for
you.
Ask
what program they use to create their websites. The most popular
are
GoLive and Dreamweaver. I would suggest avoiding anyone using
FrontPage. A
lot of people use it and like it, especially since it costs less
than
$100. However, it writes HTML a little differently than other
programs,
which may lead to problems. These problems include HTML errors as
well as
adding extra code, which causes pages to load slower. Some web
hosts can't
even put up sites made with FrontPage. Website designers who use
FrontPage
often use the templates that come with it, thus limiting the
creativity
that could be used on your site. It's not uncommon for me to look
at a
website and instantly know that it's been created with FrontPage.
If
you're wondering, I use Adobe GoLive.
You want to be sure
that the
website designer asks a lot of questions about what you want and
need,
instead of trying to talk you into using what they offer. Your
website
should meet your needs and expectations, not only in function but
also in
design. I've seen websites designed using flash animation, ASP
databases
and all kinds of bells and whistles when this wasn't appropriate
for that
particular site. These also kept many people with older browsers
and slow
Internet connections from being able to see the website. These
bells and
whistles also cost more than a simpler HTML site. The designer
used these
things because that's what they liked to use, not because it's
what should
have been used. Simple is always better when it comes to website
design.
Content is king, not animation, graphics or anything
else.
When
looking for a website designer, ask these questions.
* Are the
web
pages they design easy to use? They should have a page on their
site with
links to the sites they have created so you can check this
out.
* Is
the website, and its pages, organized in a logical manner?
* Do
the
pages, especially ones with graphics, load quickly? A page should
load in
20 seconds or less on a dial-up connection.
* Are the main
points of a
page (products and services offered) easy to find, and do they
stand
out?
* Does the website entice visitors to take some kind of
action
(buy or use something)?
* Contact people they have created
sites for to
see how they were to work with. You can usually do this by
e-mailing their
clients and asking these questions. "How well is the site working
for you?
Did they meet deadlines? Does the website work properly? Was the
estimate
accurate? Did they do any follow-up to be sure everything was
working
properly? Are they easy to get a hold of if anything needs to be
fixed or
updated?"
* Ask if the site will be usable on browsers other
than
Internet Explorer. Some other common browsers are Mozilla (I use
this),
Opera and Netscape. Your site should also be usable on older
version of
all these browsers.
Don't be intimidated, know what you
want and
shop around until you find a designer that can do what you
need.
You usually get what you pay for. The lowest price
may not be
the best choice for you. I had someone call me today who was happy
to pay
my $60 an hour rate because of the nightmare they were having with
their
current designer who charged $25 an hour.
Know what pages
you want
on your site and what you need it to do for you. Are you going to
sell a
product or service? Do you want it to be a portfolio for your
artwork or
photographs? Think carefully about what you want and write it out
so you
can give a copy to the designer.
If you have a deadline,
let the
designer know to be sure they can meet that deadline.
It
can be
helpful to have a list of a few websites that are similar to what
you want
yours to look like. This will give you a clearer picture of what
you want,
and the designer can see what you like.
Also, read the
articles on
my site at http://www.creativecauldron.com/WebsiteNewsletterArticles.shtml to give yourself a better understanding of the basics of website
design.
You are going to spend time and money creating this
site,
and you have a need that this site must meet, so be sure you get
what you
expect. Feel free to ask all the questions you want and to have
everything
clear in your mind. Then you can make an informed decision, and
soon you
will be using the Internet for the amazing tool that it
is.
About the
author
Jeff Colburn is
a
website designer and writer. His goal is to make the process of
creating
or updating your website easy and simple for you, while creating a
website
that meets all your needs and expectations. Jeff can also create
all of
the copy for your website.
Copyright 2004 Jeff
Colburn
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