My work as a web designer so far has involved all aspects of developing a website from start to finish. This includes consulting with the client about their aims, developing site structure, producing mock up designs, editing content text and images, building the site, optimising the code for search engines (SEO), testing across the different browsers, and finally publishing the website.
All stages of the process are equally important in achieving a good result.
I enjoy the visual aspect of web design and adding fun effects, but as I have found, good web design is also about paying attention to the end user's needs, and following good coding and usability practices.
Web design & web standards
The Worldwide Web Consortium (W3C)'s recommendation of using HTML and CSS to seperate the content from the styling of a website has made it possible to develop cleaner, standard HTML code. This makes the web easier to build on for the future, and more flexible, to allow for all the different mediums now used for accessing the web.
This method of web development is now known as the 'Web Standards' method. The above icons are used to indicate that the code on a website has been validated according these standards. Using the web standards method I can be creative and develop websites that are appealing to eye, enhancing the user's experience, safe in the knowledge that the code I write will give maximum accessibility to a wide range of users, and will be easily found and indexed by search engines.
The standards method also makes it easier to manage cross-browser compatibility on the web. Many older versions of common browsers are still in wide use, and need to be catered for. This will continue to be an issue for years to come, for example because of the time lag between developed and developing countries, or the time lag in updating IT systems in large organisations or those with restricted budgets.
Accessibility and usability
The W3C has also produced the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG), to ensure that people with different abilities are not excluded from the World Wide Web. These guidelines have become second nature in my design and coding work.
Accessibilty is also about making a site 'usable', ie easy to navigate and to read. This means using plain language, and providing familiar visual clues to guide users to find what they are looking for.
My software skills and knowledge
I work confidently in Adobe CS4 Photoshop and Illustrator, and I have some knowledge of Flash and Dreamweaver.
I develop interactive websites using free 'open source' software, or low cost software. Examples of interactive sites are e-commerce sites, and sites with forums or blogs. I can also develop websites which use a Content Management System, where the owner can update and amend the content of the website via a contral panel.
I code websites using XHTML transitional and CSS2.1, and I'm familiar with the developments in HTML5 and CSS3. I also use Javascript and php.
Find out more..
If you have a web project you would like to discuss, or are interested in hiring me to work on a large scale project, please don't hesitate to contact me
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