We’ve all been there. We’re creative people but suddenly the creative juices have stopped flowing. We want to work and output some killer material but it just isn’t coming. Phil tackled the subject a while back, but I thought it would be interesting to bring you a few of my ideas.

(Graphic) Design

Probably the hardest part of the process if you’re lacking in creativity. The worst thing to do is to just plough on and put something out there when you’re in a lull. You’ll regret it as it won’t be your best work. So…

1. Meet your heroes
   First of all, read an article or two written by those who inspire you. You might not be able to get yourself going but a few strong words from your heroes could do the trick and motivate you to get that design out. For me, reading about others’ creative processes works a treat. Or a well-written article on the hows and whys of design. Hell, if both parties are up for it and are local, why not meet for coffee to get rid of your troubles for a while? Maybe talk about an issue or two within your design. See what other designers did about problems you’re facing.
2. Get a fresh perspective
   As I hinted at above, it’s not always the design that you’re working on that is the issue, sometimes it’s your perspective. The design may be fine but if you’re in a negative mood, you won’t be happy with it. Talk over your work with someone (even if they know little about design) and ask for constructive criticism. Soon you’ll have formed a ‘to-do’ list of items you want to add/edit in your design.
3. Get away
   Move away from work for a moment. Maybe you need a little creative distraction to get you going again. Do something creative that doesn’t have any critics, deadlines or constraints. Maybe cook a new recipe for lunch. Or if you don’t want to stray away from the computer then perhaps you could amuse yourself by doing some photo manipulation of your friends.

Coding

It’s easy to slip into a coding rut. It’s sometimes easy to start thinking whether standards, usability, accessibility etc matter so much for a particular project and one can fall into the trap of “I’ll just get it done as quick as possible.” Maybe these tips will stop you falling into that trap:

1. Again, let your idols inspire you…
   The same idea applies to coding as it does to design.  For me, the two articles (one, two) really speak volumes to me. Some inspiring words can really get the love of coding going again. Also, maybe post on a forum and work out an issue or two with fellow web designers. Solve someone else’s issue and it may inspire you to solve yours.
2. Review
   Another way of rekindling the passion for coding and issues it brings to the party is to do a few private reviews of other websites. Jot down what you think is great about a site and what you deem to be poor work. Split it into categories like usability, validation, accessibility, semantics etc and before you know it you have a set of principles to code to. You can most likely then get through the coding block on your real project.
3. Reorganise your code
   Whether it be correctly renaming classes in CSS or improving the semantics of your HTML, spending half an hour or so on another part of the website can often make your brain think that you’ve made progress. You’ll feel refreshed and more willing to sort out whatever issue led you to get stuck in the first place.

SEO

Probably the most dangerous area of the ‘web design’ process to slump in. There’s always the lure of Black Hat SEO. Remember though, every time you do Black hat SEO, a kitten steps on broken glass. Here’s how to save deh kittehs.

1. Guess what? Look up your inspiration.
   The same goes for SEO. The following articles work for me. One, Two.
2. Recheck your prime keyphrases
   Going through the process of checking whether you’re promoting the correct keyphrases (either via a webapp or manually) can reaffirm that you are doing the right thing or make you change direction. Either way, you can now continue knowing that you’re on track or be refreshed by a new bunch of keywords. Both give you  a positive state of mind instead of having a negative slump.
3. Change tactics
   Instead of getting stuck in an SEO rut, why not work on usability or accessibility of a site. Without knowing it, you may well be helping out with SEO as it’s impacted by these factors (See ‘The Search Engine’).
   

Content & Programming

I don’t like to give advice on subjects I’m unfamiliar with so at this stage I’m handing the baton over to you, dear readers, to suggest ideas to help with content and programming. If you have any suggestions on these topics (or others) then please go ahead and post a comment. buy adipex
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Disclosure: This is a paid review. Saying that, all our reviews are honest. It wouldn’t be fair otherwise.

What is it?

PSD to HTML by psd2html.com code W3C valid XHTML and CSS based websites based on designs that clients submit to them. Aimed mainly at designers, PSD2HTML professionally code any design given to them. So what do they have to say about themselves?

PSD2HTML.com provides fast, high quality conversion of graphic Web design into Hypertext Markup Language (HTML) and its extensions. We accept source files in all common formats, including PSD, PNG, AI, and even HTML (existing markup). We support the following markup specifications:

• W3C Valid XHTML 1.0 Strict
• W3C Valid XHTML 1.0 Transitional
• W3C Valid HTML 4.01

So they are flexible with formats, and can code according to a variety of W3C Doctypes. And what about the end product - the code?

The following points summarize our strict guidelines:

• The markup looks exactly the same as the original design
• CSS classes and images are intuitively named to correspond to their sense / content
• The code is correctly indented to correspond to the nesting level of each element
• As an option, the code can be separated into templates represented by logical parts (files), such as navigation, content, header, footer, and so on

So it’s more than just looking like the submitted design. The code produced is thought through and semantic as a result. So is the service simply coding a single template?

PSD2HTML.com has launched a number of options to implement your design as WordPress, Movable Type, Drupal, Joomla!, Pligg, Blogger, Shopify, X-Cart, CMS Made Simple, and CubeCart.

Obviously, the service extends to more than simply coding a website. Themes/Templates for major blog, content management and e-commerce systems can be ordered.

How are they different?

There are a lot of similar services around, so let’s see what makes PSD2HTML different. Initially, three things set PSD2HTML apart from the (mass of) competition:

Firstly, they were the pioneers of this type of service, launching in March 2005. They have experience and have stood the test of time, in internet years. A sure sign of quality. Secondly, reviews on their service are positive, some exceptionally so. And finally, turnaround. Coding designs into websites in under 8 hours is no mean feat. And judging from reviews, it seems on the majority of occasions websites are delivered on time.

Ordering Process, Pricing and Support

The ordering process is painless. Essentially, a comprehensive ‘Order Now’ contains markup packages and a full set of all necessary markup options with detailed descriptions. The order form allows one to select from two preset packages. Both use modern coding techniques (Tableless HTML & CSS), but the ‘Hi-End Package’ is coded to a XHTML 1.0 Strict doctype instead of Transitional. Also, the upper package includes a more SEO friendly coding method and better page optimisation.

Once a package is selected, extra options are available. ‘Layout options’ cover the basics to do with site wrappers/containers - widths and alignments essentially. ‘Advanced markup’ considers more browser compatibility, fancy fonts and more thorough HTML/CSS coding. ‘Software implementation’ includes the aforementioned integration with popular web software.

Options are simple to pick and choose, with the price updating ‘on the fly .’ Prices start from $117 (no extras) to $800+ including integrating CMS software. The package, costing $153 and $211 are very fair given the short turnaround and offering a flexible, option-laden service makes them very competitive within their industry. The service includes one single page, but more pages can be added discounted by 50% of the cost. Once ordered, any issues are ironed out and queries resolved before work commences.

Support is available throughout the project via the client area or on the phone. Although untested by myself, I’m assured that the support is through a “Highly qualified support team, extremely attentive and scrupulous.”

The End Product

A review can’t be complete without reviewing the end product so lets take a look at some examples. I’m paying particular attention to the coding, both XHTML and CSS.

DotSchools ~ Visit

DotSchools looks near identical across browsers so plus points there. It suffers from a missing xlmns attribute so that breaks validation, but this can easily be put right. CSS is fine. Code is efficient and semantics have been followed throughout the HTML.

iQualifyNow ~ Visit

iQualifyNow also remains consistent across major browsers. I prefer the use of real text where possible in this design compared to DotSchools. It will highly benefit SEO. My only gripes are the menu could use real text although I assume the client has specified the font. XHTML suffers the same error as DotSchools but again, CSS is valid. Given the amount of time given to build the site, I’m very impressed with the well structured CSS and XHTML.

PSD2HTML ~ Visit

I couldn’t resist peeking at their own code and I’m happy to report that XHTML and CSS are both valid. Code is semantic in most parts as advertised in their service and doesn’t suffer from code bloat. It’s succinct, only using necessary tags. A few extra divs are present but I can’t really complain here. Great stuff.

Conclusion

Whilst I was unable to put a site through the whole process, I’ve reviewed all the constituent parts of the PSD2HTML service bar their support. The website explains the service fully and sets the expectations of the designer as to what quality of code they will get. The order process is simple and options are abundant and flexible. The end result is a web-page/website with clean, semantic code and well-structured CSS that behaves consistently across specified browsers.

If you were a designer needing a very quick turnaround on a budget, I would point you in the way of PSD2HTML.

Last Word

I’ve said the following far too many times before about these types of service, but it’s worth mentioning yet again.

To get the most out of this service, a good design talent is needed to create the design in the first place. If you’re a designer without coding knowledge then this service (or a competitor’s - they happily list them on their site) could be for you. It’s also worth me pointing out that these types of services span two categories; the professional, code-loving type in this review and the slicing monkeys that don’t help anyone (read my comment to find the difference). If you’re a designer looking for this type of service then ask someone to look over code samples - it’s worth it. It’s also better than buying a template from Templates R Us. It’s the difference between buying mass produced cheap food and the organic stuff. Don’t expect the moon on a stick given time and budget constraints, but do expect good code and a site that looks almost identical to your design.

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For years, my employer has included this line in their standard contract: “We will propose 2-3 homepage mockups and a single secondary page mockup”.

There are variations on this throughout the industry, but overall it’s pretty standard, the assumption being that clients should see multiple concepts before choosing a direction for their website.

But it doesn’t often work.

Never having faced these kinds (or any kind) of design choices before, the client often takes the weakest elements of one mockup, suggests merging them with the weakest elements of the other mockup, and because they’re paying you big dollars, you’re expected to comply.

Now you’re both stuck. You’ve allowed them to settle on a mishmash Frankenstein product and bogged them down with a maze of choices rather than doing the right thing — using your expertise to steer them in the right direction.

What’s worse is that the endless back-and-forths with the client have wiped out your design budget. You’ve got zero remaining hours for your Frankenstein homepage and minimal hours left for designing important secondary page concepts like product listings or blog pages.

Reverse the Numbers

In the past year, I’ve pushed to change our standard contract to say, “We will propose 1 wireframe, 1 homepage mockup, and 2-3 secondary page mockups”. So far the result has been distinctly happier clients and happier designers.

Why? The underlying idea is that a design budget is better spent with ample planning, strategy and confidence applied to one “definitely” design, rather than letting clients chase after multiple “maybe” designs.

Meetings and Exploratory Time

Initial meet-and-greets are a great opportunity to squeeze the client for information on their tastes and their industry. If they’re overwhelmed or unable to offer useful information, it’s your job to get them in touch with their own opinions.

I’ve found it helpful to use a big-screen projector while browsing select sites from CSS Beauty or Most Inspired or Best Web Gallery. Try to gauge what ‘moods’ the client responds to, as they relate to specific colors, shapes, layouts and typography. It should become apparent what the client likes, and more importantly, doesn’t like. If they’re still indifferent, explain to them which sites work for you and be specific about why.

I also have clients bring in marketing materials like business cards, photos and brochures. Lay them out on the table and see what they do and don’t like about their existing business identity. If they absolutely need certain elements from their print materials to carry over to the website, discuss ways you can and can’t deviate.

We’ve now established some things about design aesthetics, but before the meeting is over, we also want to establish the content types that will display on the homepage: marketing text, taglines, blog excerpts, featured products, masthead imagery. Break them into modules and sketch it on paper if necessary, or use a tool like Best4C.

By now we have both ‘mood’ and modules established, which will make it easier to determine the sort of layout we’ll need: minimalist, blog style, magazine style, corporate, or otherwise. When the meeting is over, both designer and client should leave with a clear mental picture and be ready to set a single design strategy in motion.

Moodboards, Wireframes & Info Design

If the client is on a smaller budget, you may need to skip ahead to creating a polished homepage mockup. Otherwise, it’s good to use the post-meeting/pre-design phase for making preliminary sketches either in the form of wireframes or simple moodboards.

The ‘Polished’ Homepage Mockup

Once these general blueprints are client-approved, the table should be set for you to create a focused, polished mockup. I’ve found client approval to come more easily if the mockup is presented with thorough notes on why your design team felt it worked, was strong, and represented them well. As we are the appointed experts in this case, they are often willing to listen.

Why Multiple Secondary Mockups?

If the client’s site will have dynamic features like a shopping cart, for example, mocking up the interior product pages is going to be pivotal. Clients who barely care about the color scheme on their homepage will definitely, and loudly, have opinions on the user-experience of their store. Plus, you and your production team will need to know how static pages and sublevel navigation will look. If you already hit your single homepage concept out of the park, there should be plenty of budget left over for getting these interior pages on track and providing additional mid-phase information design.

Why additional information design? Because no matter how “100% sure” a client is about the content materials they provided upfront, trust they will ALWAYS need help re-organizing their content halfway through the build process, once they’ve seen it on the screen.

It’s our job to be patient throughout the strategy process — what’s second-nature to us is likely to be completely foreign to them. Ideally, we should know when to take charge and when to collaborate equally.

Related Quotes

DesignBit:

This process of creating one mock up is really trying to get the message across that if you take more time accessing the clients needs with well planned data gathering / analysis you will get the mock up that’s a good fit for the company first time.

Paul Boag/24 Ways:

Many clients like the idea of having the option to choose between multiple design concepts. However, although on the surface this might appear to be a good idea it can ultimately be counterproductive for design sign off.

In a world of limited budgets it is unwise to waste money on producing designs that are ultimately going to be thrown away. The resources would be better spent refining a single design through multiple iterations.

What is more, multiple concepts often cause confusion rather than clarity. It is common for a client to request one element from one design and another from the second. As any designer knows this seldom works.

Garrett Dimon:

If you present clients with multiple ideas and expect them to choose one, invariably, the end result is muted and diluted as the message of the different ideas gets blended together. This is what happens when you approach the situation with an offering.

Instead of spending time creating 3 differnt comps, ideas, or concepts, take aim at that one that’s great and make it amazing. Blow them out of the water. Leave them speechless. That’s guiding.

It’s really about taking them where you feel and know they need to go. You may be a little off course and that is to be expected. Believe it or not, your clients are looking to you for answers, and they want to help you find those answers. They are looking to you for guidance to the best solution.

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Disclosure: This is a paid review. Saying that, all our reviews are honest. It wouldn’t be fair otherwise.

What is it?

W3<MARKUP/> (order here) offers a service to designers (or developers without enough time to complete a project I guess) where the designer submits a design (in ‘unflattened’ form e.g. a Photoshop/Fireworks file) to W3<MARKUP/> and they code it in HTML and CSS. This is not to be confused with amateur “slicers” - they claim to carefully craft the code according to standards and use modern front-end coding techniques. Picking out the more interesting aspects of their service, straight from the horse’s mouth:

We Provide:

• Pixel-precise PSD conversion to CSS / HTML by hand (W3C Valid)
• Design implementation into skins, themes, CMS, shopping carts or other software

With:

• AJAX, sIFR, swfIR, mootools, script.aculo.us, jQuery, Prototype code,
• Search engine friendly / semantic code,
• 100% control of code style and preferences via our order form,

FAQs: The FAQs page (or section I should say) is vast. There are many, many questions conveniently categorised for your sanity. This smashes the opposition where depth of information is concerned.

Order: The page I was most impressed with was the Order page. I was expecting the usual name, email and requirements boxes but was presented with a clever form asking me nearly everything about my imaginary project and adding up the cost as I went along. Nice one, W3<MARKUP/>. One (minor) niggle is that the order page doesn’t seem to be well linked to. It’s a shame that it may be missing out on exposure due to people not finding it.

The Quality of Service

What would we look for from a company that codes other people’s designs? I’d personally look for the following two things:

• The similarity and attention to detail between the mockup and the final output. The customer expects this. That said, we know that coding in XHTML and CSS is not a pixel-perfect art. Attention to detail is key, but the odd pixel difference between browsers and platforms is expected.
• Quality code. Simple enough - but a short turnaround adds extra pressure into the equation. Let’s see how the XHTML and CSS hold up.

Let’s review some examples:

1. getpaid4yourrecipes

The first example is getpaid4yourrecipes. The coded version from their example section is W3C compliant for XHTML and CSS. Bonus points for adhering to XHTML Strict doctype standards. The code is extremely concise and there are no real cases of divits. Accessibility-wise the web page passes Priority 1 accessibility (without a manual check) but fails at Priority 2. The error brought up is repeated link text, probably brought on by the sample links to ‘Shirley.’ So we’ll forgive them this time as it’s only a sample.

I’d be very pleased if I were the client in this case as attention to detail has been near-perfect.

2. RockMeTV

The second example is RockMeTV. And the quality of code? One easily rectified error in the XHTML here. Same with the CSS, although this will be valid when CSS3 becomes official. I’m generally more interested in the quality and craftsmanship of the code and again things are rosy. Code is semantic, concise and doesn’t suffer from tag bloat.

3. Right-Reg

Again, XHTML is valid and CSS has one error. The thing that stood out the most with this design is that it is coded very semantically and also is very SEO friendly. Also, a good use of sIFR. Excellent considering a short (I assume) deadline

Conclusions

I haven’t had the opportunity of putting a design through the process and cannot comment on that aspect of their service, but here goes for the rest:

Pros

• Very high quality of coding shown in portfolio
• High degree of flexibility/customisation - unlike most competitors.
• Doesn’t feel like Joe Blogg’s Slice’n'Dice Web Shop - more like a Quality Web Boutique.
• The price is very competitive given the attention to detail.

Cons

I’m struggling here, but:

• Service only as good as the designer (but I guess it is the same with all websites.)
• It would be nice to see the original design files on the website for comparison.
• The name W3<MARKUP/> could be easier to type in reviews. ;-)

Last Word

I’ve said the following before about these types of service, but it’s worth mentioning again.

To get the most out of this, a good design talent is needed to create the design in the first place. If you’re a designer without coding knowledge then this service (or a competitor’s - they happily list them on their site) could be for you. It’s also worth me pointing out that these types of services span two categories; the professional, code-loving type in this review and the slicing monkeys that don’t help anyone (read my comment to find the difference). If you’re a designer looking for this type of service then ask someone to look over code samples - it’s worth it. It’s also better than buying a template from Templates R Us. It’s the difference between buying mass produced cheap food and the organic stuff. Don’t expect the moon on a stick, but do expect good code and a site that looks almost identical to your design.

Based on what I’ve seen, I’d have no issue recommending the service to a graphic designer friend.

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A ‘does exactly what it says on the tin‘ post.

Want some tuts on how to create a glossy button? Maybe some Web2.0 menu bars? Nah. Me neither. There are a lot of tutorial sites out there, most with the same regurgitated posts out there. But I’ve come across a fair few excellent sites in my time and so it may help someone out if I shared them. So, without further ado, let’s get on with the linklove.

Tut tut tut

PSDTUTS in my view is a beauty of a website. Before even getting to the content it looks visually stunning. So, what about the juicy tutorials? Well, definitely no overdone glass orb tutorials here. Articles are well explained in a step-by-step format littered with imagery for how each stage should look.

Covers: Photoshop
My pick: Digital smoke effect

No prizes for guessing that this is related to the last example. Yes, it’s new and lacks content but it looks like a bookmark for the future. Again, well thought through content presented clearly.

Covers: Anything ‘web design.’ Front-end coding essentially.
My pick: Tabs with jQuery

I love the work of Nick at N.Design Studio. It’s always clean, vivid and exciting. He doesn’t disappoint with his own batch of Illustrator tutorials. Good for learning the techniques.

Covers: Illustrator
My pick: Tracing a photo

Max Design never fail to impress with their simple guides to advanced CSS. The tutorials on lists, floats and selectors are top notch.

Covers: Mainly CSS
My pick: Floating an image and a caption

CSS Globe often focus on the elements of web design like navigation or thumbnails. Well written articles show the understanding of the author.

Covers: Mainly CSS/HTML
My pick: One-line CSS Tips

Wow. Pretty site. And a bunch of unique tutorials, often thinking outside the box.

Covers: Everything front-end.
My pick: Typographic contrast and flow

Many graphics tutorials covering most digital media formats. Loads of pictures to guide you through each tutorial.

Covers: Graphics.
My pick: Photomontages

How could we ignore this one. Not the prettiest, but it does the job where geekery is concerned. A brilliant start for any budding coder.

Covers: Anything web except for graphics/design.
My pick: Everything!

Must…have…more…

I’m always hungry for good bookmarks, so let me and other readers know of your favourite tutorial sites, especially where programming is concerned.

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Disclosure: This is a paid review. Saying that, all our reviews are honest. It wouldn’t be fair otherwise.

What is it?

Max Web Design Blog is a blog encompassing web design, marketing and programming. In the words of the blog’s founder, Robert G:

I created this blog to write as much as I can about my projects, my websites, marketing and search engine optimization tips. Also I will describe different softwares I use, websites and other stuff.

So, a large range of content. We’ll see how that works out later when we come back to it. Firstly, let’s delve into the design…

Design/Code

The site runs on Wordpress and the design is powered by the Magazine News theme.

My initial thoughts are that the design looks clean, welcoming and well structured. Content is organised in a logical manner whilst also injecting some individuality with the placement of the featured article followed by the latest article and finally followed by a ‘river of excerpts.’ However, the featured article does look very similar to the one used on NorthxEast - a little originality wouldn’t go amiss.

The theme appears to be unmodified and I would suggest that if a theme is necessary, consider making it your own. I would suggest changing the colours to suit your personality or perhaps use the theme as a base and add your logo or swap some elements around to promote certain features.

The coding behind the theme is sound. Code is concise and semantic, although validation errors are present. Most of these errors are avoidable with a little editing. Coding is well thought through and commented appropriately -I feel like I could edit the design without any problems. That’s always a testament to the designer.

Usability/Accessibility

The theme behaves how a blog is expected to behave, with the exception of the featured article always being present. Navigating posts, pages, categories etc is intuitive as it’s set up like most Wordpress themes. I had no trouble drilling down to content in various ways. The only confusing thing for me usability wise is that there are two search boxes.

The website functions and appears correct across major browsers (IE7, IE6, Firefox, Safari, Opera) so I can’t fault it there. Text resizes without destroying the layout so that’s another plus point.

Content

What’s a blog without its content?

Robert covers a wide range of content. This can be make or break for a blog. We cover a lot of material here, but I wouldn’t dream of writing about all the subjects covered. After reading most posts on Robert’s website it appears that Robert really knows his stuff, especially where SEO (example) and the web industry (example) is concerned. I get the impression (I may of course be wrong) that his passion lies partly in coding and partly in marketing/SEO. Posts on these subjects are informative, well thought through and they kept my interest. Posts on other subjects seem to lack his passion.

So my advice with the content would be either to concentrate on core subjects instead of diluting content or perhaps get more people on-board to cover all the bases.

Summary

Likes:

• Easy to get to the juicy content, whichever way you choose to drill down to it.
• Robert’s posts on SEO are top notch.

Dislikes:

• If posting about web design, why not have a unique (or at least modded) theme?
• Content range is a bit wide, all for one person. Go niche?

I wish Robert the best of luck in growing the Max Web Design Blog. I hope to (and can’t see why I won’t) be competing with him within 6 months!

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Is your website working for you? Is it driving your sales, is it driving your brand image - or is it simply an after thought? The ugly duckling of the family trudging along your other marketing efforts? With the web becoming so important in business these days, one of the ways you can improve how your website delivers is by making your home page work for you. This article gives an outline of how this is possible.

What is a “Home Page”?

A homepage is the first page the user comes to when typing in your url. This page would normally introduce your site in someway and it is the way in which your site is introduced which we want to focus on. One thing we want to make clear is that a “holding page” is not what we would class as a home page. A homepage offers you the navigation for the site and is “functional”. As a side point, Flash introductions and pages which say “click here to enter”, are not only terrible from a search engine perspective, but also from a usability perspective. So we are not talking about holding pages, in fact we don’t even believe in them.

What do you want your Home Page to do?

The Home Page is different from the other pages on your website. Why? Because the user has not asked for any specific information that they will see there. They have not clicked on an “about us” button or an “our services” link. The Home Page is all about what YOU WANT the user to see. It’s a portal to show the user what’s in the website and sell the information held further within the depth of the site. When the user clicks through to another page that page will display the info the user has requested - but on the home page the user hasn’t request any information yet. To keep users on your site you will need to show the user at least one of two things 1) What they came to the site to see or 2) Something that they didn’t expect but, upon seeing it, they will be interested in. For example you may go to a supermarket for milk but at the checkout you notice the chewing gum, nicely and conveniently stacked by the side of the till. The next thing you know is you have bought the chewing gum as well - something you didn’t go into the shop to buy! This principle can be used within your home page design. Normally, what you want your Home Page to do, is to give a balance between showing the user what they expect to see and attracting them to areas of your site they might not have known about but that you want them to be tempted by.

The “Shop Window”

Retail shop windows carry massive lessons for home page designers. Take a high street fashion shop for example. The shop window will typically contain the following - the logo of the shop, some attractive graphics, some plastic models displaying a wide range of garments which are sold in the shop.

Now a website is slightly different but the ideas are the same. The logo will give the overall authority and brand recognition to the website as it does above a shop window. The attractive graphics mean that the user’s eye goes to the area of the site which you want them to go to. These graphics may carry key messages which entice the user to go to that section of the site. Then there is a wide display of tasters from different areas of the site like the wide range of garments used in show windows. All of these things need to sit within an overall structure so the user can navigate simply and effectively.

Another lesson that can be learnt from shop window displays is that they are always changing. New products, new displays, new seasons. If there is a sale red “sale” words appear. They are always changing. This brings interest and attracts attention. It’s the same with your website. Update the information, change the main image / messaging graphics. Do you have a latest news section? Pull areas through to the home page. These things help to keep your site looking fresh.

Priorities

When designing a Home Page though, because there will be so many areas of your site which are important, you need to make some decisions. Firstly you need to ask; “what areas do I want the user to go to”? Then ask what areas will the user probably want to go to. For example you might find with a bit of research that people are coming to your site to read your blog - which is nice - but you want them to buy your products. Once you have established a user pattern you need to decide on the priorities of each section of the site. This will help you to create a Home Page which will have the balance. It will have enough of the things the user will want to see to make sure they don’t go away, but it will also have those things which you want the user to see. How do you find out what your users are doing? Install Google Analytics - It’s the best free website tracking software. Poynter have some very interesting research results. Basically they tracked where users eyes go over a site. Top left is most popular - bottom right is least popular. See the example below:

The above is of course, just a guide because if strong graphics were used on the bottom right the eye might levitate to that area. However it’s important to understand how people will naturally look at your website and make things easy for them.One thing which is essential is that you give the user an easy way to navigate and that they can clearly see they have come to a website owned by your company. Normally this is done with a consistent header bar which includes a logo and the main sections of navigation for the site.

Keep the message simple

The problem that some people have is that they want to say so much to a user that they cram everything in their home page. Remember sometimes less is more. Consider the apple site below:

The user clearly sees what Apple want them to see, although areas which the user might want to look at are displayed in four boxes below or they will be able to access them via the navigation at the top. In this example Apple have basically got 4 levels of priory. 1) the main message area, 2) The 4 boxes 3) The navigation and 4) the footer. Obviously things may be different for your company and your priorities may be different from an established brand like Apple.Heres another example from Skype. The text can be picked up by search engines but there really is only one thing they want you to do - download their software.

Last example - Ebay below - they have a few things they want users to do.

If you are not signed up, they want you to do so, so thats there as a priority. However what they also want people to do is get shopping so they have a few ways of doing that. One is a list of areas of products, another is by pulling our collections which may interest the user. All have the main aim of getting people face to face with the products - but all communicate what Ebay does best.We could of course feature many more sites but we’re confident by now you will be able to take the form of thinking we are promoting and apply it to your website. Get those priorities right and then your home page will start working far more effectively than if you haven’t thought things through…

Stay up-to-date

Just as a retail store may keep giving it’s shop window frames a fresh lick of paint and changes it’s window from season to season, so your site will need to be updated on a regular basis. Is your site a couple of years old? Chances are that web-design has moved on, even in 2 years. There will be new technologies, better techniques and new design styles.Also consider that peoples browsers change - IE6 might be the most popular browser for your audience today but maybe IE7 will be in a years time. What if your website falls apart in IE7 because it was not tested for the latest version. It’s important to review your site on an ongoing basis to ensure you maximize what the web can do for you.

SEO

Search engines have a massive influence on how many people will visit your website. This is where Search Engine Optimization comes in. Your home page is the main page of the site that will feature in the rankings. It’s worth getting an expert to analyze it and suggest improvements so that you can rank higher than your competition for key search terms.

Other interesting articles on this subject

Want to find out more - well folks if you liked that you’ll love these:

• Alert Box | Top Ten Guidelines for Homepage Usability
• A List Apart | Home Page Goals
• UX Matters | Home Page Design
• Web Style Guide | Home Page
• Alert Box | The Ten Most Violated Homepage Design Guidelines

Conclusion

So there we are, a brief outline of how you can improve your homepage, your online shop window. If you have any comments or suggestions that could help others please leave a comment…

This article can also be found at Attitude Design.

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It’s the start of the new financial year (at least in the UK) and what better way to start than create a list of what’s going to be hot in web design over the next 12 months? After all, now you’ve got some fresh budget to play around with.

At Fadtastic, we’ve secretly been trawling the best websites and breaking down what’s good about them all. We’ve conveniently made a list of these unmissable golden nuggets of advice below. Use with caution - you don’t want to be too hard on your competition!

Stock Photography

A business doesn’t really have a website until they have some original stock photography scattered around their site. But what to choose? Don’t worry, we’ve done the hard work for you. The following photos illustrate what’s going to be cutting-edge in 2008. Get them while they last.

The Handshake (example)

What says hello better than a guy in a suit? It’s corporate and yet friendly. It’s an introduction to a person suggesting a welcoming company.

Happy Families (example)

But it’s not all about the business folk out there. Families are spending more and more time (and therefore money) online. You need to appeal to them - what better way than showing them a family (maybe even with your product) that they can aspire to?

How can I help you? (example)

A website is often a point of contact. You need to show that by letting the user see the human point of contact. Why not show a pretty lady? With a headset? That’s innovation.

The Universal IE Hack

Another hot tip? Go on then.

Last year saw the launch of IE7. IE6 is still a widely used browser and IE8 beta is out of the starting blocks. A lot of IE hacks? Nope. Simply use the Universal IE Hack. Place the following code in the Head of your document:

<!--[if IE]>
<style>
html, body, * {
  display: none;
}
</style>
<![endif]-->

This supersedes all documented IE hacks to date. Enjoy.

SE-oh!

SEO? We’re experts. We foresee the following trends for the financial year of 2008-2009:

You’d meta add some keywords

This year it’s all about the keywords meta tag. There’s no limit to its use. Stuff it full of any word related to your company/product. I’d recommend 1000 keywords per page. As a bonus and just to be sure, insert the whole tag a few times on each page. Better safe than sorry.

Pagerank

We’ve heard it from Google HQ that PageRank will be the most important factor in SEO this year. Buy links from high PR sites. Check your PR every day. Don’t bother searching for relevant links - any link will do.

Go with the best

Make sure that you choose an SEO company that ‘guarantees top 3 positioning for any keyword.’ They know their stuff. After all, why pay for less?

Design

Designers? Pah. Why not design your own site instead of relying on your graphic designer? It’s just shapes and colours. Here’s this years hot hot tips:

New Year’s Resolution

You’ve bought your computer from Dell, right? You’re running at it’s default resolution? So must everyone else then, surely? Don’t worry about all this resolution malarkey - design for your own screen and it will work on everyone else’s. Save time and money with this cunning shortcut.

Templates

But there’s more ways to save money. Why not use a template and let someone do the design for you? The cheaper the better - they’re all just websites. Stick your logo on it - it doesn’t matter if it stretches to fit - and ta da, it’s a rebrand.

The user doesn’t always come first

What do companies like Apple and Google know about the user? They’ve got their head in the sand. It’s imperative that you think of advertisers, SEO, external sites and THEN the user. The user is used to annoyances on the net so won’t mind closing a few flashy ads and reading spammy copy on your site. Users don;t like back buttons so make sure to open lots of windows for their convenience. After all, it’s your site and you should ensure that their experience is how you want it.

Conclusion

Use these tips. Get rich. Send me some of your earnings.

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OK, this little niche trend is unlikely to become the next gradient or ‘wet floor’ but I thought I’d point it out all the same. I’m sure somebody somewhere will find this useful. ;-)

Whilst browsing through my recent inspiration bookmarks (I need to get a del.icio.us account so I can share all these with you) I noticed something rather odd about about the latest websites. Out of the last dozen or so half of them contained logos, emblems or illustration related to birds. Yes - birds. Examples follow.

See birds:

Conclusion: What to make of this?

I could make up a theory stating that spring (in the northern hemisphere) is on its way so were likely to see more nature in work.

I could make up a theory stating that use of birds are more likely to get the user to create a bookmark.

I could make up a theory stating that Paris Hilton said that ‘Birds are cool’ and therefore everyone has jumped on the proverbial bandwagon.

But I won’t. This was just meant to be a fun mini-post highlighting my surprise when I realised 50% of recent inspiration bookmarks were in some way related to our avian friends. Any more examples/bizarre theories are more than welcome.

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A while back I wrote 25 Ways To Improve Your Site Today. Many people thought it was useful. I’m trying again now with a twist. I’m offering you, dear reader, tips to improve your site in various ways - each one only taking approximately 5 minutes.

This is starting to sound like a one-page spammy advert (did I mention my advice is free free free!) so let’s get stuck in. After all, you only have 5 minutes to read this…

The Tips

Disclaimer: The tips I’ve come up with would take me about 5 minutes to complete on website’s I’ve built. Everyone builds sites differently so times may vary. :-)

Usability/Accessibility

1. Use your logo: Link it to your homepage. Sounds simple enough but it will save time for your users.
2. Make links obvious: It’s a quick job to style them so they contrast against regular body copy.
3. Make text readable: Don’t worry about cramming text so small so it stays ‘above the fold’ - let your text breathe by adding line height and space. And don’t be shy about increasing your font size.
4. Make a useful 404 page: Maybe put a few words to explain what a 404 error is and point people to your site map, homepage or search facility.
5. Offer a way to contact: Sounds simple, but if there is no way to contact you, people may not be able to tell you of issues on the site.

SEO

1. Add title attributes: Add relevant title attributes to your main navigation. It will strengthen on-page SEO with very little effort.
2. Create a Google site map: There are many generators and it only takes minutes. You can increase your website’s saturation almost instantly.
3. Optimise title tags: Check title tags are relevant on your key pages and improve them where necessary.
4. Check headers: Check that pages make use of H1, H2 and H3 tags. Check that these contain your main keywords (and still make perfect sense to the reader. No spammy tactics, else a kitten will tread on broken glass remember.)
5. Link from your copy: Often forgotten about, why not interlink from key pages deeper into the site?

Design/Development

1. Feedback: Get a few people to make one suggestion each about your site. It’s easy to be blind to mistakes on your own website.
2. Browsers: Check your main website’s functionality in (e-commerce/gallery etc) in as many browsers as possible. Note any issues to fix later.
3. Give direction: Your homepage isn’t an ‘about’ page. Give visitors a reason to click around. (Log in / Sign up / Request brochure etc.)
4. Let the user be in control: Avoid popups, resizers and all those nasty things. It’s the users browser, not yours. Most popups can simply be placed on a new page.
5. Animation: I’m not against a bit of useful animation, but don’t let images animate continually whilst the user is trying to read the content or look at a product. It’s like trying to sell a car to someone whilst dancing around distractingly in the background in a giant banana suit. Almost.

Content

1. Rewrite: Read your opening paragraph. If it doesn’t engage you then rewrite it.
2. Simplify: If you use too much jargon, replace as many instances as you can with clear wording. Jargon doesn’t help anyone.
3. RSS: Let your RSS feed be auto-discovered. It’s easier for the user to locate that way.
4. Don’t overdo it: People don’t have all day. Put key information in succinct paragraphs on the page. Waffling (except for around here!) is not for the web.
5. Accessible: Check that you can access all the key pages of your site as a first time user. You may need a volunteer or two to test this theory.

Off Site

1. Visibility: Check that you’re high in Google for your company name. If not, add a few links to your site with the company name in the link.
2. Be nice: Answer a question on a forum about your speciality. You’ll gain a friend and some respect. Authority = traffic.
3. Get involved: If you’re not on (by on I mean even a basic profile/listing) all of the cool places to hang out (Facebook for instance) then sign up. People may be looking for your services via these channels.
4. Read: Read stuff on the internet? But it’s all fake? I kid. Read a news story about your industry - it may come in handy as a reference.
5. Stay Ahead: Similar to the above, except this time keep an eye on new web technology. If you can use a new technology to your advantage and you get in there first then you may have just carved out a niche.

Helped?

I hope that helped out a few of you with little time on your hands. Let me know your quick tips by leaving a comment.

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