What is Information Architecture?
Friday, November 21st, 2008 | web site consulting | No Comments
You wouldn’t start nailing together boards for your new house before putting together blueprints, would you? And should you start building a web site before deciding what will go on it? Nope to both. Long before pixels are put to screen, put pencil to paper (ok, maybe text to Word) and organize! It’s incredibly important and here’s how you get started.
Take a moment to consider the ultimate goals of your web site. Planning for an informational web site about a cause, and you’re aiming to tug at people’s heart strings? Is yours a business with multiple facets yet you need to focus on one in particular? Got one product you need to sell more than any other? Consider the goals and prioritize them. Who is your audience? Who have they been, who do you want them to be? With goals and audience determined you can then organize your content (information architecture!) so that it will reach those you want with the message you need them to see! Document your goals, audience, and content and give them to your web designer.
Only at that point are you ready to put pixel to screen. Any good designer will ask you the above questions and guide you in preparing for your web site.
Noodle Design provides its clients initially a web site design questionnaire that asks you those questions and helps you start to organize your thoughts. Using the information you supply in the questionnaire a requirements document is set up. We refer to this as the bible of your web site. It’s a one-stop shop of information (both content, design, technical, and administrative) about your web site. You’d be in good hands with Seattle design firm Noodle Design >
Tools to Build a Web Site
Thursday, November 20th, 2008 | web site development | No Comments
On more than one occasion I’ve had a client want to either edit their own web site or learn how to do web sites. I’m not the greatest teacher, but actually editing a web site is fairly simple, if the most you’re looking to do is edit some text here or there or maybe swap out a photo. Here are some tools you can use.
- FTP client. “FTP” stands for File Transfer Protocol. An FTP client allows you to download and upload files to a web server. The Internet Explorer browser can be used as an FTP client (check out this blog for details: http://www.sean.co.uk/a/webdesign/ftp_in_ie_free_client.shtm) and Windows Explorer can also be used (the procedure is exactly the same as with IE, go figure). You’ll need your FTP host, username, and password to access your web server.
- Notepad. Ok, so not just Notepad, but any plain text editor will do. Don’t use Word, as Word will insert unnecessary and messy code. Open up a web file (extensions are typically .html, .htm, .php, .shtml) in a text editor like Notepad, find and edit the text you need changed and save the file. You’ll upload it next, more on that to follow.
- WYSIWYG editor. Not necessary, but certainly makes some things easier. “WYSIWYG” stands for “What You See Is What You Get” so instead of looking at code in Notepad you could actually look at the layout and graphics of a site as you edit, for the most part seeing what you see when looking at the live page online. WYSIWYG editors often also provide FTP access. Dreamweaver by Adobe (formerly by Macromedia), which is the web design industry’s preferred tool (and mine) can be cost prohibitive to some one who just wants to edit their own web site every few months. Some hosting companies offer online WYSIWYG editors (GoDaddy is one such company). It would be wise to investigate web hosts and what they offer before buying a hosting account.
- Image editing software. On occasion you’ll want to replace a photo. Most photos require some type of editing prior to being uploaded to a web site. Resizing needs to be done in an image editing software, not by simply changing the dimensions in the html code. Ever see a photo online that looked distorted and pixely? It’s probably a huge photo that’s simply been manually resized in a WYSIWYG editor. Most computers come with some simple image editing software. You can also use something like Google’s Picasa.
The moral to this story is you can edit a web site without buying a single stitch of software. It can take time to learn though, so if you’re short on time contact Seattle design firm Noodle Design for web site editing or development >
Tips to a Successful Web Site
Wednesday, November 19th, 2008 | web design, web site development | No Comments
If you’re going to do a web site you’ll want to do it right. After all, what’s the point of having a web site if you turn people away once they get there? There are so many things you can do with a web site (and some less than cool), so let’s talk about what you should and should not do.
- Don’t theme-out your web site. Sure your favorite thing in life is golf, but does that mean you should have a golf-themed web site? Not unless your business is a golf-supply store or you’re a golf course. What would a golf-themed web site say to some one who visits your law practice’s web site? It says “I’d much rather be spending your money playing golf than helping your cause”.
- Less is more. Your visitors will need to be able to find their destination quickly. Too many elements on a home page can overwhelm and they may hit that back button far quicker than you’d like. Make sure your navigation (menu) is easy to spot and detailed enough. While users aren’t likely to read the text on your home page don’t make the mistake of skipping text on your home page all together, but don’t over do it. A basic description of your business that is keyword rich will serve you best.
- Skip the mystery meat. Some web sites try to be clever and will use simple icons for menu items that when you hover over them reveals the content hidden behind. Don’t make your users work! It will only frustrate them. Be clear. Don’t use clever terms instead of straight forward page or section names. “Holla” is not as effective as “Contact Us”.
- Flash intros are so 1996. They had their time and place. Don’t do it. This falls in to the category of not making your users work. If they have to click simply to get to the actual content of your web site you may lose them. Don’t discount the number of people using DSL and dial-up. Your cool flash intro might load slowly and users will not wait around.
- Skip the music. Ethical or not, people surf the web at work. Sure, maybe they do it on their own time, but does that mean they don’t mind when they happen upon a web site with techno beats blaring at them? Unless you’re a band your web site doesn’t need music and nothing turns a visitor off more than music (ok, maybe it’s second to the Flash intro).
- Offer them something right up front. Do you sell products on your web site? Put your most popular product right on the home page with a shopping cart buttons right there so they don’t have to click anywhere to buy. Photographer? Put a gallery or a handful of photos right on your home page so people can start looking without clicking. Instant gratification should be the name of the game.
Get a web site with all the right moves from Seattle Design Firm Noodle Design >
Simple Steps to Searchability
Tuesday, November 18th, 2008 | search engine optimization (SEO) | No Comments
If you’re looking for a web designer you’ll want to make sure they’re savvy to techniques that will make your site search engine friendly. Below are just handful of things a web designer should be doing, whether they claim to be a search engine optimization wizard or not.
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Image Alt Tags
The html code for an image looks like this: ‘ < img src=”images/pic.jpg” alt=”my pic” /> ‘. If the ‘alt=”description”‘ is missing or is left blank (alt=”") that’s bad. You don’t need anything fancy. A simple description of the photo will do.
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File Names
You want your page file names to be key word rich and easily readable by search engines. A logo design page for instance could have a file name like logo-design.html.
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Meta Tags
Look at the title bar of a browser window and see what text you find. There should be key words pertaining to your business and not simply “Untitled” or “home”. Also make sure there are description meta tags and keyword meta tags.
There are more ways to optimize a site. Check out Seattle Design firm Noodle Design and see how they can make sure your site is optimized for search engines.
Problem: “I’ve got my logo, my business card and letterhead, even a website, now I need help getting some business!”
Friday, November 14th, 2008 | graphic design | No Comments
Solution: Postcards, brochures, flyers. They’re all a part of marketing your company and getting business. It’s important that these pieces of literature not only speak to what you’re about, but that they show people what you’re about. How you present your information is as important as the products themselves. I not only know how to create an attractive piece of literature, but I also know how to create effective and profitable pieces of literature.
Problem: “I’ve got a brand new business that needs it’s own mark!”
Monday, November 10th, 2008 | Uncategorized | No Comments
Solution:You’ll need a mark that stands out, but is easy to read, easy to read in LARGE print or small print, in color or in black and white. One that looks good on a website, as well as in print. Your logo will be all of these things, and visually represent what you’re all about.
Problem: “Our site is up, our ads are placed, we’re ready to go. But no one’s coming to our site. What’s going on?”
Friday, November 7th, 2008 | search engine optimization (SEO) | No Comments
Solution: It’s called Search Engine Optimization (SEO), and it’s what gets your site not just placed in the big search engines like Google and Yahoo, but it gets your site placed well. There are lots of things that can and should be done properly to your pages that your average web designer probably doesn’t know about, and isn’t aware of when building your web site. SEO is something that should be considered prior to your site being built, but if you’re finding yourself in the opposite boat, don’t worry, there are still things that can be done to improve your site’s ranking in the search engines.
Find out more about search engine optimization from Seattle web site design firm Noodle Design >
The Ills of Frames
Wednesday, November 5th, 2008 | web site development | No Comments
At first glance, frames seem harmless. They can look downright impressive — high-tech, even. What your average Web designer might not know, however, is how much trouble frames can cause, preventing visitors from using your site fully and even from finding your site in the first place.
Frames Prevent Bookmarking
Without getting too technical, let me explain how frames work. All Web sites have what we call an index page. This is usually the first page your visitors see. On a site with frames, this index page is set up to display multiple pages of your site. For example, your index page would have a window that pulls in the navigation and a window that pulls in the pages of your content. Now your visitors can’t easily bookmark different pages – every time they try, all they’ll end up bookmarking is your index page. This is a problem when you have many products, or a site with many levels. If visitors can’t get where they want to go in one or two clicks, they should be able to bookmark specific destinations.
You Can’t Easily Print Pages
You never know when someone will want to print part of your site. But with frames, what they’ll get is a blank page. There is a way around it – you can right-click in the window of content and select the print option – but it’s my opinion that you should never ask a visitor to go through that much effort, or expect them to be Web savvy.
Frames Can Be Turned Off
Visitors have the option of telling their browsers not to interpret framed sites at all, so some people see a whole lot of nothing! There are things you can do to make sure people see something, but it won’t be the site you intended.
Search Engines Don’t Do Frames
Search engines need links in order to crawl and index pages. A framed site is like hitting a brick wall: There are no links for the engines to follow. The number and quality of links to your page are part of what garner your site a page rank. If search engines can’t crawl your site, you get no page rank and people can’t find you.
How To Make Your Site More Attractive to Search Engines
Does your site already use frames? Within the tags , make sure you can use are using the
tags to tell help search engines and visitors who may have frames turned off and the search engines what your site is about. Write a couple of brief, but descriptive , paragraphs about your website/ site or business. These brief paragraphs would also serve well in META tags, which you should also make sure you use on the index page of a framed site. These META tags are really what tell Search Engines what you’re about and go a long way in determing how your site will be ranked. For more information on META tags , please head on over to the
Search Engine Optimization (SEO) page for a very an enlightening article.
If you are in the midst of deciding how to structure your site, I hope this article has convinced you to stay away from frames.
If you have a framed site and need help restructuring your site or making it more attractive to search engines, please visit the Contact page and select the Search Engine Optimization box.
Visit Seattle Design Firm Noodle Design’s web site to learn more about web site development >
Problem: “I’m pretty sure I know I want, I just need to get it put together!”
Tuesday, November 4th, 2008 | web design | No Comments
Solution: You’ve got your domain name figured out, you know what the content needs to be in your site, and you may even have a rough drawing of what you think your site might look like. Now you just need some one to put it all together for you. I can work from scratch or work off of your ideas. I can also do a redesign of an existing site. You should expect to receive 3 unique drafts of your site. Once you selected one of these drafts there will be unlimited revisions until we arrive at your dream site. From there your site gets put together and put on the web for the world to see!
I need a web site and don’t know where to start!!
Monday, November 3rd, 2008 | web site consulting | No Comments
Problem: “I’m just getting started and not sure what to do”
Solution: You’ve got a new small business, venture, idea, and you want to share it with the world but don’t know where to start. I can help you determine the best domain name, and get you set up with the right kind of web hosting. I’ll help you determine the goals of your website. What exactly do you want it to do for you and for your visitors? Together we’ll determine how your site should be organized (known as information architecture) and arrive at a navigation scheme that’ll lead your visitors on an enjoyable ride through your site.
Learn more about how Noodle Design can help you with web site consulting >>