Best Practices for Web Design

Download the original attachment

You need background knowledge on the following:

• URL
• Audience
• Subject
• Developer

Page Layout

1. Appealing
2. Consistent site header/logo
3. Consistent navigation area
4. Informative page title that includes

-company

-organization

-site name

5. Page footer area has

-copyright

-last update

-contact

-e-mail address

6. Good use of basic design principles
7. Displays without horizontal scrolling at 800x600 and higher resolutions
8. Balance of text, graphics, and white space on each page
9. Good contrast between text and background
10. Repetitive information (header/logo and navigation) takes up no more 1/3 to ¼ of the top portion of the browser window
11. 1024x768 resolution
12. Home page with interesting information
13. 1024x768 resolution for home page
14. Home page shows up in 10 seconds or less

Browser compatibility has current and updated versions of

1. Internet Explorer
2. Firefox
3. Opera
4. Safari

Content Presentation

1. Common fonts used
2. Techniques of writing for the Web are used
3. Fonts sizes and colors are consistent
4. Content is meaningful
5. Content is organized consistently
6. Information easy to find
7. Timeliness accurate
8. Outdated material not included
9. No typographical and grammatical errors
10. Links to other related sites
11. Avoids the use of "Click here" for hyperlinks
12. Hyperlinks use a consistent set of colors to indicate visited/non-visited status
13. If other forms of media are used to convey meaning, alternate text equivalent of the content is provided

Navigation

1. Links are clearly and consistently labeled
2. Easy to use
3. Clear text links are in the footer section of the main page with images, Flash, or DHTML
4. Structured
5. Use of aids such as site map, skip navigation link, or breadcrumbs
6. Hyperlinks work

Multimedia

1. Each audio/video/Flash file serves a clear purpose
2. Enhances suite
3. Captions provided
4. Download times for audio or video files indicated
5. Links to downloads for media plug-ins provided

Functionality

1. Hyperlinks work
2. Forms function as expected
3. No JavaScript errors generated

Color and Graphics

1. limit background to 3 or 4 colors
2. Use color consistently
3. Good contrast with text
4. Convey meaning with more than just color
5. Graphics are optimized
6. Graphics do not significantly slow download
7. Each graphic has a clear purpose
8. Image tags use the alt attribute to configure alternate text to display
9. Animated images are not too distracting

Accessibility

1. Use attributes designed to improve accessibility
2. Use title and summary when appropriate
3. Use the id and headers attributes to improve the accessibility of table data
4. If the site uses frames, use titles and place meaningful content in the noframes area
5. To assist screen readers configure the html element's lang and xml:lang attribute to indicate the spoken language

If you find web designing to be out of your interest of just too complicated, you can always outsource your next web design project to RemoteWorkmate. Hire a full time virtual employee for just $3.50 per hour

The Cost of Creating an Authority Site

An authority website refers to websites with a high quality web content that is frequently updated with substantial features and in-depth subject description. It is called such a site because others consider it to be the authority or expert for a particular niche. Sites like these are being run and maintained by either an individual or a group of contributors. Authority sites usually have a high page rank, usually PR6 or much higher.

Building an authority site or making it weighty doesn’t really require a lot of money. You could probably spend more than what is needed if you acquire other methods that are very crucial in making your site an authority.

It doesn’t really take millions of dollars to build and make an authority website. What you're probably going to spend on is the hosting services and the other necessary components needed to increase its ranking. If you choose to hire an expert in the field of internet marketing, then you might have to dole out cash for this important service. In any case, the chances of earning an income also increase and prove to be beneficial for your business.

Money is not really the most important aspect you need to build an authority site. Fact is, an authority site should show that it is equipped with details needed for a particular topic. Authority sites contain fresh, unique, and content-rich pages. This kind of site should be backed with offline specialist information newsletters and niche trade magazines that provide its readers in-depth information.

As stated earlier, an authority website does not take millions of dollars for its creation. As a matter of fact, profits outweigh the fees. How is that possible? You see, when you create links from any authority site, you can already increase your chances in making a profit. Authority sites have gained a certain respect with its reputation from other sites and the people visiting it. An authority site has gained prestige when a steady flow of web users come to visit it constantly. These visitors highly depend on the site when they need to seek service and information for a particular issue. Having regular callers go to you means that you are able to generate high quality traffic.

With high quality traffic, an authority site will rank higher on the results page when people type in your kind of service on search engines. Having a link back to your site from any other authority sites can help your site to gain higher ranking. When you are found at the top tier of results, you will be more visible to web users from all over. Accompanied with high quality web traffic is a high conversion rate. This means that more and more people will subscribe to the services offered by your site. They will fulfil your desired actions such as purchasing a product, availing of your services, or subscribing to your to newsletters or eBooks.

Building an authority site is more than just the cost. It’s about supplying other people with the information they need to help them in various subject matters. With the right keywords, authority sites will help you not only to increase your ranking but more importantly, improve your reputation.

J Squared Web Solutions | RemoteWorkMate

Have Patience With SEO

Many people have incorrect opinions about SEO, I am constantly telling clients the truth about SEO. SO here I have compiled together a list of common SEO myths clients often think ...

Statement: SEO is just a one of thing

I get so frustrated at the this one .... SEO is like any other marketing campaign, the more attention you pay to it, the better results you are going to see!

Statement: SEO is a quick process

Almost every client I have ever dealt with underestimates the time it will take to get high quality rankings ... for most competitive keywords phrases it takes a couple of months ... so please be patient! It might even be best to use ppc for the first few months of the site being up.

Statement: SEO is just about adding a few keywords to the site

Again a lot of people do not realise just how much off page optimisation goes into optimising a website. Many people do not realise that link building is infact a crucial step to gaining rankings.

Statement: My PageRank is higher than other websites, but they are still ranked higher then me!

The PR Google shows is not a true estimation of your site, so please pay little attention if any to this.

Written by JSWS - Web Design Wollongong - SEO Wollongong - Graphic Design Wollongong

Questions to ask a Web Design Firm

Need a website for your business? Or just need a modern redesign of your existing website?

It can be quite difficult choosing the right web design firm to award your project to, so we have decided together a list of questions that might help when choosing ...

Questions to ask yourself

1. Does the companies portfolio have similar designs or designs you really like?
2. Do I like their style of designs? For example you might like web 2.0 web design
3. Do all their websites look the same?

Questions to ask the company

1. What is the size of the company? This is important as it can affect many aspects of the project. Small companies will not have as many skills sets, or resources to attend to your project. Whilst larger companies will may not be as caring and attentative to your needs.
2. What Skills, qualifications and references do they posess? Just act as if you were interviewing someone for a position, as this is what is occuring, only on a more temporary basis.
3. What kind of pricing method do you use? This will vary ... some have small setup costs and large recurring payments while others are the opposite with large setup costs and low recurring payments ... be sure to know what will suit you best.

Written by Paul Duffy of J Squared Web Solutions, providing web design, internet marketing, graphic design.