Inet Web Design

Since no two customers are alike, every project we take on receives personalized attention. We begin with a free consultation to establish your needs (both design and budgetary).

To expedite this process, we offer a free web design checklist to help define the design elements you should consider. Before you fill out the checklist, here are some topics you may want to give some thought.

Purpose
Index Page and Site Organization
Site and Domain Names
Main Graphic to Highlight Your Site
Basic Page Elements
(additional design considerations are found on our enhancements page)

Purpose: Why Do You Want to Do This? Just why are you doing this? What do you hope to achieve? What is your objective?
At first these may seem like very strange questions to ask yourself, but they may be some of the most important. The answers themselves provide us with the actual foundation on which we build your web site. Remember, that although the appearance or content of your site may change, what you set out to achieve should be clear.

Begin with patience and the long-term view. Your business results from the World Wide Web may be immediate and spectacular. Then again, you may not make much of an impact right away. Be ready to soar, but realize that some products and services take time to gain momentum.

Index Page and Site Organization Some people call this a "home page." I like to think of it as your "storefront" on the World Wide Web marketplace. It provides an index to the set of pages which describe your business or organization. Your site should have several main sections, such as:

About Your Organization: This section may include a vision or mission statement, history of your business, a philosophy of how you do business, etc. Sell the customer on why he or she should do business with you rather than with your competitor.
Product Lines: With photos and text that will describe the benefits of your goods and services to your customers . You can also show features, applications, or examples. You can also use your Web pages as a catalog, which you can update easily, inexpensively, and often.
Technical Support: Some businesses find it useful to provide technical information, specifications, frequently asked questions, parts lists and diagrams, troubleshooting decision trees, etc.
How to order: This will include a form which E-mail's your customer's information to you.
Service Section: This is free information of interest to your potential customers that'll keep them coming back to your site for updates. It might be news of your industry, a related field, or something unique and interesting. Give some thought to what service your Web pages will provide to draw customers to your "storefront" again and again.
What's New section: Where you put updates or new copies of a newsletter.

Site and Domain Name Now you need to determine a tentative name for your Website. You may just want to use your existing business name. But your Website focus may be broader or narrower than your organization name implies. In that case, look for a name that is descriptive, unique, short, and memorable.

Now give thought to your domain name. You may be able to select a domain name which is related to your site name. You can find out which names are still available by trying your proposed domain name at Network Solutions. Try the name that you'd like to use and see if it has been taken. You may have to try several variations until you find the right domain name.

Main Graphic to Highlight Your Site Your "index" or "home" page needs a graphic to look inviting. Think about it as the sign over your storefront that beckons your customer inside. This could be your company logo or any type of graphic that may promote the image or product of your company or organization. Some options you may also consider:

No graphic. Just use headline text. This is the easiest way to go, but dull... remember this is your chance to make a "first impression".
Customized Type Fonts Custom Fonts are better, and look consistent across all browsers and computers.
Clip art graphic. Perhaps you have access to black-and-white or color clip art from a program such as Corel Draw�, or Word for Windows�, or Microsoft Publisher�. Make sure your image is copyright free; you don't want your company to be sued. Check first!
Scanned-in graphic. You may already have a company logo or an artist's drawing.Use your own scanner, or have Inet Web Design scan it for you.
Custom Graphics. State of the art Custom Graphics add to the look and feel of a site.
Image map combined with customized computer art. A clickable graphic, that has links to other areas of the site.

Basic Page Elements

Depending on the amount of information you want to provide on your site, you will need to choose between long or multiple shorter pages.
Long pages. These are good if you expect people to print out or download your pages for future reference (like this document, for example).
Multiple shorter pages. Here your index links jump to many shorter pages that treat just one subject on each page. It doesn't take as long to view. One drawback though is most people won't want to download or print out 10 different pages to get the information they need.
Page title which displays at the top line of your Web browser is very important because it often shows up in search engines such as WebCrawler�, Infoseek�, and AltaVista�. Make this descriptive, using key words that people might use to find your page.
Top-of-page graphic. A small graphic at the top of each of your pages helps unify your Web pages.
Page background. Textured and colored backgrounds unify your pages. Alternatively, you can specify an RGB color for the background. Many Web sites today use a simple white background for better or best readability by many Web browser and monitor configurations.
Last update. An update date is helpful. If you don't do much updating, leave the date off or the site will look unattended.
URL address. You don't have to include this, but consider including a line like "The URL of this document is http://www.inetwwwdesign.com/" . That way they'll know from the printed page how to get back to your website.

Designing Effective Web Sites