The Tao of Web Design
(see also Popping Graphics)
Asked by his lord who was most skilled in the art of healing, an ancient Chinese physician said, "My eldest brother sees the spirit of sickness and removes it before it takes shape, so his name does not get out of the house."
Ideally your web site will function in a way that your clients do not realize that they are using a web site, least of all that someone designed it. Sometimes a performance is done best when it is made to look easy.
For sure, there are technical issues in web site design; it doesn't just happened by itself. But the goal is not to impress people, it's to get them to where they want to be (and hopefully that's where you want them to be as well). Anything that gets in the way of the client's use of your web site must go.
Working together makes an ideal web site. Many pieces must work well together
on a winning web site. On each page the graphics and text flow comfortably
together. No matter how the visitor wanders, there are all the elements
of a good story, conflict, place, personality, and most importantly a
payoff when the conflict is resolved. The navigator has found information,
purchased a product, laughed or cried, or bookmarked your site for future
review.
 1.
Stage setting. In the first stage of design we talk about
your realistic goals. You bring to Earthfire® whatever assets you have--photographs,
existing brochures, instructions, and order blanks. We look at these
together, then put them aside. You tell us your audience, and what
transactions you plan to make. This is not just immediate sales,
but goodwill. You want to build a relationship so people keep coming back to your web. Even if it's not a sale, this time, you are building future sales. You
suggest to Earthfire® specific kinds of pages for your site. We produce an estimate
of cost, based on the number of pages, the complexity of the site, and
most importantly the intensity of graphical design. Simple, fast-loading
graphics take many hours of work, while sluggish unmodified images take
little work.
2.
Flavoring. The design phase is the biggest part of the job.
In the rough beginnings, we at Earthfire® suggest the flavor for your site, the colors,
fonts, and other constraints. These will change once we get further.
We then rough out the page structure and navigation tree. They need
to work together. Repeating elements are then drafted, which might
include page backgrounds, if any, page titles, headers, keywords, and
directory structure. At this point we have one or more prototypes,
but they may not be working prototypes.
3.
Assets. Now we go back to work on the story line, the text,
the photographs, and really try to get everything well organized.
And Earthfire® makes an extra CD of all the original materials, for safekeeping,
and so it's easy to get to.
4.
Home page design. You decide whether you want a basic links
page, a splash screen, or some combination in between. The home
page can be a major design project, as it is the entranceway, and may
serve multiple purposes. As it is designed it is tested in various
browsers.
5.
Subpage design. Assuming that there will be some degree
of repeating elements, we at Earthfire® design a typical subpage, make sure the HTML
code is valid, and that it will degrade nicely in different browsers.
We go back to looking at the image buttons, if any, and finish designing
them. These images are added to the assets collection, and the original
images are kept in their original layered format, so it will not be too
difficult redoing them later. The typical subpage should have all
page elements, including metatag keywords, image map(s) with hyperlinks
to other pages, appropriate backgrounds, and solid table structure.
Cascading style sheets are created to make font changes easy.
6.
Production. Using the prototype subpage, multiple pages
are created, text is poured into table cells, graphics are added to pages,
links among different pages are tested, pages are spell-checked, and the
pages are retested in various browsers.
7.
Maintenance. Once a web site is finished it usually requires
periodic maintenance and redesign. Once the pages have been submitted
to the search engines, one must periodically review the search engine
position, so that corrective changes can be made to enhance positioning.
Changes can include additional pages, revised metatag key words, resubmission
to search engines, reciprocal links, and anything to keep the site accurate
and fresh.
What does it cost?
An effectively designed web site of about 6 pages, including the home page, typically costs $600, including image headers and navigation bars on each page, valid HTML code with metatags for search engines, plus search engine submissions, scanning of your photographs, external links, setup of e-mail forwarding options, and minor maintenance (corrections and access logs). This is separate from hosting costs of about $250 per year, depending on the plan, and domain setup and registration, which is minimal, $73 for the first two years.
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