Professional Website Design by TDTSolutions
Located in Charlottetown, P.E.I.
Web Design - Common Web Design Questions
The following questions are broken into different categories to help you focus on the areas in which may be a greater concern to you. These questions although some are technical, they are questions even a web designer should ask you or you should ask them. Every category on this page is relevant to the basics of all web design projects.
Key points and questions to consider....
Questions and points to consider when re designing your web site or starting from scratch.
Navigation
___ Do I get lost easily when navigating through web sections?
___ Do I have to click more than twice to get to the information I need?
___ Is the information easy to find?
___ Is there a breadcrumb / cookie trail at the top of the page to show a navigational trail?
___ Is there a site map that is current and updated located in the footer or an easy to find place?
Common Look and Feel
___ Do all my web pages appear to have a general consistency when going from page to page?
___ The fonts used throughout the website are easy to read and are the same on every page.
___ The colour scheme used is consistent throughout the site
Accessibility
___ My colours used are web safe / web smart so they are common and look the same on everyone’s computer
___ My project will meet all or some of the Priority 1,2 and 3 checkpoints. (These checkpoints grade the level of accessibility within a website - 3 being the most strict.)
___ Is my content organized properly with a proper header structure, h1 through h6?
___ The Images that have text embedded have a meaningful alt attribute description.
___ If javascript is used, when I have it turned off does my website still work properly?
Standards and Validation (XHTML Markup)
___ What doctype will my website be validated against? Transitional or Strict?
___ Does every page validate properly?
___ How do I know if my web page validates properly? (Check your pages here http://validator.w3.org/ )
Usability / Readability / Content Authoring
___ Is my website easy to use and understand?
___ Does the content make sense when reading it out loud?
___ Are there any spelling or grammatical errors?
___ Can someone on a dial-up connection view web pages without any serious difficulty?
___ Are the images used throughout the website optimized for the web and scaled down for optimal downloading speeds?
___ The fonts used are fonts that are common and can be viewed consistency by everyone?
Content Management Needs and Dynamic Design
___ Is there content that I need to change often on my website?
___ What kind of HTML experience do I have if any or anyone within my organization and if any, are they capable of maintaining content when the website is live?
___ Do I need to have FULL control of ALL the content throughout the website or just portions within select pages?
___ What is the level of interactivity I wish to allow visitors to have? Registrations, User Profiles, Blogs, Newsletters, Discussion boards, Polls, Image Uploading and much more...
___ Will I be selling items, services online and need an e-commerce solution? If so, will you require credit card processing?
___ Do you have a merchant account set up for credit card processing?
___ I want to sell items and services, but not online, only to create exposure and awareness.
Search Engine Optimization - FREE advertising!!
___ If you currently have a website, how are your current results with Search Engine Placements?
___ To what extent has your current / past web designer (if you already have a website) went into detail about what they have done to help improve your search engine placement?
___ What are the major key words that you wish to be found by someone searching (concentrate on 10 to 20 words max)
___ Is my content “Rich” with important key words?
___ Are my key words weighted and organized properly throughout the content?
___ How many times does my website appear on someone else’s website to improve my ranking?
___ What kind of budget do I have for advertising on KEY web sites that will generate traffic and gain a powerful page rank by having my site linked on them?
___ Are meta tags used throughout the website and a valid, readable useful description added to every page?
___ Does each page have it’s own unique title incorporated with key words?
___ Are my pages named and saved correctly with proper terms and key words?
Website Demographics
___ What are the age ranges in which my website will appeal to?
___ Does my content have meaning and will be what is suited for the demographic intended?
___ Do I need to have special tools, interactivity, or a theme based on the type of visitors?
Hosting Needs and Website Maintenance
___ Does my website go down often?
___ Is there any kind of uptime guarantee?
___ Does my website seem to load slowly even on a high speed connection?
___ Does the web server I’m currently hosted on or will be using meet all the demands of the web designer by database types, and programming languages?
___ Is my website influenced by other web sites that currently sit on the same web server by means of downtime?
___ What is included in the hosting packages provided by the designer should they have the means to provide such service?
___ Is there a plan for continuation and support from the designer once the website is complete?
___ What are the hourly rates involved when needing updates done to the web site once it is live?
Research - Designer’s Portfolio and more...
___ Does the designer have a portfolio to view online?
___ Does the designer have a list of references you can contact to gauge the current level of service and overall satisfaction from start to finish?
___ Am I more worried about my wallet opposed to quality and my company image?
___ Does the portfolio have web sites in which are attractive, eye catching, consistent or even close to what you are envisioning?
___ How well does the designers website do against Search Engines when you look for them through a search engine?
___ Can the designer answer any questions that you need in terms that are understandable and replies to emails promptly?
___ Does their portfolio resemble a “cookie cutter” style where most of their designs are the same?
___ Will the designer provide you with a unique design opposed to a widely used template that has been purchased by the designer?
Flash, Video, Animated Objects - Multimedia
___ Does my website “need” to have moving objects or visual effects?
___ Do I need to put a video online?
___ I want a video but don’t have the means to properly edit, shoot or package it for the web, does your designer currently provide multimedia solutions in regards to video?
___ I love to have a lot of flash and flying animated objects - does my web site have a theme that warrants the extensive use of Flash?
These are just some of the questions you either need to have answered, addressed, or have been asked. If you need further clarification on any one of the above questions please contact us today and we'll shed more light on the topic!
