An Introduction To Website Design Basics
Planning Your Website Before Building It Can Eliminate Future Problems
What is a Website Design? Short Answer. The planning of each element that makes up a website. This may include the LAYOUT of web pages (where the menus,
text and images are placed for example), the STYLE of web pages (the fonts, colour scheme, genre, etc) and the FORMAT of media used in web pages (the type
of audio/video file, the type of image, their size, quality and so on).
The long answer is more to do with the TECHNICALS of those elements. Whether or not to use PHP Scripts, a Blog, a Questionnaire and/or a certain type of
Programming Language for example (such as HTML, CSS, PHP, JQuery and/or JavaScript) as well as the USABILITY aspects/features for both the administrator
and users of that website (such as Link Navigation and MySQL Database Management).
In this category I will be looking at LAYOUT, STYLE, FORMAT, USABILITY and the TECHNICALS so that you have a better understanding of what to do before creating a website. It is very easy to create a website, in comparison to planning a website, but without proper thought out planning first you might be creating problems for yourself later. This can be annoying, especially if you are giving your design to a professional website designer.
Planning - Designing A Website Yourself
If you are designing a website yourself make sure you have planned out all of the elements needed for that website, otherwise anything you have not
thought of ahead of time might haunt you later. If you are planning to include audio/video for example ask yourself;
"What format will it have to be in?". Do not say to yourself "I want it in the Flash (.swf or flv) format" for example because what you want
and what your visitors have is two different things. Meaning. Your computer might be able to playback flash video files because it has the correct
technologies installed on it, but the computers your visitors are using might not be able to playback flash files for whatever reason(s). Therefore always
go with a common audio/video format that the majority will have.
Another question you should ask yourself is; "What elements will I need now AND IN THE FUTURE?". If you are designing a Products website for example you
might say "I need a Shopping Cart, PayPal Account, Contact US Form and Slideshow" and accommodate web page space for them, but then do not look ahead and
say "If my website becomes popular I will need website management staff and therefore need a MySQL Database management system/page". Or even worse;
"If my website is not taking off I will need web page space for a Questionnaire/Survey Form and/or an Advertisement".
In other words; The first things you need to be thinking about, both for now and the future, are things like web page space and layout. Where is each
element to be placed and what, if anything, happens to each element. For example. If a visitor fills out your questionnaire form are they going to be
sent to a "Thank You" web page? And what if that questionnaire form gets spammed all the time? Will you need to implement a Recaptcha (spam prevention)
edit box for it?.....which will take up more web page space.
Planning - Hiring A Professional Website Designer
It is things like the above mentioned that a professional website designer can help you with. In order to avoid future problems, such as lack of web page space, they will normally assess your planning (design ideas) and if necessary make additional suggestions and/or implement certain things that you might not of thought about. The problem with professional website designers though is that they are too expensive!
Using Website Builder Software And Templates
One way to avoid much of the planning and design, as well as the website designer, is to use a ready-made template. These can be purchased separately
online, be created from an online Website Builder service, be created from online Website Builder software within a web hosting package or be created
from Website Builder software you install on your computer via a cd/dvd. Either way; Avoid websites that offer "Free Templates", if you want to have
a more custom-made template, simply because everyone will be using their templates.
The same can be said for the common templates found in Website Builder softwares, but the main differences between Free templates and Website Builder
templates are that Website Builder templates tend to offer more in the way of choice, quality, quantity, design and flexibility when it comes to template
creation/editing. One of the main reasons for this is because their editing tools are more superior.
The benefit of using a ready-made template, free or purchased, is that it takes some of the planning and design away from you. Meaning, why change what
someone has already designed as a "usable template". A template that has correct navigation, the right colour scheme, usability and so on.
Using A Template From The TEMPLATE MONSTER Website
If you know nothing whatsoever about website design and do not care to learn it that much, and cannot afford a website designer, you could purchase a
ready-made template which you can then modify the details of. An online service such as
Template Monster is ideal for this purpose.
They offer templates at regular prices (i.e. $64 / £40) whereby you and others can purchase a template and modify its details and so on. Then they have a
buyout price for each template (i.e. $1500 / £960) whereby you can buy a template outright so that no one else can then purchase it - People who have
purchased the template at the regular price before you can still use their purchased copy though. The buyout price just means no one else can then
purchase the template (it will be taken off the template monster website forever).
Fig 1.0 Template Monster has a very nice search tools that really allows you to be picky and choosy!
The template monster search engine (above) really is super cool. It allows you to search by Website Template type, Author, Colour, Category and so on.
Once you have entered your template requirements click on the SEARCH button to continue. Doing so will then list all the templates within your chosen
requirements.
In this example I kept the search simple by selecting Website Templates (Products), Food & Drink (Category) and Clean & Neutral (Style).
Fig 1.1 Template Monster has regular priced website templates ranging from $25 (£16) up to $100 (£65)
The search results above brought up 138 Templates, over 7 Pages Of Listing, whereby I could then view each template by either clicking directly on its
thumbnail (icon) or by clicking on its VIEW link. I think the template I viewed (Fig 1.2 below) does not look too bad for the price. It is Clean &
Neutral, which is exactly what was searched for and wanted, and if I was not a website programmer and in the Food & Drink business I would definitely
consider buying that template.
The DOWNLOAD Number is useful if you intend to buy a template outright because it tells you how unique
that template currently is.
Fig 1.2 A nice, clean, neutral, ready-made template for a very reasonable affordable $64 (£40)
Find Out Exactly What You Are Getting
As a side note; I have just contacted template monster via their Live Chat feature to ask them about modifying a regular priced template and its author copyright notice. Ryan (the person I communicated with) said "You can change the Images, Text, Etc" and delete any author copyright notice. He then stated that you should not then, or at any time, add your own copyright notice in its place. That is not allowed. Here is the actual Live Chat conversation.
Fig 1.3 You can modify a regularly priced Template Monster template if you wish
One thing to point out here is that each regularly priced template includes 1 User License (One-Time Fee) which allows you to use that regularly priced template on one website only. So if you wanted to use the same regularly priced template on another website you would need to purchase that template again. See above and their F.A.Q - Number 10 for more information.
Always Read The Small Print
In general, if you have read a website's Policy, Agreement, Terms & Conditions and/or F.A.Q sections and are still unsure about something ALWAYS CONTACT THEM BEFORE PURCHASING ANYTHING FROM THEM. With so many Cons, Tricks and Scams on the internet these days it pays (pun intended!) to query exactly what it is you will be purchasing. So many people get stung because they do not read those boring but important, Small Print, sections. Luckily websites like Template Monster have clear explanations in those sections as well as a Live Chat service.
What Next?
If you are working with a professional website designer it does not mean you can leave everything up to them. Even though they will know, and should know,
a lot about website design do not let them dictate your own design thoughts/views. Hiring a website designer should be a partnership whereby even though
you may have differences of opinion design-wise neither of you should dictate the other. You should listen to each others thoughts/ideas and consult.
If you are designing everything yourself, perhaps using a ready-made template that you are willing to edit, you should read the next sections of this
website to guide you through some of the website design basics of LAYOUT, STYLE, FORMAT and USABILITY as well as some of the TECHNICALS.