http://webdesignnorthampton.org Web Page Designers in Northampton Mon, 19 Sep 2011 11:03:25 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.1 http://webdesignnorthampton.org/saving-money-on-web-design/ http://webdesignnorthampton.org/saving-money-on-web-design/#comments Sat, 10 Sep 2011 16:15:56 +0000 admin http://webdesignnorthampton.org/?p=55 So this is the situation: You have made a choice of which web design company to use to develop your business web site. The next step is to provide the information, graphics and other items your web developer requires. However, you would like to save some money but still get a quality finish. Is that possible? Yes, it is.

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There are ways you can help your designer by doing some of the work yourself and cutting down on the billable hours the web design company may charge you.

To begin with , give your web developer as much information about your business as you can. He or she probably will not use all of the information you supply, but your designer will try their best to make your site unique. The more information you offer, the more unique your site will be.

In many cases, you will be supplying some type of text or written content to your web designer. Maybe it is from your brochure or other advertising material. If all you have is a paper copy, it saves time if you type it up and send it to your web designer in digital format. A scan will not work, it has to be typed and saved in a word or text processing program. Ask your designer ahead of time what format he or she prefers.

If you are providing images to be used on the site, learn how to crop and re-size them. Processing images can be both resource and time-consuming. If you learn how to crop and resize your graphics and then send them to your developer, it could save you some cash. Pictures from your digital camera or other sources usually cannot be put on your web site without re-sizing. Most digital cameras take pictures that are 1600 or more pixels wide. A graphic on a web page will rarely be larger than 500 pixels wide. Before you re-size a graphic, you can often crop out unneeded areas. Focus on the object of your photo and crop out unneeded backgrounds.

You don’t have to spend a small fortune of software such as Photoshop to do these simple tasks. Google offers a free image software program called Picasa that can be used to crop and re-size photos. Picasa can be downloaded here, http://www.picasa.google.com/.

If you are working in a group for the web site project, appoint one person to be the web designer’s contact. The designer should only be given instructions from the appointed contact. Also, the instructions should only be given when all of your group have agreed that it is a final decision, not one of the ideas that are still swirling around the project group. It may be helpful to ask for some feedback from the designer about any ideas you are having difficulty with. However, don’t give him or her instructions until a final decision has been made.

Respond to your web designer’s questions as quickly as possible. The longer you take to answer, the more you may have to end up paying. Any decent web design firm will not bill you if it takes a few days to come back with an answer. But if they are waiting for more than a week or so, they may need to delay other projects they are working on to make up for your late reply. And for that very reason, your lateness may end up costing you extra.

Listen to your web developer. He or she knows the web and what is best for your site. Don’t insist on having music on your site when your designer is giving you all of the logical reasons not to do it. (Unless you are a musician or in some kind of music business, of course.)

The more you help your designer, the sooner your site will be up and running. And this will reduce the amount of hours you will be billed for your web project.]]> http://webdesignnorthampton.org/saving-money-on-web-design/feed/ 6 http://webdesignnorthampton.org/six-simple-design-tips/ http://webdesignnorthampton.org/six-simple-design-tips/#comments Fri, 26 Aug 2011 16:15:13 +0000 admin http://webdesignnorthampton.org/?p=53 If you need to design your own web site or are thinking of having a website created for you, here are six simple guide lines there will get you off to a great start..

]]> If you need to design your own web site or are thinking of having a website created for you, here are six simple guide lines there will get you off to a great start..

1. Use standard layouts.

Why? Because complicated layouts usually serve up confusion and annoy your readers. The last thing you want to do is to confuse them and get them lost on your site. You should instead be helping them in finding what they are looking for online. The simple 3-column layout is most common because of it’s effectively and simplicity which means ease of use for your readers.

2. Use Common Fonts.

And don’t use too many! Stick to one or two font styles and use ones browsers like. Common fonts include: Arial, Times New Roman, Verdana and Tahoma.

3. Do Not Use Silly Images.

You might think it’s really funny to have a little graphic moving around the page, rotating, changing or flashing at you. However, it could end up annoying readers and being more of a distraction. What you think is cute and funny will not be everyone’s idea of cool.

4. Stick to one or two contrasting colours.

Don’t even think about having multicoloured text and pages. This is NOT cool. It looks child like, very un professional is very off-putting. Also you want each page to be consistent. Every page should have the same basic layout or at lease have some kind of consistancy. If the layout changes, your readers will get lost and become frustrated and leave.

5. Choose graphics that fit with the content.

Remember the goal is to get the information and content across to your readers effectively. If images exist for that reason, then they certainly have the right to be in the design and should be. Otherwise, don’t use them or get rid of them.

6. The most common cause of pages loading slowing is large images. Try and keep them small, 10 to 12 KB is good.

So there you have it. Web design does not have to be complicated. It is simply made more complex and attractive with all the additional features one can add to the presentation. If you need ideas, just flick through a magazine and have a look at the layouts they use.

A competent designer or design company (hint: such as Web Design Northampton) will know that overdoing the design will bring about more negative than positive results. So just remember the simple tips above. ]]> http://webdesignnorthampton.org/six-simple-design-tips/feed/ 1 http://webdesignnorthampton.org/britannia-corporate-training/ http://webdesignnorthampton.org/britannia-corporate-training/#comments Tue, 16 Aug 2011 16:14:58 +0000 admin http://webdesignnorthampton.org/?p=51 We were approached by Britannia Training to take over the task of day to day web site maintenance. This includes updates of content, images and monitoring up time of the site. We will also be helping this company with email marketing and SEO.

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Britannia Training are a corporate training company based in Manchester. They have been in business for four years and are growing at a steady rate.

We were approached by Britannia Training to take over the task of day to day web site maintenance. This includes updates of content, images and monitoring up time of the site. We will also be helping this company with email marketing and SEO.

Mrs Jordacer, one of the Britannia Training executives explains:” As the company continues to grow, we recently realised that it was no longer a cost effective option of looking after the company website ourselves. After speaking with other companies in the corporate training industry, we were given a few names of web development firms who may be able to assist us.

After consideration, Web Design Northampton were given the task at keeping our web site running and problem free. These guys were chosen mainly because we felt very comfortable when we communicated with them.  So far, everything we have asked of them has been carried out in a professional manner. We are happy to be working with Web Design Northampton”

   ]]> http://webdesignnorthampton.org/britannia-corporate-training/feed/ 2 http://webdesignnorthampton.org/july-special-offer/ http://webdesignnorthampton.org/july-special-offer/#comments Tue, 12 Jul 2011 16:14:17 +0000 admin http://webdesignnorthampton.org/?p=49 As July is a quiet time for us, we have decided to offer a 26% discount on all work carried out before the end of the month.

]]> As July is a quiet time for us, we have decided to offer a 26% discount on all work carried out before the end of the month. Why 26%? Well it was going to be 25% but we are just to kind! It does not matter if you are a new client or an existing one. All work we are instructed to do will be given a discount of 26%.

Of course, there are some conditions attached and it is only fair that we tell you about them up front.

So what are the conditions? All work must be paid for by the end of July. Thats it! Even if the work is not completed until the following month or some time in the future, as long as the bill is settled by the end of July 2011, you will be given a 26% discount off the total sum charged.

How long is this offer on for? I know this is a silly question but even after reading this far, there will be a few of you who will still ask. Just to be clear, this 26% discount offer is only valid until the end of July 2011.

To make things easier, we will not give you an estimate but a fixed quote. That way, you will know the exact figure before we start working on your project. And if the work does go a little over budget, you will not be charged any extra.

To take advantage of this 26% discount, get in touch. Click the ‘Contact Us’ button now.]]> http://webdesignnorthampton.org/july-special-offer/feed/ 2