Well, I finally got around to creating my CONTACT page. I guess I initially put it off because I knew it would take forever to get any human traffic to my site. I’ve been working pretty hard at site promotion since I’ve been in my debilitated state so I knew I better get my butt in gear and get a Contact Page created.

It wasn’t as easy as I thought it would be. The biggest task was sifting through the many Contact Form Plugins that are available for Wordpress. I finally settled on Cforms II by deliciousdays.com. This is a great plugin with many options to help you set up your form just the way you want it.

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I just wanted to say “sorry” to any Internet Explorer (IE) users out there. I failed to check to see if my blog displayed properly in that particular browser and it wasn’t until this evening when I realized my error and noticed that my content was being dropped down underneath the content on the right side of the page (aka – the sidebar). After ensuring that all my code was valid, I eliminated the problem down to a simple spacing issue. The width of my content was 5 pixels (px) to wide for it to display properly in IE. So, simple enough, I removed those superfluous pixels and “listo calisto” everything is right in the world again. =)

It still amazes me that Internet Explorer continues to march to the beat of it’s own drum, when all the other browsers have fallen in sync with each other. When I originally checked to see how my blog faired on other browsers it looked perfect on each one (silly me for forgetting about IE, but hey, these things happen). Even now, when I realized the error, I double checked it against Netscape, Firefox, and Opera..no problemas on any of them.

If you are still an IE user for your web experience, hey, to each his own I always say. I love Firefox and will continue to use it. I have nothing against Opera or Netscape, they’ve got their pluses and minuses as well, but for me it is Firefox and nothing else. That being said, as a web designer it is imperative that I ensure my work is multi-platform accessible, and I truly apologize for not ensuring that my blog was held to that same standard.

Problem solved and everyone is happy. Perfect.

Why Have A Website?

It is important to first understand why is that you want to have a website. For some, it is simply to have a web presence, a place to call their own on the World Wide Web (WWW). For others, it is to make money, to bring people to their website so they can purchase items from them, or to work as a promotional tool for their products and services. There are also those who simply want their website to be the equivalent of a digital business card or brochure. Whatever purpose you have, you must truly understand why you have it and what you want it to do.

There are web designs that can cost tens of thousands of dollars, thousands of dollars, or hundreds of dollars; each with their own bells, whistles, features and eye candy. The ‘best of the best’, or the ‘basic of the basic’; and knowing which one is for you is revealed when you know why you want your website.

What exactly is a Domain Name?

Once you are ready to move forward with your website, the next step is to decide what you want to call it. In the world of the internet, websites are called by their Domain Name. This website, for example, has a domain name of www.markjones.ca; but the internet is a busy place with many websites already out there, and you have to see if the domain name you would like for your particular website is already taken. This can be a very frustrating and pain staking process, so be prepared to have a list of at least 5 to 10 domain names that you would like to use before getting started on the design process for your website. Having your heart set on a specific name, jumping the gun and running to the print shop to print off your new business cards and letter head with that name on it could end up having very costly consequences.

What is a Web Hosting Service?

What you need at this point is a Web Hosting Service, a company that you will pay to ‘host’ your domain name so that it can be seen on the internet. These Web Hosting Companies have internet space that they sell to people that will allow them to show their website to the world. If you look at it in relation to real estate, these companies have large amounts of internet real estate that they offer for you to buy. By buying this internet real estate, you now have a piece of property that you can build your website onto, and your domain name would be that properties address. Just having a domain name without a web hosting service is the equivalent to having an address with no property.

What do you want to put into your site?

     Written Content

After you’ve figured out why you want a website, you’ve named your website, and you have your own piece of internet property to build your site on, you now need to start thinking about what exactly you want to put into your website. What content do you want your website to contain?

This content can range from a few lines of text here and there, to a few thousand lines of text in article after article; it all depends on the message your site is trying to deliver.

By figuring out the information you want in your website, you can then start to get a better idea on how your site will flow; it’s navigation. A website’s navigation is extremely important. If your website navigation is disjointed and confusing people will get frustrated and move on to another website. However, when you have that basic outline for your websites content, it is easier to step back and see how the navigation of your website will function.

     Graphical Content

Content for your website is not limited to just the written content, there is also the graphical content to consider. The graphical content of your website is just as important as the written content. The reason for this is because the graphical content is your websites “visual appeal”, it represents and strengthens your websites written content by emphasizing your message visually. How many websites have you been to where you’ve seen a picture that really grabbed your attention right away, drawing your eyes to its section of the page, and now that your attention is there you’re interested in what the text around the picture has to say.

As a web designer, it is extremely important to know if you, as the client, have your own digital copies of the photos and graphics you would like to include in your website, and if so, what is the quality of them.

Regardless of where the graphical content comes from, an important element of the graphical content is its optimization for quick loading. What this means is that the web designer has to work with the graphical content so that they load up quickly when your website is accessed. This is important for people that are accessing your site through dial-up connections or handheld devices. If a page on your website takes too long to load, people will get impatient and move on to another website. In the world of the internet, a user’s patience level is quite low and they will size your site up within 2 to 5 seconds before deciding if they will stay and take a look around or move on. So you can see that your website only has an extremely brief window of opportunity to catch a visitor’s interest.

How do you want your site to look?

As a web designer I like to ask my clients to provide me with 3 website addresses (URLs) that represent their own definition of poor website design, and then 3 more that represent their definition of good website design. It’s even better if they can give me an explanation as to why they think that way for those particular websites.

I will also ask what words they want the look of their website to convey (i.e. – professional, clean, modern, fun, etc.). Is there a particular colour scheme they have in mind?

This is all important information because it gives me a clearer direction on where you want to go with your websites look and feel.