Featured
Goodbye to the static website
Early days of design
When I started designing websites a few years ago, I purchased Dreamweaver and used it to create html pages. I added styling to these pages via CSS, a navigation bar linking all of the pages together and moved the pages to a web server using FTP. Thus, my first client websites came to be. The process worked for the initial project and the clients were happy.
The ongoing relationship
For me though, ongoing relationships with clients was difficult as the more clients I added to my portfolio, the more difficult it became to project my workload due to client requested changes to web pages and requests for new pages. Since I typically moved from one site design to the next, when a change request came in, jumping back in to what I considered a “finished” project was not easy to do. In addition to reviewing the change request and doing the actual work, there were often questions for the website owner and the work often took more time than I projected.
It wasn’t long before I started to react to these maintenance requests somewhat warily and realized why some peers did not offer website maintenance at all. That did not seem like a good solution though as it left a client unfamiliar with web page design without a service provider.
A good website is never finished…
It was then I realized that I was fighting a losing battle and that a good website should never be finished. How then could I continue to design and still make money?
The answer lies in the death of the static website and turning publishing power over to the content provider. Of course not every client wants to update their own content but I made a decision then, that I would only accept work from those who wish to manage this portion of the process. If I am able to provide the site structure, design, initial content load and training, then it seems realistic to expect that the client would be able to update web copy and add pages using the guidelines that were established in the initial design.
The way out
This solution, a content management system, which can be as simple as a wordpress blog or one of the many open source or commercial options available, when properly implemented can give the website owner control of their website while still reaping the benefit of a professionally managed project, design and content structure. From this point forward, I will only offer this type of solution to prospects.
Accessibility, the right thing to do.
I will admit that when I first started designing websites, I did not think about making them accessible to people with disabilities. Of course I did do some things to make my designs accessible without realizing it - using tableless page layout, separating markup (html) from presentation (CSS), using well formed markup including heading tags and identifying images using alt tags - but there was no special effort, just working toward coding using web standards.
When I started reading a bit more about accessibility though, I realized that there was much more to do and that I needed to consider more than those individuals who would experience a website via a screen reader. One must also consider hearing impaired visitors, those who cannot use a mouse (who may use a touch screen or only the keyboard), those who suffer from seizure disorders and those who may only be temporarily disabled.
In addition to it being good business to serve disabled users - they spend more time on the internet per week than a non-disabled users and their discretionary income is at $175 billion and growing, it is just the right thing to do. In America, 1 in 5 people has some sort of disability and 1 in 10 has a severe disability. Having an accessible web opens up much more of the world to people who may be home bound. These individuals can now shop and participate in a variety of social networks. Have you ever considered how satisfying it is for a person with low vision to be able to read the newspaper on their own with the help of a screen reader?
As I enhance my web design skill set, I will certainly focus on creating accessible websites. A few specific areas I will work on are forms, scalable text, tab access and using Javascript to enhance the behavior of a web page while not limiting access to the content itself if Javascript is disabled.
This is a goal all web designers should have. It’s the right thing to do after all. For more details on current accessibility guidelines, visit the website of the Web Accessibility Initiative.
When in doubt, send a survey
Online surveys are a quick and efficient way to obtain information from your prospects and customers.
There are both low cost and free online survey tools available.
For $20 per month ($200 per year), Survey Monkey offers unlimited surveys and responses (with annual plan) using a variety of question types and a web based interface for analyzing results. Surveys may be deployed via email or linked on a web page.
Feature packed Google Docs recently added the ability to add a form to a spreadsheet. After the spreadsheet is saved, one can design a basic form to collect spreadsheet data. The form is deployed via an email from the Google interface or embedded in a web page. Question types are limited but the web based interface allows for easy viewing by team members. Google Docs may suffice for basic information collection and best of all, it is free!
