Web Design Series- Dreamweaver 8 and CS3: What’s The Difference?
So you now have the Dreamweaver 8 and you are just not quite sure whether your web design company is willing to shell out some more to upgrade to the latest CS3 version.
This is actually a challenging decision to make for your web design company. As a web designer, you have to work with the software, so it is both your right and responsibility to decide whether the new version will help you come up with improved web design. This makes you wonder too: Now that Adobe has already bought Macromedia, what have they done to it? Have they ruined it, or have they made it so much better that you should already kick yourself now for not buying it earlier? Well, if I were to be asked, I stand somewhere in between these two.
Web design feature #1: Adobe and Dreamweaver Together
Your web design company may find it reason enough to buy the new Dreamweaver CS3 because of its full integration with Adobe graphics tools like those found in Photoshop. When you have an image, you can directly click on it and edit right away.
Web design feature #2: CSS Support Made Better
One of the best features found in the new Dreamweaver CS3 is the integration of better CSS layouts. These layouts are all well-commented in the code, so it can be pretty easy to start knowing how CSS layouts tend to work. They now have over 32 layouts that you can choose from in 1, 2 or 3-column formats, in fixed and liquid type web designs. You may also define the position where you want the CSS to be when creating a new page, not to mention how easy it is to move the CSS styles around.
You can stat out by styling the tag directly into the HTML through a style attribute and move it to your style sheet. With Dreamweaver CS3, you will only have to right click on the tag and set it to “Convert Inline CSS to Rule” to build a custom class for that specific style or to create one full CSS selector.
Web design feature #3: Mobile Support
Your web design company will also be pleased to know about the mobile support integrated into the new CS3 version. Creating pages made especially for mobile devices have been popular in the recent years, but it can be difficult to design one which is compatible both on mobile and web browser platforms. However, with the integration of the Adobe Device Central into the CS3, Dreamweaver now makes it easy to view your pages in cell phones.
Web design feature #4: Ajax Implementation Now Made Possible.
The Dreamweaver CS3 now has integrated the Spry framework so that it adding Ajax widgets and effects onto your pages have now been made possible. All you do is to drag and drop them and incorporate them into your dataset. Dreamweaver CS3 features Spry components which include: widgets for tables, lists and forms: transition effects such as growing, shrinking, highlighting and fading, and integration of data from XML feeds such as in database or RSS.
Web design feature #5: XLST Support
Another amazing feature about the CS3 that both you and your web design company will love is the extensive support it has for XLST through the use of XML files as database source. Through XSLT, it is easy to view the XML in a tree form and integrate it right into your HTML document. This simply means that if you have a number of XML files set in the same format; it is relatively simple to create one single template for all of them in the new CS3 using XLST.
Web design feature #6: Support for Mac Intel Processors
If your web design company works on an Intel-based Macintosh platform, you will be happy with the performance improvements of the CS3. It is now native to the platform and does not run on Rosetta so that it loads a lot quickly than before. In fact, CS3 claims that what loads in Dreamweaver 8 for 4 minutes can load in the CS3 in under one minute. You can do further testing to confirm this.
To Upgrade or Not to Upgrade.
That is the question. In my case, I have upgraded and haven’t regretted any of it. I appreciate the new CSS features, the XSLT support and the Device Central. However, your web design company may see one piece that is still missing, which is that of web design time and programming. As in the previous versions, the Dreamweaver CS3 is also still difficult to use in terms of live databases and server side scripts. However, there may be extensions to make things easier for you. On a general whole, go on and upgrade and you will most likely never have to look back.
Moe Tamani is a search engine optimization specialist for SEO 1 Services specializing in Seo web design
http://www.seo-1-marketing-services.com
http://www.seo-1-marketing-services.com/web-design.htm
http://www.seo-services-expert.com
Web Design Work And How To Price The Services
One of the important aspects that your web design company has to consider to a great extent is to know just how much they will charge for services.
If you are part of a web design company, this problem is most likely not part of your coverage and you will have to rely on others to do the quoting for you.
However, if you are doing freelance web design, you will have to think about just how much you will charge for each project. To give you an idea of how much your work is worth, there are a few things you need to consider. Here are some factors you need to think about before you quote a price:
1. Web design factor #1: The nature of the project. Before you start evaluating any web design project, you will need to determine the nature of the project – how much effort it will entail and just how extensive it is going to be. To help you know this, here are some guide questions:
I. How many web pages do you need to make?
II. Will they require you to create images or designs from scratch as part of the project?
III. Does the client have ready made content for the site or do you have to do everything yourself?
IV. Will the client require multimedia, Flash, scripting or programming?
Depending on how much work load you expect and what the answers are to these questions, feel free to raise or lower your price.
2. Web design factor #2: The deadline. Practically, you have to know how much time you have to finish the project. The more urgently they require you to finish, the more you charge. However, make sure that you agree with a schedule that is possible for you to meet.
3. Web design factor #3: Your experience. The more experience you have in web designing, the more right you have to charge higher. This is true for a web design company as well. The better the image of the web design company, the higher they generally charge for their expert service.
However, make sure that your price is relative and reasonable. If you, for example, have seven years of experience in HTML yet very little on Flash, and your client wants Flash, do not rely on your seven years of HTML experience to raise your price.
4. Web design factor #4: The long-term maintenance required. If you or your web design company provides site maintenance on top of the site design, you should charge accordingly for maintenance coverage. If the client wants you or your web design company to cover maintenance of the site, it is better to get a separate contract for this aspect of the work.
5. Web design factor #5: The present going rate. Knowing the going rate can be a little difficult. For starters, you can ask other designers in your area. You can also check out the salary and pricing of web design companies in your area relative to their experience and level of service. Benchmark from there to determine how much you deserve.
6. Web design factor #6: Your target earning. Of course, you should also consider just how much you want to make out of the project. You might, for example, have a project that you want to do not for the salary, but because it is fun. There are also some design work that might be uncomfortable for you and you need to work extra hard to complete it, such that you want to earn more for the additional effort.
Rules of Thumb
Here are some rules that you need to follow in accepting and pricing your projects. Keeping this in mind will spare you and your web design company from a lot of headaches:
1. Never accept a project which you do not have enough resources to complete. If a client requires Perl due in a week’s time and you have no idea how to do Perl, do not assume that you will find yourself a Perl programmer in time to do the project or that you can learn it in a matter of days. This is simply impossible!
2. Come up with a clear and specific contract. You do not want to end up providing more service than you initially expected.
3. Always be honest. Your clients expect your integrity; if you tell them that you can meet the deadline, and then meet it. If you can’t, inform them about the situations as soon as possible.
A web design company usually quotes their prices based on the same factors. Of course, they usually give you a set salary with bonuses, benefits and additional pay for excellent job done.
Moe Tamani is a search engine optimization specialist for SEO 1 Services specializing in Seo web design
http://www.seo-1-marketing-services.com
http://www.seo-1-marketing-services.com/web-design.htm
http://www.seo-services-expert.com
Getting Attention Through Proper Web Design
When web designing a page, it is important for every web design company and for every web designer to attract attention to the most important events, items and contents in the site you are making in behalf of a client.
Fortunately, there are various ways by which you can attract the attention of online users. Most web designers will find it effective to simply change the font size of the content headline. Setting the font size reasonably bigger is a sure-fire yet simple way to draw in attention. Newspaper and media companies will know this for sure. A good and experienced web design company should know this as well.
Grabbing Attention through Typography
Using typography or varying font and font sizes to get the attention of online users is not really a new concept. However, before you go on and set your titles or headlines to 48px or even larger, you should know a few rules on typography that are best generally followed by a web design company. Here are some of them:
1. Web design tip #1: Highlight only what is important. Before setting a headline to a much bigger font, you should ask yourself: Is this particular part really that important? If you are announcing a 20% off sale on regular cosmetics, for example, this will surely arouse interest but making your font unreasonably huge will likely to turn your customers off. And this is something that you and your web design company should avoid at all times.
2. Web design tip #2: Consider the standard font size you use for the rest of the page. This is just plain common sense: if you type everything at 24pt, then creating a 30pt subject headline might not look all that different. However, a 16pt headline written on top of an 8pt text will look huge.
3. Web design tip #3: Set standards on the use of font sizes. You should have already decided with your client as to the type of events that should merit an increase in the title font size, and up to what extent it should be. You and your web design company will benefit from this. Once you have laid out the plan, even if your client comes running back to you and starts pleading you to announce the recent cosmetic sale at 54pt, you should strictly follow the standard pre-determined size for the particular level of content.
Remember though that changing the font size is not the only way that you can modify your web design to get as much attention. Playing around with your font will also prove useful. You can for example, use different fonts of the same family to highlight important events (using Sans-Serif and switching to Serif for added emphasis). You can also modify the color to instantaneously grab your viewers’ attention. Similarly, you can change the weight and the style of your font by using the bold or italicized option to make certain parts of your site stand out.
Grabbing the attention of your online users is not just limited to fonts. There are still other ways to change your site’s web design so that it gets the attention it deserves. Here are some of them:
4. Web design tip #4: Use images. Graphics and images have always been effective at catching attention. A picture says a thousand words, as they say.
5. Web design tip #5: Change your layout. Completely changing your layout is a very exciting way to get attention, for as long as you come up with an interesting new one.
6. Web design tip #6: Use animations. Flat images tend to attract attention. However, these days, your web design company may have to ask you to come up with animation-based splash page to show off the kind of pages you come up with. They generally make your site look more dynamic and interesting to the eyes of your visitors. Be careful though, as you will need to think about site loading times beyond the web design stage.
Catching the attention of online visitors may prove relatively easy to do as stated above. However, it is just as easy to go way overboard with these attention grabbing techniques. You have to remember that if each and every line in your page is set in red or bold face and has blinking effects; nothing in the content will stand out after ll.
Also, if you announce your 20% off on cosmetic site at the same intensity as an ongoing war, your online visitors will surely notice how strange, business-centered or unrealistic your site seems to be. They will learn to quickly ignore all the designs you make and look for another site that is more even-handed – much to the frustration of your web design company.
Moe Tamani is a search engine optimization specialist for SEO 1 Services specializing in Seo web design
http://www.seo-1-marketing-services.com
http://www.seo-1-marketing-services.com/web-design.htm
http://www.seo-services-expert.com
Web Design Scariest Four Mistakes
Believe it or not, there are web designs that actually scare people away from the site and keep them from coming back.
Doing this is something your web design company and you will have to avoid practically all the time. If you do not want your web design company and you to become tarnished or labeled as one of the “Worst web Designers of the net,” you need to watch out for this.
Web Design’s Scariest Backgrounds
Setting the background on your site is one of the things that you have the liberty of setting or changing.
However, some backgrounds are simply ugly, difficult to read or just plain scary. Here are some sample backgrounds that I am talking about:
1. Pure black background with pale, light or white text. Unless you are a professional web designer who belongs to the best web design company in the world, try to avoid this type of background.
It looks generally pretentious, not to mention how difficult it is to do well. Some browsers print background color, and you definitely will not like angry customers complaining about how much ink it caused them to print the page.
2. Black with dark text. This is simply illegible and unacceptable. Your customers will have to highlight the text first to make it readable, and this can get really annoying.
3. Tiled and busy background images. New web designers find this convenient and amazing, but note that this takes more download time and do not add value to your site on the part of your customers.
Web Design’s Scariest Text
People visit your site for the content that you offer. If they can not view your text, they will leave immediately and not come back. Your web design company does not want this to happen, so be wary of some of the things that you need to avoid:
1. Text wherein everything is centered. This makes your page awfully hard to read and look really boring.
2. Too much emphasis, headlines, bold, strong or italics. Do not set every line on your page to be highlighted or set as headline. This defeats the web design purpose of setting some text to stand out.
3. Blinking text. Even if they can be attractive to some, they are almost always impossible to read!
Web Design’s Scariest Content
You should also pay attention to your content as it is what drives visitors into (or out) of your site. The general rule is to make sure that you put in interesting and eye-catching content and to avoid things like these:
1. Content made of pure lists of link. This refers to straight links where every word of every line is a link. (Those that have paragraph explanations to it does not belong to this category.)
2. “Cutesy and fun” content. Try not to add in some tricks to get people to laugh. Chances are they will either not understand your humour and you will need to explain it further, or they will simply not go back to your site anymore.
Web Design’s Scariest Multimedia
Multimedia oftentimes becomes the scariest tool ever to hit the web. Your web design company will surely appreciate your multimedia talents and you can show it off when you want to.
They usually will take you a very long time to build, so that the more you work hard for it, the more it makes you proud. However, note that the page is never just about you or your web design company. It is about the client who you are web designing the pages for. Do them a favor and do not let them have to sacrifice for you to show off your graphical or Flash skills. Try to avoid the following web design no nos as well:
1. Images much too many. These images include those small icons that designed put into their site. The rule of thumb is: if you already have more than two, you now have too many.
2. Unreasonable large images. You do not have to publish the print quality versions of photos right into the page. They take too long to load, and are usually not appreciated anyway. Resizing your photos through HTML simply does NOT count.
3. Sound. Just try your very best not to put sounds and songs. Mp3, wav or whatever format of audio and songs playing on top of the page that is impossible to turn off, those MIDI files – they are all annoying. If you think your web design will be better off with sounds, make sure you give your visitors the controls to turn it on or off.
Your web design company will definitely not be happy about a scary web design. You surely will not. Your web design should encourage readers to view your page and to stay a little longer looking through it, and not the other way around!
Moe Tamani is a search engine optimization specialist for SEO 1 Services specializing in Seo web design
http://www.seo-1-marketing-services.com
http://www.seo-1-marketing-services.com/web-design.htm
http://www.seo-services-expert.com