Web Design

13 February, 2009

What's possible?
How long will it take?
Pricing
What to expect, step-by-step

What's Possible?

I specialise in customised, boutique-style websites for small to medium business. Features such as Adobe Flash animation, email-newsletters, small-scale database applications and the like are well within my capabilities. Web-logs ("blogs"), small/medium eShops, guestbooks, online surverys & competitions, or even something customized specifically for your business is all possible. In fact, these are the areas in which I excel.

I am also avaialble as a graphic designer for print, signage or advertisments.

How long will it take?

Like many things in the world of design and web development, the answer is, "it depends". Unfortunately, the truth of the matter is that it usually takes longer than most people expect. At the absolute minimum, for the basic flyer with limited digital art and/or photography, the entire process might take two weeks. That would include hosting setup, domain name registration, design, mock-ups, implementation, and testing.

A typical website for a small or medium-sized business would take longer. This might include ten pages or more, a user-feedback form, specialised flash animation and personal photography. Such a website would typically take around six or seven weeks to complete.

The more customisation and the complexity that you want in your website, the longer it's going to take to design, build and test. But don't worry, I'll be sure to give you a detailed breakdown of how long the website will take to build before we sign any formal agreements.

Pricing

As you have probably guessed (if you read the last section), the price of a website can vary greatly. For a very modest, small site or flyer, prices start at about $500AUD. This will likely include very limited personalised graphic design and/or photography, no Flash and no database applications. It's basically just a one or two page online advertisement for your business. What it does include is the service of a highly experienced profesional and an expert-quality, bulletproof design that is aesthetic, easy to use and conforms tightly to W3C coding standards.

A small flyer is fine if that's all you need. More typically, however, a website will consist of multiple pages, customised photography, personalised graphic design and the means for some user-interaction (that means databases and back-end programming). A ballpark figure for this kind of website could be anywhere from $2000-$5000 and up, depending on the exact requirements.

I charge the industry standard rate for web development which, with all the details considered, works out at roughly $50(AU) per hour. The price will be finalised and signed-off before any work is started, but is subject to change if you decide you'd like to add extra features after the work has begun (in which case a new price will be agreed upon).

What to expect

Initial Meeting

The first step in getting yourself online will usually be an initial chat with the web designer (that's me!). A person-to-person meeting is possible within a certain vicinity (Wollongong, Sydney, Newcastle and anywhere in-between). If you live outside that area, a telephone meeting is just as good.

At this stage I'll just want to get a general feel for your business, your online needs and any ideas you already have for your website. I'll also give you ballpark figures regarding how long it will take and how much it will cost. There's no charge at this stage.

Mock-up drafts

A "mock up draft" is basically a non-functioning fascade of your website that lets you see how it will look when finished. Typically, the draft version will undergo multiple revisions to ensure that the design is exactly what you want before I go ahead and build the real, working version for the Internet.

The first draft will be pretty rudimentry, just getting the main colours and general layout right. As you approve each stage (typically three or four revisions via email) your website will really start to come to life! By the time the final comes around, you'll be more-or less looking at the finished design.

Note that while the mock-up drafts aren't the real website, this is still where most of the design work gets done. That includes the vast majority of photography and graphic design that will appear on the final version, so it's important to get things as close to perfect as possible.

In addition, at this point we sign off on most of the paperwork. That way, both parties are clear on exactly what to expect from the other before the website is built.

Implementation

There's not much for you to do now. This is where I go away and build your website using the scripting and programming languages that are used for the Internet.

User Testing

Finally, your website is tested thoroughly for security as well as to make sure that it works nicely on all the most popular web browsers (e.g. Internet Explorer, Firefox, Safari, etc.), as well as all the operating systems (Windows, Mac OS, Linux, etc.).

This is a crucial step that is often undervalued or completely skipped by amateur designers. Nothing will turn people off your business quicker than a website that doesn't work properly. Your online prescence is a direct reflection of what the public will think of you and your business.

Each browser and operating system have their own little quirks and methods for displaying websites. Unless it's properly tested, what may look perfect on one browser could look like a total mess on the next. Just because you are running Internet Explorer 7 through Microsoft Windows, it doesn't mean that all your clients are!

All of that being said, once again there's not much for you to do at this point. Just sit tight while I iron out any usabilty problems that may exist.

Sign Off

Your website is online at your domain of choice. Now we simply sign-off on the final paperwork signaling completion of the job. I'll also hand over to you any details regarding further management of your website (e.g. domain registrar and web server hosting details) for you own personal records.