simpledream

Web design philosophy

the simpledream approach

Keep it simple. There is too much clutter on most web sites, making them difficult to use. This unnecessary confusion gets in the way of the message web site owners are trying to convey to customers. My practice, on the other hand, is to create easy-to-use interfaces and fast-loading web pages without sacrificing visual style and sophistication. With this focus, your message can be broadcast effectively and easily to the people who visit and use your site.

This philosophy is fulfilled by designing with web standards as a guide. Being standards-compliant means separating presentation (graphics, colors, and layout in CSS) from structure (text formatted in XHTML). By doing so your web site is fast-loading, easy to use, and eye-catching while keeping production time and costs down. It also makes your site accessible to more browsers, devices, and potential customers.

hand-made with pride

My web sites are hand-crafted, not spit out of a WYSIWYG editor with your content just copied and pasted into it. These programs that are often touted as “do it yourself” software do not often allow for individuality, creativity, and complete control over the design and structure of your site’s pages. Trusting a software program to create good markup is a dangerous thing, so I hand-code every site that I build. This thinking allows the web site code to be streamlined and customized for your project.

For a redesign I usually take old HTML-only sites and improve them with CSS-based layout and a clean XHTML structure for quick loading and easy content updates. This simplifies the code to improve download speed and lower production time and costs. What before took several hours of searching and replacing through every file of your site can now take seconds with small changes to the CSS file. In cases of large quantities of data, text, or images, I can design and build a CMS for your web site to handle constant updates and changes.

content is king

From a business standpoint, building sites with web standards allows the goal of your site to be upfront and easy to get to; it drives your customers to the purpose of the site. A well-designed and thought-out site will support your business goals by lessening production time and allowing more focus on the content and message.

I believe in designing and building useful features to support your content. That means no fluff such as bouncing images, annoying banners, and other web absurdity. I only use optimized graphics that contribute to the goal and message of the site. Your site’s visual design will support the goals of the site, not detract from them. I am careful not to use technology just to use technology.

My job is accomplished on your web site if your message can be expressed simply and attractively without more download time than is necessary.

Comments, questions? Please contact me.