I recently found and shared a great article from a blog site called “New User Help” – http://www.newuserhelp.com/. They have some really great information about web design. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t agree with everything that they propose but they do have some great advice and tips for getting started on a new site design. Here are some of the points that hit home for me, I’ve shared most of this advice with our clients time and time again:
- Don’t go overboard on programming tricks. Keep in mind that not all browsers are alike. Since the popularity of CSS3 has hit the web, we have all been amazed to see the cool things that we can now do. But beware, not all browsers are ready for that yet. We try our best to program for all browsers, yet some browsers are not as friendly – those expected cool tricks, won’t look so cool in other browsers. Internet Explorer has really given us a hard time when it comes to CSS3. It’s almost there but not quite. Just a tip, we use Firefox and Chrome here as our default browsers. Both Firefox and Chrome are free downloads and have tools that are designed for the webmaster in you.
- Over the past few years I’ve worked with many clients that found it difficult working with someone they knew locally or personally. I like when the writer of the article says “Firing someone you love and respect can make the whole situation difficult for you.” It’s so easy to use talents in-house, just be careful banking all your resources into that one person, it’s not always the case but, you could be left disappointed in the long run. I’ve hear the horror stories about how situations become sticky when you and the person you trust can’t see eye to eye. Using the CMS Extend, it’s always good to have experience and feedback from individuals but, working with a company like ACS, you ALWAYS have a mass of resources to fall back on when and if an individual isn’t available there.
- When I start the initial conversations with a client about a new site design the first thing that we talk about are things that they like and dislike. It’s part of my creative process to view other websites to get ideas and inspiration. As the article mentioned, we’re not copying their ideas, we’re building our own ideas off of something that others have already done. It’s always great see what’s new in the industry, what’s new in web design, and what others are doing first hand. I often lead clients to Church Relevance for inspiration and for ideas. They have a great article about top church websites that is worth looking at.
You are welcome to read the original blog yourself. Their blog also has related articles that you may also find helpful. In the mean time, if you’re not following me on twitter you should, I share links to new sites hosted by ACS, helpful web related stuff that works on Extend Platform, as well as a few other things to keep it interesting – look me up on twitter today – @jimmyscottd.
