RSD Design Spot

Meeting with a Client: Six important questions you should ask

2008-01-13T01:28:00.000-08:00

Meeting a client with for the first time is like a first date: you want to make a good impression and ultimately you want to see if you're compatible. That being said, there is some critical information you need to know. Asking the following questions will help you figure out if you and the client are a compatible match for a working relationship.

Project Goal
What is the client's goal for this project? Are they trying to increase sales with a new advertising campaign, or perhaps trying to get more hits on their website from search engines? Do they have a specific goal at all? It will save you a lot of time if the client doesn't have to figure out what they want after you've already started working with them.

Project Scale
Knowing what you're getting yourself into is very important for predicting a time frame and estimating the cost of the project. How large is the project going to be, and how much of your time is it going to take? What unique features will the project include? Are there any particularly time consuming aspects that you should know about in advance?

Time Frame
When does the client need this project completed by? Is it possible to meet this deadline? If you don't find out this information early on, you could be setting yourself up for failure. Sometimes a client won't understand the difficulty of what they want, so make sure to inform them if something is going to be challenging and take extra time.

Budget
How much does the client want to spend? Is this amount reasonable considering the time frame and the scale of the project? It is important that the project's budget not only match the client's price range, but also the range that you feel is reasonable for the amount of time and effort you'll spend. If the project grows outside its original parameters, don't be afraid to talk to your client about adding money to your original quote.

Look & Feel
What look and feel is the client looking for? Professional, artistic, clean, grungy? The client should have a good idea of the style they want, and should be able to provide you with some examples of other works that are similar to what they're looking for. The look and feel of the project should take the target demographic into account. If you're marketing towards a group of health care professionals, you would probably choose a clean professional style over a heavily artistic/grungy style. The project will be more effective if it is designed appropriately for the target demographic.

Set Up
What is needed for project set up, and how much are you responsible for? If you're designing a website, does the client need a hosting account and domain name? For print projects, do they need you to find a print shop within their price range? Ask the client what they'll need in the last stages of the project, and if they'll need your help with those final details.

Understanding Domain Names and Hosting Server Accounts

2007-12-24T07:32:00.000-08:00

When starting a brand new website, you or your web designer will need to register a Domain Name and establish a Hosting Account on a server to get the website on the internet. But what are these things, and how do they work? This blog will explain what these important items are, and how they interact with each other.

The easiest way to explain Domain Names and Hosting is to think of a city. The City is divided into City Blocks, which each hold different Buildings containing your Stuff.

Here's a quick visual breakdown:
Internet (City) -> Hosting Server (City Block) -> Domain Name (your Building) -> Website Content (your Stuff)

City: The Internet

Definition: A series of servers that hold content for websites.

Example: A large City that is made up of millions of City Blocks, and contains billions of Buildings, each of which contains lots of Stuff.

City Block: Hosting Server

Definition: Location where different websites hold all of their content for users to view.

Example: A City Block. There can be many buildings on one city block. For you place your Building on a City Block, you will most likely have to pay a monthly fee.

Building: Domain Name

Definition: Name of your website. All files are placed under this one name. A domain name can only belong to one website, although one website can have multiple domain names that all go to the same location.

Example: The name of your Building on the City Block. All of your Stuff is placed in the building. The building belongs to you, so only you can put your things into it.

Your Stuff: Content

Definition: Web pages, or files that are used to make up a web page.

Example: The Stuff you put into each room of your Building.

For people to visit you in the city, you need to have a Building, and a City Block to put it on. This means for people to find your website on the internet, you need to register a Domain Name of your own, and pay for access to a Hosting Server to put all of your content on.

Several Locations to Register Domain Names:
GoDaddy.com
Register.com

Several Hosting Server Providers:
GoDaddy.com
InnerPlanet.com

Flash vs. HTML Websites: Which one do you need?

2007-12-24T05:42:00.000-08:00

You know you need a website, but do you know which kind you would benefit the most from? In the world of websites, Flash and HTML are king. Each has distinct advantages and disadvantages, so which one should you request from your designer? Below are a few pros and cons of each that will help you determine which kind would be best.

*Quick Overview: HTML is the standard coding language of the world wide web. Flash is an Adobe product that allows for interactivity and creative animations.

HTML

Most websites you see are made of HTML web pages, made entirely of HTML code. This code is read by your internet browser and displayed as text or images on your computer screen.

Easy to Update

Beacuse HTML is a simple text code, updating it is relatively simple. Also, the code requires no special program or licensing to write, so you can edit your own web pages whenever you want with relative ease.

Fast Loading

Lean-mean HTML code is read very quickly by your internet browser. This means that each page will take relatively little time to load on even the slowest connections.

Search Engine Friendly

Search engines like Google and Yahoo! read the HTML code that makes up your web page. If you have important keywords in this code, search engines will see those keywords and display your site in search results. So, if showing up on Google for a specific term or phrase, (like

Seattle Website Design

, for example), is important to you, stick with HTML

Cons of HTML

Limited Animation

Some simple animations can be made using graphics and a scripting language like JavaScript, but nothing beats Flash when creating complex animations. Flash still remains the easiest way to create and incorporate animation elements into a website.

Limited Graphic Abilities

If you're still using tables for HTML layouts, you're probably very much aware of their limitations. If you've advanced to the HTML <DIV> tag then you've got more ability to overlay graphic elements. But different internet browsers sometimes display the exact same code in slightly different ways. Getting graphic elements to align perfectly in different browsers can become a very time consuming game of trial-and-error.

FLASH

Many high-end websites are done entirely in Flash, or contain at least some Flash components. Some common examples of Flash components are media players (audio or video), complex animations, complex user interactivity, or webpage based video games.

Pros of Flash

Animation

Sophisticated animation can bring a website to a whole other level, and interactivity can bring users back to your site time-and-time again. There are ways to include basic animations in a web page without Flash, but Flash's ability to create masterful animations and interactivity are unrivaled. If you desire sharp animations to draw your user in, you should consider using at least some Flash elements on your website.

Wide Graphic Possibilities

Layering elements in complex ways isn't a problem for Flash. Flash allows you to overlay elements with an easy drop-and-drag interface, and will display that same graphics equally across all browsers.

Include Multimedia

If you want to have an audio or video player on your website, you will mostly like use Flash. You can include playback buttons for streaming media that will be delivered to the user in the sharpest quality.

Cons of Flash

Less Updateable

That fact of the matter is that Flash is just not as updateable as HTML code. The most prominent reason for this is that Flash elements can only be made using the $700 Adobe Flash program. If your designer creates some Flash elements for your site, you will be unable to edit those elements without the program and the knowledge how to use it.

Not Search Engine Friendly

Unfortunately, search engines just don't read Flash movies with the same ease that they read HTML. If search engine rankings matter to you at all, it is important to avoid putting important text or you website's navigation into a Flash video.

Updating Your Own Site: More than you bargained for!

2007-12-02T17:54:00.001-08:00

You hired someone to build a website for you. Now it's complete and on the web, but you want to make some changes yourself.

You may think that updating your own website is simple, but you could be getting in over your head. If you accidentally delete a file, or edit it in an undesired way, would you be able to fix the file yourself?

Here are a few questions that you should ask yourself before attempting to alter your website.

Do you know enough HTML?

HTML isn’t a very difficult language to understand if you’ve had some experience with it. <p> stands for Paragraph, <div> stands for Division, <li> stands for Line, etc. But the code can be difficult to edit if you haven’t done it before.

If you don’t know how pages interact with each other through links, how to place elements into a page with code (example: <img src="images/image1.gif" />), or how different browsers interpret the same code in different ways, you may want to let your website designer to be responsible for all major changes to your website.

Was any part of your website made in Flash?

Flash is a great way to create animations and dynamic elements for your website. One drawback to Flash is that you must have the Adobe Flash program to create or edit Flash files. Unless you have the program and the knowledge how to use it, your designer will have to alter these files for you.

Can you resize images to exact specifications?

Website graphics are images that are arranged in a creative way to give a website its look and feel. You can think of them like puzzle pieces. They are a specific size and are placed in a specific location with HTML & CSS.

If you place an image that is the incorrect size, it may completely throw off the layout of the rest of the page. Unless you can create/edit these image files to the exact specifications, you should let your designer prepare graphic files and images so they fit perfectly into place.

You can probably tell I personally recommend that you let the person who built the site be responsible for all major changes.

Of course, there are minor changes to text that you should be able to make without having to contact your web designer. If you need some help learning to make minor changes to your website, see if your designer will write up a step-by-step document that will instruct you how to make those changes on your own.

Seven Tips for Better Search Engine Optimized Websites

2007-11-29T00:29:00.000-08:00

You’ve designed a great website and your client loves it, but why isn’t it showing up in the search engines?

Building a websites your client will love is one thing, but putting together a website that search engines will also love is a completely different ballgame.

The overall theme of Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is to help the search engine understand what the web page is about so it can better place the page in its results. Simply put, search engines like pages that make life easier on the engine.

Search engines are powerful tools, but oftentimes web designers build websites in ways that hinders the search engine’s ability to locate the site. In-short, some web design techniques are the cause of many search engine failures. By simply avoiding these common pitfalls, much of the SEO work is done for you!

1. Strategically place important keywords throughout the website

Placing keywords within the text of the site is incredibly important. If a client’s goal is to show up on search engines for specific terms, do some research for them on what terms are most often searched for by real users. Google’s Keyword Tool is great for this, showing how often a term is searched and how competitive the term is. It also creates a list of commonly related terms you may not have considered. Once you’ve found some terms that people search often, find ways to incorporate those terms into the important parts of your website (Body text and Title/Description/Keyword meta tags).

2. Make sure your navigation is readable by search engines

Like a user, search engines find content by following links from page to page. The easiest links to read are made of simple HTML code. By using HTML links whenever possible, you are given another opportunity to place important keywords on your page (assuming you avoid non-descriptive “Click Here” type links).

If you can’t create the look-and-feel your client wants with pure HTML, you can always make the link an image, but remember that search engines don’t read text in images. Doing this is sacrificing ‘search engine-ability’ for looks (which may or may not be an acceptable tradeoff for your client).

Two techniques to simply avoid are dynamically generated links and navigation placed in Flash movies. Search engines don’t read JavaScript or Flash, so the navigation path from page to page will not only be lost, but so will any keywords in the links.

3. Do not embed important body text into images

This is incredibly common with new website designers who focus on looks rather than utility. By placing text in an image instead of creating the image with code, not only is the website going to load slower, but that text will have been completely wasted when it comes to the search engines.

4. Avoid splash pages

The homepage of a website is the most important page for search engines. Search engines expect the homepage to be the defining page that tells the user and the search engine what the entire website is about (which it should be). Having a splash page that says nothing but “Enter Here” doesn’t define or describe the website, and won’t help the search engines.

5. Write code that’s lean & mean

If you were reading a book that was full of unnecessary words and symbols it would certainly take you longer to finish the book than if the page was clean and simple. This effect is also true with search engines when reading a web page. If you place important text at the bottom of extensively long bits of code, the search engine may simply never read that text (it kind of assumes the important stuff that defines the page will be at the top). Make sure to condense your code whenever possible. I recommend avoiding table-based layouts in favor of DIV tags and external Cascading Style Sheets to cut the code length down.

6. Add ALT tags to all images

To be compliant with XHTML standards, an ALT tag should be added to every image. It may seem tedious, but the ALT tag is another location to add those ever-important keywords the search engines are looking for. Make sure to be descriptive about the image while still using important keywords.

7. Don’t try to trick the search engine

There are several techniques webmasters use to try and trick search engines into ranking their website higher in the results. Examples of such tricks are placing hidden keywords in the web page code, repeating keywords many times (known as keyword spamming), or creating keyword-laden home pages that appear on search engines but immediately redirect the user to a different less-optimized page when clicked. Unfortunately for those designers, the cat is out of the bag and they’re not tricking anything. The staff at search engines know about these tricks, and have either massively downplayed their effects in search engine results, or will actually penalize websites using them. If you’re tempted to use these tricks, remember that the search engine staff is always at least 10 steps ahead of you.

Choosing a Designer? What questions you should ask to narrow down the list

2007-11-20T12:46:00.001-08:00

As someone who needs a graphic or web design service, you are truly blessed if you have multiple designers trying to win your attention and your project. There are definite benefits to having lots of people vying to help get you something you need.

But now that you’ve found yourself with at least several designers to choose from, what makes one designer better than another for your project?

Design Style

This aspect is critical… Well, it’s not as critical to some, but if you’re reading this blog I’m assuming you care at least a little bit about design. Each designer has their own style, so it’s important to look at your candidate’s portfolio to get a feel for the kinds of work they typically do. Is their common style artsy, classy, edgy, grungy, professional? Are they versatile enough to design in more than one style depending on what kind of project they’re working on? Make sure the designer is capable of producing the look-and-feel that you want.

Experience

This is one of the easiest ways to cut down the list. If you have a simple project, this factor may not be as important in helping you decide, but if you need something more skill-specific, make sure that your candidates all have what it takes. Have faith in your designer’s abilities, but the more experience the have on multiple related projects, the more likely they are to understand what you need and how to get it to you quickly.

Availability

The designer can complete the job, and the final product will look great, but can they complete the project in the time frame you’d like? Make sure to clearly explain the project and express your desired deadline so the designer can estimate whether they can meet it. If you don’t explain the project with at least some degree of detail, you may get a time frame estimate that will end up being incorrect as the complexity of the project reveals itself.

Skills

Obviously, if the designer doesn't have the technical skills to complete the job, you wouldn't hire them. But when choosing a designer it's important to look towards the future. You should ask them about the skills they have that you currently don't need. You may be just looking for a business card right now, but one day you may need a website. If you develop a good working relationship on the first project, it's easier to keep the same designer for multiple projects than try to find another.

Rates

If I’ve learned anything, it is this: there are people in every profession who do their job poorly, but still manage to get paid for it. Designers are no different. Some designers make a living off low quality work. Others don’t charge much, but haven’t got much experience either. If you’re looking for your first website, or a simple graphic piece, you should look for a designer who has a diverse portfolio of designs you like, some related experience, and middle-of-the-road rates. You should be prepared to pay decent rates for good design, but don’t pay for something that is poorly done.