Aspects of Web Design / Web Development

You are going to want a Web site that properly reflects a positive image. Customers who are not familiar with your business will associate the quality of your Web site with the quality of your products and business. Below are some of the key fundamentals of Web Design:

No Web site is worse than one with a purple background with large yellow fonts. It is important to pay careful attention to the color scheme and font family. Although color contrast is important to ensure the required elements stand out, it is also important to use complimentary colors that are easy on the eyes.

A clean, concise, and easy to navigate website is the goal! The website navigation should be intuitive and friendly. The standard preference is to provide more than one way to navigate to specific areas and content, this ensures that any user will find their way to the appropriate content. While navigating your website, the user should always be aware of "where" they are, this is generally accomplished using "Bread Crumb" navigation.

Do you design for 800x600 or 1024x768 screen resolution, or do you simply have a smart site that can adjust? It is not a simple answer. There are many factors to consider, DigiGears will ensure that you consider all relevant information before making a decision.

Who likes to wait? Nobody! We do not produce unnecessarily heavy websites! The golden rule is that it should be as small as possible while not sacrificing design or function.

• We begin with a consultation to determine the needs of your Organization.  Within this first step we identify the resources required to meet those needs and work with you to define a budget for the best cost/benefit approach (TEK Balance).
• We work with you to identify the content for the site, including decisions about navigation schemes to accommodate the needs of all potential types of users.  This is so that clear and efficient access is provided regardless of prior experience with the site or differing objectives of different visitors.
• When we construct the actual pages to your specification, we work closely with you to achieve the look, feel, function, and goals you want from your site. We implement the required infrastructure and code to give the site its functionality. This may include database design, connectivity, and programming.
• With this important last step, we do this in a secure development environment where you can safely watch and critique the work. Only when everyone is satisfied do we transfer the system to a live server and invite your users (generally the public) to use it.

The first step in designing any Web site is to define your goals. Without a clearly stated mission and objectives the project can suffer from scope creep (expanding scope). Careful planning and a clear purpose are the keys to success in building Web sites.

• What is the mission of your organization?
• How will the Web site support your mission?
• What are your two or three most important goals for the site?
• Who is the primary audience for the Web site?
• What do you desire the audience to think after having visited your site?
• What action do you desire the audience to take after having visited your site?
• What Web-related strategies will you use to achieve those goals?
• How will you measure the success of your site?
• How will you adequately maintain the finished site?
• What technical or functional requirements are needed?
• What is the budget for the site?
• What is the production schedule for the site, including intermediate milestones and dates?

These are big questions, and the broad conceptual issues are too often dismissed as committees push toward starting the "real work" of designing and building a Web site. However, if you cannot confidently answer all of these questions, then no amount of design or production effort can guarantee a useful result. But do not worry, we are experienced at helping organizations answer these questions and move forward.

The next step is to identify the potential readers of your Web site so that you can structure the site design to meet their needs and expectations. The knowledge, background, interests, and needs of users will vary from tentative novices who need a carefully structured introduction to expert "power users" who may chafe at anything that seems to patronize them or delay their access to information. A well-designed system should be able to accommodate a range of users' skills and interests. For example, if the goal of your Web site is to deliver internal corporate information, human resources documents, or other information formerly published in paper manuals, your audience will range from those who will visit the site many times every day to those who refer only occasionally to the site.

We can provide services ranging from complete redesign and reconstruction to minor face lifts or the addition of new functions or pages using your existing designs.

We will meet with you to understand the desired changes or extensions and analyze the existing site to identify what will be required to accomplish them, including the impact on existing code or systems that are to be retained. If continued operation of the site during upgrade is required, we will develop a plan for phasing in the modifications without interrupting use of the site.

Some sites require little if any maintenance, others need regular updating or supervision. Often this has more to do with functionality than size.

We offer pre-paid monthly maintenance plans in various ranges that provide a savings for sites that require them. For sites that require only occasional work we are available on an hourly basis.

We have programmed countless web based applications including full ERP solutions, CRM, project tracking, etc. With that in mind, the relatively simple "database driven websites" are easy to do. They can be the most enjoyable projects to work on, especially with our experience and knowledge.