Web design

[wulf]

At the conceptual stage I often go back to pen and paper work - there's a certain kind of visceral creativity that I still seem to be able to unlock more easily scratching around on a sheet of paper than working on screen.

Of course, if you spend too much time thinking about visual layout instead of the structure of the information, you're choosing to create a site that is likely to look cool but be potentially inaccessible. Knocking up a site with pixel perfect alignment is cool, but not everyone will see it through your eyes (or with your chosen browser on your monitor).

Before you invest too much time in one approach, try a few prototypes and see which people respond to best - and as the design takes shape, have a look at it on a few different machines and browsers.

Wulf

 

[Warwickthumb]

Well here is an example of my delema. I made this template to give the lady in charge an example of one of my ideas. Its pretty simple, but she liked it. I know there isnt a navigation bar, becawue im still working on a design idea. THis is site is an info site, but will also have a chat room. So there will be alot of pics and some text. The target audience will probably be young kids, since it does with youth in mission. I made it in Fireworks and imported it into dreamweaver. I didnt use tables for it, so if you refresh the site it will move to the middle, which is wierd since i aligned in the center. Depending on your guys resolution it will look somewhat small. ON the comp at works it looks REALLY small. LIke I said its a "rough" draft. IM still waititng to hear approval from the board so I can get started on it. [Invalid or Expired Link Removed] I uplaoded it to my bands server. I did not design the bands site. It was there when I joined. I am working on a new layout. I give the singer who made it some credit though, it was her first site she made.
Joe

 

[wulf]

Brochureware... that's what it looks like. The design would be great for a printed brochure but, IMO, doesn't work so well online. It's quite common across the web - often produced by highly skilled designers who haven't grasped that the web offers a very different set of parameters from print based media (or they were being paid by someone who was locked in the paper paradigm).

If I was designing the page, I'd be thinking about the order of the information before the visual flow of the page - I might map out my structure as something like:

YIM (logo and tagline)

yellow dividing line - purple 'river' fades out about 30 or 40 pixels below line

montage of small images in row (consistent height - click to view each image?)

short intro (1-2 sentences)

key areas ("exploring faith and ministry", etc) linking to further pages

more introductory text and some pictures... but watch that the overall amount of information that has to be downloaded remains fairly small

However, before doing anything on layout, it might be worth getting the owners of the site to sum up what they are aiming to achieve.

Wulf

 

[Warwickthumb]

hmm.. I see your point. I was just going to make that the home page. When the visitor goes to the site they automaticly get an idea of what it is. Its the first thing they see, so it will leave an impression. I wasnt originally planning on having that many images, maybe one and slighlty larger. The text at the bottom sounded like a mission statement, so I figureed that was something that was important enough to at least put on the main page.

 

[wulf]

So you're using it as a 'splash page'? I can't, off the top of my head, think of any splash pages that have really enhanced a website for me.

With my Invalid Link Removed I've resisted the temptation to have a site that is all flash and no substance. I've added a bit of colour with the thin border down the left handside and used the top of the page to clearly identify:

- the name of the band
- a little bit of flash to capture the styles we work in (and textual information to support this)
- links to the content areas of the site

Most of the front page is news, which I keep reasonably up to date - I use the free service from Blogger to power this, so I can update it from anywhere and, potentially, could allow other members of the band to also contribute.

That gives me an effective and free flowing design (albeit not the greatest example of eye candy you're ever going to find), a clear statement of who we are and what we do AND regularly updated content. If someone wants to keep up to date with the band, this is the one for them to bookmark, and that's why it's called the 'home page'... it's the living, breathing heart of the site.

Which reminds me, I ought to blog another quick update on there! See ya!

Wulf

 

[Warwickthumb]

well ill ill take all that into consideration when get the actual design made. I never knew there was a standad to web design. I went the main YIM page and it looked really cool. Im pretty much self tought on webdesign. How did you learn?

 

[wulf]

Originally posted by Warwickthumb
well ill ill take all that into consideration when get the actual design made. I never knew there was a standad to web design. I went the main YIM page and it looked really cool. Im pretty much self tought on webdesign. How did you learn?

Self taught. I've not done any formal computer or web design training. However, I did study various aspects of visual design at school, put those skills to use in various projects I was involved in at university (although history was officially what I was studying) and got into HTML pretty early on (round about 1995, when grey was the standard background colour and many of those who were browsing the web still only had 16 colours at 640 x 480 resolution).

I've worked to where I am today (professional web developer within the National Health Service) mainly by being proactive in developing my interest and seizing the opportunities that have come along.

Wulf

 

[James Hart]

Originally posted by wulf
Self taught. I've not done any formal computer or web design training.

[snip]

I've worked to where I am today (professional web developer within the National Health Service) mainly by being proactive in developing my interest and seizing the opportunities that have come along.

I'm close to the same. I got free webspace in 95 with my first 'Internet Access'. I asked what I needed and the owner emailed me a 3 page write up on basic HTML, Telnet and Unix permissions. From there I just "viewed source" on sites I liked, bought a couple books...

From there I was always asked to put webpages together... though my "speciality" is running the backend of ISPs (web servers, email servers, billing, RADIUS, etc). I've usually work in small shops, so web design has always been a way to keep busy while the equipment / clients were all running properly

Wulf: I agree on the splash pages personally. But I've no issue adding them for the clients that want one. Also, I was just contacted by a local Healthcare webservice company about what I can do for them.