Website Design Screenshots
March 10th, 2008 Posted in Property Websites | No Comments »Once you have chosen a winning logo from your logo contest, you now need to choose a designer / and developer for the website. This part is very tricky because in general, designers are not good developers and developers are not good designers.
Over the years I have run into only 2 good designers whom are also good developers. They are not programmers, meaning they don’t create database driven websites, but great designers who also know how to build search engine friendly websites in HTML, ASP or PHP. The individuals whom I have worked with in the past whom I would recommend are listed below
Shannon Fermainian – Second Platform Web Design
Victor Spindler – Internet Ideals Web Design
If you have individuals you are interested in working with, make sure they have the following skills:
- Website Design and Navigation Skills (Different than print design or logo design etc..)
- Use Includes Files in the development of the website. This makes it easier for updating in the future.
OK, so you chose your designer. The next step is to provide them with a website outline so they can create a screen shot design for you to review. The outline should include the following:
- The color palette of the colors you want to use. This will come from the logo or you can also use a color chart. The color chart I have used in the past are located here….Color Charts
- The information you want in the header. This is important because the header is the same on each page.
- What type of Navigation you want to use. Horizontal Navigation, Vertical Navigation or Both.
- Layout of the content area: 1 column, 2 columns or 3 columns.
- What information you want in the footer located on the bottom of the page.
- A sitemap of all the major pages being developed for the website. The sitemap is a list of all the pages on the website, but for a developer / designer, it is the blueprint for the website, just like blueprints are used to build a house.
Once the designer has this information, they can then use their creative genius to create a design of the Home Page of the website. In regard to Perfect Property Websites, I will be using designs from Second Platform Designs. I will post the mock-ups so that you can see the various choices.
