I am currently in the process of designing my website, I'd like to keep it simple but I'm not sure what types of designs, images, etc. will be most effective in terms of grabbing attention yet still looking professional... Any ideas???

Trish

Hi Trish, the design of a website is a very personal thing and should reflect you, your business persona, and your philosophies as much as possible. With the millions upon millions of possible directions to take a website the only answer to your question that makes sense (without some basic website design started so that we can take a look) is: what do *you* think works?

I'd suggest spending some time on the web looking for sites that you feel have a strong impact, convey their message well, and are appealing in general. Once you've started to determine what it is that you like best in a website and can identify those qualities, you'll be all the better prepared to approach the process of creating your own.

Will you be coding your site, hiring a designer, or using a free website builder to create your site?

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Hi Tess, I am using a site in which I registered my domain name with and using their website builder. I understand what you're saying and I really appreciate your feedback, there's just one problem with me trying to find something that identifies me, I am starting this business with a partner... So we basically need to come up with something that identifies the both of us... We know the type of colour scheme we would like to go with but I think we differ when it comes to the actual design... We've both created a couple each and have been polling our family and friends to see what their opinions are and the things they like from certain sites we can ultimately use for the one we intend to publish. We've been getting a lot of useful feedback and I am confident that we will come up with something very soon.

Hi Trish,

I can totally relate to this challenge of personalising your website, tailoring it to your audience AND trying to do this in conjunction with your business partner.

My business partner and I have just requested a review of our site on this forum. Although in the early stages of development we discovered that Josephine's preference in colour, fonts, etc were more modern and I was favouring more traditional (even maybe old fashioned) styles. We now laugh at the records we took of our first drafts of our website. We are really happy with the comprises that we've reached. After the initial hard work to learn each others tastes and preferences, I now feel that we can pick things that will suit us both.

If I could offer any advice on this, it would be to not to obtain too many other views until you and your partner are both happy with a style. It just complicates things if you're trying to find a fit for even more people's preferences.

I hope you're having as much fun as we have. Good luck and I look forward to following your progress.

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Michelle
http://www.virtualsos.com.au
Virtual Star Office Solutions

Originally Posted by Michelle H

If I could offer any advice on this, it would be to not to obtain too many other views until you and your partner are both happy with a style. It just complicates things if you're trying to find a fit for even more people's preferences.

I totally agree with Michelle on this. You really can't please everybody, so for me the bottomline should be a design that you like first, your audience second. There may be some that may think contrary, but for me if you really like something that you have you'll be so passionate to share it with others, and that's what brings in the business.

I've seen very beautiful sites that doesn't do anything more than look pretty, and there are those which seemingly look plain but attract lots of eyeballs, and of course, business (Craigslist is a good example).

Thanks so much for your input Michelle! I'm so glad there is someone else who went through this! I will discuss this with my partner and hopefully we can decide on something without butting heads too much LOL

There's a lot of talk about coding and HTML, doesn't anyone just use Frontpage?
I've built a couple sites with Frontpage and it makes it seem so elementary????
Is there a disadvantage to using software like this or is it just a matter of cost?

Good question - I guess I'd point to flexibility as the number one reason to code a site from scratch - it's just easier to update (assuming the skills to do so are present), add new features, customize the look of it, etc.

I think the difference between a 'free' site and a custom coded one is fairly astounding - but that's just my own perspective - and plenty can be done with a free template too; they just tend to be very restrictive.

But of course, if cost is an issue then working with one of the free or low cost template systems is certainly better than not having a site at all!

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Originally Posted by JacksonAO

There's a lot of talk about coding and HTML, doesn't anyone just use Frontpage? I've built a couple sites with Frontpage and it makes it seem so elementary???? Is there a disadvantage to using software like this or is it just a matter of cost?

My husband put together the CSS style sheets for my site and I did the content - I went with something simple with my favourite colour, red as the focal point. I use Microsoft Expressionweb for updates. It gives you the choice of using "what you see is what you get" or writing the code yourself. A friend used a webhosting company's site builder program and did a great site but the only problem was that it was all in frames, which is not good for search engines.

I don't think there's a disadvantage in using Front Page or Expressionweb - I think they are both very good tools for doing this type of thing.

Why don't you PDF some of your designs and post them on the forums to get feedback from us as well?

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Julia

Originally Posted by JuliaW

My husband put together the CSS style sheets for my site and I did the content - I went with something simple with my favourite colour, red as the focal point. I use Microsoft Expressionweb for updates. It gives you the choice of using "what you see is what you get" or writing the code yourself. A friend used a webhosting company's site builder program and did a great site but the only problem was that it was all in frames, which is not good for search engines. I don't think there's a disadvantage in using Front Page or Expressionweb - I think they are both very good tools for doing this type of thing. Why don't you PDF some of your designs and post them on the forums to get feedback from us as well?

Ah.... good idea. I have my home page and my services page done, so I'll do that. Question though - Do I need to reduce the file size? Or is there another place to upload here that will accept the larger PDF file? I definitely prefer to see what it looks like as I go. I've never tried designing something with frames, I'm not crazy about that either.