Flash and Web Design

April 8th, 2010 | No Comments »

Hello visitor to the Web Tag web design blog. This post is about Flash and web design. What is Flash? What is the future for Flash in web design? Some of the questions you may be asking if you have reached this blog post.

Well, we are going to answer these questions and more; and maybe pose a few more questions into the process.

Flash animation is a web solution offered by Adobe Flash (formerly Macromedia Flash) a multimedia platform that has been and is still popular for adding animation, graphics and interactivity to website pages, especially advertisements.

Flash was launched in 1996 and was all the rage for many years, commonly used to create animation, adverts and various other web page solutions, including video integrations and more recently to add other rich internet applications, of the sort you may be familiar with from your interactions with your own desktop applications.

In the last couple of years there has been a great debate raging in web design about the effectiveness of Flash. As the old Motown song goes: What Is It Good For?

Because using Flash in website development tends to break conventions associated with coding for websites; and because it can be quite time intensive for some sites with a heavy usage of Flash to load, there can be optimisation and usability issues with sites which rely heavily on Flash throughout the site, or use a big Flash component on their home page, for instance.

Some Flash site home pages cannot be found easily on search engines and when they are found they can be slower to load, and for some people that just will not do.

Considering that a visitor to a commercial site needs to be convinced fairly quick that the site in question is worthy of their patronage, many would argue there is not much point in asking them to experience a Flash intro.

It is better just to create a nice design and colour scheme and tell them via words like this, what you are about and make it pretty quick.

In extreme cases, many people exit a site immediately when faced with a message intro saying the site is downloading, or something similar, and they should hang around. They just leave because they want to know fast what is on offer or not at all.

However, having considered some of the evidence against, Flash is certainly not dead in the water, and is experiencing a comeback.

If used creatively Flash in web design still has a part to play, and with a web designer who knows how to employ Flash to enhance the user experience Flash can work a treat in the right context and for the right visitor.

Put it this way, some web designers have the knowledge of how to employ Flash in a user friendly way in their sites; as well as awareness of other issues such as the cross browser experience: how the site appears in different types of browsers.

Flash does not necessarily mean anything bad. It’s all about what you know.

Functionality and a good user experience are important and for some sites that will require animation or a visually grabbing experience for a specific audience. Flash can play a part in a great website, but you have to be careful.

There are also other options. YouTube and other third party hosted sites are useful for employing specific targeted videos to your site, via a link from your own website or through embedded content.

At the end of the day, good navigation, good design and good content are the key to any great website, along with understanding the needs of any given, specific website business.

What do you think on the debate about Flash in web design? What are your experiences of Flash heavily animated sites? Know any good resources or any tips for integrating Flash into web design successfully? Let us know?

At Web Tag we are always interested in exchanging ideas on web design, so we can provide an even better service for our customers.

Posted by Naz and the team web design, Slough, UK.

Top 5 Tips For Effective Web Design

March 8th, 2010 | No Comments »

Website Design Basics
At Web Tag web design we always aim for best practice when it comes to website development; from all angles: design, development, content and delivery.

Following on from our last post, we thought it might be fun to put together a few ideas on website etiquette in more of a focused fashion, covering some of the dos and don’ts of effective web design.

These are not ideas and tips cast in stone – so we welcome your feedback on what you think too! That goes for any of our regular customers or blog readers; or anyone else who has come across the Web Tag Blog while perusing the blogosphere!

Remember, at Web Tag: we believe in creating crisp, stylish and contemporary websites that are tailor made around our clients’ business needs.

 

Less Is Often More
When it comes to loud colours, graphics and lots of photos many web designers prefer these days to think that ‘less is more’. Some web designers, when starting out, often throw ‘the kitchen sink’ into their designs. You can still see examples of overcrowded pages on the web, crammed with images, flashing lights and grabs for attention.

We believe in inviting web users into a calm, reflective and stimulating space where they will feel at home and feel comfortable to take the time and trouble to look at what it is being offered to them – often light space: white, off white or something equally gentle in the background will give your visitors the room to reflect on your message; and also give the creative look of the site’s design, the attention it deserves.

Overloaded pages can also be slow to load online, especially for web surfers operating with modem dial up or without broadband.

 

Clear Focus
Your site needs to have a clear purpose and focus. It’s not just colours and the design and layout – although that is very important – you need a clear message from the words too: text headers, page headings and all your on page copy right down to the bottom of your page with a clear explanation of who you are and what you are about.

Your online content, visual, multi-media and text, should work together to create a clear call to action; not oversell but marketing content and design combined to encourage your website visitors that your business service or product may well be worth giving a try.  

 

Clear Navigation
That’s not just your home page either that needs to be clear and focused to sell your product or service – you need a clear, effective navigational structure too. That means easy to find and use linking structure between pages – meaning links which are clearly labelled and offer unambiguous navigational signposts to the user. You need to let visitors know where they are going to go, whether that is another page on your site or to a web page on another site.

Site maps are also recommended for larger sites to help the ease of navigation that little bit further.

 

Do Not Forget The Basics
Your design needs to reflect who you are and what you are selling. Bold and funky with bright colours is good for some business services: entertainments, creatives, etc; whereas other professions may require a colour scheme, design and tone that reflects a more serious approach. As well as a clear navigational structure we will aim to make sure your design is a perfect fit for your business, looks wise and user wise; and that all your contact details are clearly displayed too, including email and telephone info – and a web form if required (highly recommended). We need to make it easy for customers to contact you.

 

Attention To Detail
We strive to maintain our focus on all aspects of your website and our service to you. At Web Tag design we will cover every detail to ensure that all your pages link up, fonts and colours match – or work well together – and that the design is subtle and powerful, reflecting your business priorities.

It’s not just the graphic design and general usability that requires attention to detail but the entire content development. In turn, as well as technical web design, hosting, and creative graphic design services, we can also provide copywriting and Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) services to make sure your site will work well from every perspective, including the all important search engines and online marketing side of things as well as for site visitors once they enter your site.

What do you think about our ideas? If you have some good tips on web design or any related issues why not post a comment?

Best wishes from the Web Tag Team, creative web designers offering a full range of UK web design services.

Web Design: It’s Your Virtual Shop Window Man!

March 1st, 2010 | No Comments »

Some thoughts on web design…

If you want a great website that will work for you then right now is a great time to get into developing a website for your business.

At Web Tag web design we are always thinking about web design, what makes a great website; and thinking about current trends in web design and how to create a website that works well for the individual needs of customers.

And it occurred to us recently just what a long way web design has come in a relatively short period of time.

Think about it this way. In the nineties (way back when) as the rush and excitement about dotcom, web design, ecommerce and the like reached epic proportions, stock prices rose and fell, bubbles blew and burst and it is also true that lots of people paid over the top prices for web design and website ideas, only to be left, in some cases, with very design heavy sites often looking like Xmas trees, all lit up to grab your attention but with not much to say; as well as poor design and usability to go with it; and in many cases such sites turned out to be very unprofitable websites that did not do that good a job for their businesses.

Fortunately, now as we establish ourselves in the ‘post noughties’ decade, creative web design is much more mature. So much has been learned in the interim about web design and what makes a good site.

At Web Tag towers we like to think we are in the know about what makes a good website, especially for small and medium sized business.

Functionality is the key; we aim to understand your brand, showcase your services and complete a user friendly site. We don’t add features just for the sake of it.

We aim to create an easy to use site for all our customers, and perhaps even more importantly, for their site visitors, combining great content, great design; great usability.

We can include drop down menus, flash intros and video; e-commerce checkouts; mail forms; anything you like; but what we aim for is that whatever we do include in your site it will never be all crowded and messy and a nightmare for visitors like some of those old sites used to be; instead less is more and we will aim to create a stylish, funky site for you that will not over do it with this, that and the other.

Your website needs to be easy to use for the average customer and give them the information that they want. Style wise and graphic design wise; it needs to breathe with some space on the page not just crammed with information.

We can create a design for you which will focus on your business goals and be succinct in its approach to relaying your message to your customers online.

At Web Tag we have a highly accomplished team of graphic designers, web designers, SEO advisors and copywriters who can put all the elements in place to make a website for you at an affordable price which will sell your services online.

Thanks for bearing with us why we extol the virtues of web design and online marketing for small business!

Kindest regards, Naz and The Web Tag team, dedicated web designers, Slough, UK.