Website Design - Sometimes Less Can Be More

2008 was a breakthrough year in the IT world...
Why?
In the 3rd quarter of 2008, notebook (laptop) sales exceeded desktop sales for the first time ever.

Form versus function – making your decision.
Wikipedia, Ebay, BBC, Myspace, Google – what do these websites designs have in common?
Simple, attractive website layouts with rapid load times, and access possible from just about anywhere. These are some of the world’s most popular websites, who adhere to the theory of ‘less is more’.

Ask yourself this – what is the reason for your business having a website - is it to attract business or is it there to look good? The ideal is to strike a balance between the two .

As the world’s most popular websites show, you don’t need to be fancy to be effective.

Traditionally, laptops had been the preserve of the business or relatively well off individuals. This has changed radically with the introduction of cheaper, entry level machines, and the concept of the ‘web book’, a small, light, and relatively cheap ultramobile pc, largely popularised by Asus and its Eee PC. What numbers are we talking about here? 77.1 million pcs were shipped worldwide in the months July – September worldwide, and of this, 38.6 million were laptops. Huge numbers indeed.

Does this impact on website design, and if so, how does it affect it? With the huge inroads made by the web book market in particular, there has been a flight to ‘light’, technology, and by this I mean less powerful processors, motherboard-integrated graphics cards, and smaller capacity memory. Also, bearing in mind the fact that most business laptops have limited graphics and in particular RAM capacities, there are serious limits on what these machines can handle.

When considering a new website, it is very easy to get carried away with the idea of creating, or having someone create, an all-sing-all-dancing website design, with cute animations and an extremely slick look. Many website designers can be accused of feeding this ambition as well, by using cutting-edge, advanced software packages (which cost a fortune to buy) to showcase their ‘talents’ (and use to charge a hefty premium as well, funnily enough). To run these website animations it can take some serious processing power, and a high percentage of machines out there are incapable of handling the vast amount of information employed in these programs. This can result in overly long loading times and, worst of all – a pc locking up or ‘crashing’.

Website Design Tip: Longevity & Maintenance

When choosing a website design style, keep in mind the longevity of the design and the maintenance involved to keep it fresh.

Think of your website's needs one year from now when your business has likely grown and you may be ready to sell products online.

Think with the end in mind and with what it will be like to LIVE with the website design while running a busy small business.

Longevity Issues:

Better to choose a website design that will still look good a year from now, than one that has all the latest bells and whistles.

Will it be simple, cost-effective to keep the website updated?
Is the coding and design so complicated only one man in the world could make change and sohold your website hostage.

Maintenance Issues:

What kind of maintenance will be involved in keeping your website fresh and up-to-date?

Will it be easy to make copy changes to your website?
Get clear who will make copy changes, the fee for monthly updates and the turnaround for changes needed.
So many people are in relationship with a web master that they have to chase - you don't want that.

You want someone who has a high-level of professionalism working on your website design (ask for references) and isn't easily overwhelmed with workload. Will you be able to do it? Will you want to? This usually involves a Wordpress site or other type of do-it-yourself software that can be customized by a designer.

Will you be able to blog regularly without going through your web master? Very important. And will your blog posted be integrated into your overall website.

TITANIC Websites Can Sink Without Trace...

Imagine this scenario. You have decided to take the plunge and invest some of your, or your businesses, hard earned cash on a website.

Where do you turn, or who do you go to?

With a well designed and effective website, it is possible not to sink, but to keep sailing on the world wide web successfully for years to come.

Definitive figures are hard to come by, but it is estimated that 80% of the world’s websites become inactive or disappear without trace within a 3 year period.

There has been a huge proliferation of website design companies over the past few years.
These businesses are easy to set up, and pretty much anyone who has a reasonably powerful pc, internet access, and some fancy software could, theoretically, set themselves up as a website designer.

Perhaps the problem lies in the job title, with the emphasis on ‘design’.
It is possible to spend thousands of pounds on an amazing looking website which you are hugely proud of, show off to friends, etc, but after a few months you may begin to question it. Why? Because you haven’t received a single enquiry via your website.

Short term gratification versus long term gain.
Choosing a website is like selecting a new employee. Think about what you want it to achieve for you.

How much business do you think you can reasonably expect to gain from your website?
What information does your website need to convey to attract interest?
What are your competitors doing?
Are there any websites you use which you like the look of?

All of these things can be taken into account when visualizing a new website. Who would you employ as your business advisor, Angelina Jolie or Bill Gates? With respect to both, Angelina may look better and be great company, but I would argue that Mr Gates may have a little more business experience....

If you require a new website or your existing website updated/redesigned, please contact us!