While the process might seem simple and the same year after year, designing websites has been tremendously fluid over the years. Ever since the original browsers became popular after the clunky world of America Online, web design has always been in a game of chase, trying to keep up with the latest capabilities. However, the infrastructure of the web hasn’t been so fast to change. So the combination of new tools, adding script to take advantage of them and a protocol environment that lags behind makes for a cup of headaches and frustration.
A House of Cards
Web design builds on four primary languages. HTML is the basic language for shaping up a web page. CSS allows a designer to make easier and better aesthetic changes. Javascript allows program building that works on the end user side of the Internet, the browser. PHP allows program building that operates on the server side of things, where the user gets Internet information from. All four languages serve an instrumental role in modern website design, especially when multiple pages are being built and need to be maintained in sync, a common situation with e-commerce sites.
From the client side, much of the work that goes on in the design side doesn’t get seen. Instead, clients focus on the output, the finished product that all the scripting produces. Sure, folks can look at the source code easy enough, but if they don’t take the time to really understand what it is doing, it might as well be Egyptian hieroglyphs to the unexperienced. This is where the work that it takes to build gets lost.
Tools That Mask the Challenge
In the last few years a number of tools have become available making website design easier for those who don’t know the language side of things. Instead, these tools follow a what you see is what you get or WYSIWYG approach where the webpage can be built visually. While they are quite useful for making basic web pages, they don’t have the capability that is possible with the full use of the languages noted above. However, because these tools are marketed as web design solutions, clients often think that web design for full platforms, portals, integrated apps and more complexity are simple as well. This creates a bit of a Grand Canyon disconnect between clients and designers in terms of expectations and the work involved to achieve a good design as requested.
Understanding Basic Design Requirements
Clients need to understand a couple of core aspects to help good design happen. First, attention to the details is as important as the big picture. Clients shouldn’t be so quick to just pass of a concept to a designer and then expect great things to happen. The design process isn’t so transactional, but this happens more often than not because clients want to treat the build process as a delivery relationship than a creative teamwork approach.
Second, websites don’t solve every desired need or function. They have limitations. Clients have to be flexible within the capabilities and scope of the tools that are available. Some aspects of connection with audiences simply don’t work well in a website environment.
Third, reverse engineering doesn’t work, but a lot of folks think that making a good website can happen by just “stealing” the code from someone else’s website. That helps contribute to the idea that people designing website don’t have to work hard doing it. Again, this hides the reality of what it takes to build a site from coding.
Finally, the User Experience, or UX, is an entirely different design aspect. Like graphic design, UX focused on the aesthetics of the end user, what the user sees and works with when interacting with a website. UX is a very visual and tactile side of design, and done right it makes for the finishing touches of a good website. To understand how powerful UX design can be, think in terms of Apple products. They are built with the user’s experience and satisfaction in mind. The intuitive nature of Apple products make them far easier to work with, adapt to and learn than similar devices from other manufacturers. Good UX works the same way; it provides audiences and viewers the intuitive benefit, making the experience of using the website that much better and impactful.
Bringing in the Professionals
For website design in atlanta, professional site build work happens with the right people involved and the right talent like Zgraph web design associated with the development.However, it also involves and requires an engaged client who takes the time to understand the details as well as the big picture desired in the order. There are plenty of websites out there put together with all kinds of standards. However, if you want your website to make a big difference, impact and stand up with relevance, then you need to be part of the build process, not on the sidelines. It makes a huge difference in the outcome.
