What makes a good design?At ICO3 we have eight Key Principles which underline our Designs. These are the quality control measures we implement for every web site build. They are:
It should be easy for your visitors to the site to find the information they need. A clear and easy to use navigation system is essential, along with clearly defined methods to contact you. Where appropriate sites should also provide a cross links at the bottom of pages to join disparate but related information together.
We believe in content. The more content you provide the more successful a site tends to be. Whether it is better product specifications, better directions to your premises or more details about local attractions content works! There is a commonly held belief among web designers that the one way to get more than 10,000 visitors a week from Google by this time next year is to create a page of content every day.
You site should, at the very least, be written in valid HTML or XHTML. It should also look good at different screen resolutions and across different browsers. Related to this, it shold also look good with all the code removed (this is how a search engine will see it and screen readers as well). Then of course there should be no crashes, hang ups, inappropriate graphics or broken links.
You know who your customers or clients are - what would they like to see? This should be kept as the focus at all times. Some sites tend to be technology led - they have animations, calculators, shopping carts and other expensive features while customers themselves are finding it hard to find your phone number.
Your site should, at the very least be written in valid HTML and ideally valid XHTML Stict. All images should have ALT tags, there should be an alternative or keyboard based navigation system and features such as forms and animations should be properly constructed so that people using assistive software can enjoy them as well.
Depending on your business model, most websites are built to stimulate communication between you and your stakeholders. Provide them with a way to contact you (either using a contact form or at the very least an email address) and make this information easy to find.
Your site should have relevant meta tags included in the pages, have good titles, use a good mixture of keywords to content, should utilise synonyms to those keywords and should, at all times, avoid using Flash or Javascript as a means of enabling movement from page to page. Search engines love site maps.
Websites which can be updated by their owners always look fresher, more up to date and more successful. From the very beginning you should be able to update your site using either simple content management, training or ftp. |
Peninsula Radiology Academy
ICO3 provided design input, hosting, support and a content management system for the Academy Visit the Website |
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