NetsDesign.Net: Professional Web Development & Internet Marketing Solutions

 So...What Makes For A Good Website?    

That’s a very good question, and deserves an in-depth answer. The short answer is that a good website is: dynamically flexible, standards compliant, fast loading, and search engine friendly.
A dynamically flexible website means that if the website needs to change over time, the owner has the ability to update it. This is usually accomplished by using PHP or some other technology that gives users flexibility. We believe that unless time or technical abilities are an issue, there really is not  a need for the web designer after a site is complete. Some clients may want more in the way of post-site launching work such as Search Engine Optimization (SEO) or other advanced services.

Additionally, a website should be standards compliant and pass the W3C recommendations. This is key in making a site that displays well in all browsers. The W3C is, for one thing, a free service that tells a designer if a website is error free. Along these same lines, a website should look good in at least 95% of all internet browsers. The main consideration here is that the site looks good in the Mozilla Firefox browser as well as in Internet Explorer, Opera, Safari, etc., regardless of whether the user is on a  Windows, *Nix, or a MacIntosh machine.  

Also, a site should be built with Search Engines in mind, so that it can be easily promoted and more easily move higher in Google, Yahoo, and MSN. It should be noted that a dynamic, standards compliant, fast, search engine friendly site is not enough to make a site perfect, or bring instant new streams of revenue. SEO is but one of the methods that can help stream new revenue sources. 

Finally, a good website should also employ Cascading Style Sheets (CSS), which is a simple language for efficient page layout. We’ve covered perhaps the most important areas, but a detailed description of what makes a good website could comprise an entire book.  This brings us to the below question of Form vs. Function:

  Form vs. Function: The Question

Whether you want a face lift for your website, or are considering building a new online presence, there are some important considerations to make. We believe appearance is not the most important issue. Its accessibility, usability & search engine visibility (creating a search engine-friendly, accessible web site that follows W3C.org's guidelines) is far more important.  The WAI web standards are an important consideration, and should be followed to allow access to all users, including those with disabilities. It certainly doesn't hurt to have an attractive site with lots of eye-candy, and we can do that, too, but sometimes there can be drawbacks to a site overloaded with intensive graphics. So there is a delicate balance to be achieved. As Web Developers it is always fun to design new graphics, change the website design using CSS, put in validated html, xhtml and css elements, but we consider doing a couple of other things like: making web pages on the Internet fully accessible and usable to all users, especially those with disabilities, speeding up your website, making it easy for prospective customers to find what they are looking for, purchase your items, etc..  So there's a balance here, a trade-off if you will.  We want your site to be visually exciting without sacrificing the accessibility and usability that will keep every visitors (including disabled users) coming back to your website.

We specialize in dynamic website design. The type of dynamic websites we build allow the user to edit the content of a website without being a Web Developer and knowing all the languages that go along with that.  If you can edit a simple text file, you can change your web content!

Contact Us Today if you are interested in a quote.

Rogers McInnis
C.E.O. & Web Development Team Leader
5218 Swamp Road
Morrisville, NY 13408

Phone: 727.743.9879