Here are some of the sites we have designed and built (in addition to the site you are presently visiting):

• FLOAT ALASKA
• JACKSON HOLE TEA PARTY
• WILLIAM G. SMITH & ASSOCIATES

Here is more detailed information about our web design services:

• DESIGN OF WEBSITES / WEBPAGES

• Since the commercial development of websites began, there has been a philosophical war between two polar views of how it should be done. The opponents can be characterized as designers who believe users of websites generally want to find, see or do something as quickly and efficiently as possible, then go on with their day. Therefore, the design of websites should be very efficient, efficacious, businesslike, and utilitarian, with very clear, direct and unambiguous navigation, and no "fluff" to distract from the purpose. The other camp of designers believe visitors to a website need to have a very creative "experience", that they like to search and wander, look at visually attractive, colorful, and image or sound-packed pages using creatively challenging and sometimes obscure navigation, and will sacrifice speed, clarity, and efficiency for a great "experience". This difference might be grossly oversimplified as "utilitarian" vs. "decorative".

• We tend to lean toward the "utilitarian" approach, but being artists, we have plenty of empathy for the "decorative" view as well - everyone wants an attractive website. There's a vast area of middle ground between these extremes, and that's where we like to design. If we have one inviolable rule, it is that the purpose of the site, and the needs, desires, and interests of the intended visitor must be very clearly defined, and then drive the design.

• In designing a website, we begin by helping our client to very clearly and concisely identify the purpose of the site, who the expected/targeted visitors to the site will be, what they will want to see, do, and/or find there, and what their likely skills, knowledge, capabilities, and technology will be. If applicable, we also question out and document likely scenarios which reflect what a targeted user of the site will want to do. These will be used to design very clear and natural navigational paths through the pages.
• Based upon that analysis, we proceed with a top-down conceptual design of the site (just general webpages with no content yet), beginning with the home page, and proceeding down the hierarchy. We ensure that all content which will be necessary to fulfill the purpose of the site, and the needs of the visitors to the site, has a home on some webpage in the conceptual design, and that navigation through the site will be very simple, natural, logical, and sensible to the visitor. We strive to adhere to the three cardinal virtues of web design: Clarity, Brevity, and Bandwidth.
• When the conceptual design is approved by our client, we flesh out the content of each page. Working with our client, we determine the basic "look" of the site - colors, backgrounds for pages, type faces, positioning of navigational links/cues, colors of links, etc. We counsel our client as to the tradeoffs for each of these choices: you can never do just one thing. Based on the purpose of each page, we draft textual content, and identify images and graphics which will enhance and complement the textual content (or vice versa - the textual content which will be needed to narrate, explain, or enhance visual images). We always try to strike the proper balance, to make the site visually attractive, but also utilitarian. We also design all the navigational links and cues between the pages, striving for navigation which is completely natural and easy for the expected visitor.

• We share the pages with our client, make any changes and adjustments, and when approved, we proceed with the final coding/construction of the website.


• CODING / CONSTRUCTION OF WEBSITES / WEBPAGES

  • We use a number of tools, markup languages, scripting languages, and sometimes third-party services (forms, "donate" functions, etc.) when coding the pages of a website. We also use template pages as much as possible, so future major design changes (yes, they'll always happen!) to the website can be made very quickly and efficiently. We also design for ease of ongoing maintenance, whether we will be doing the maintenance, or whether our client will do or contract the maintenance.
  • We are very conscious of bandwidth issues, to keep pages and images as small (in filesize) and repetitive as possible, to ensure that pages and images load very quickly from the visitor's point of view.
  • We try to comply with current web standards, and test our pages using a variety of web browsers to understand and eliminate unwanted browser rendering differences and anomalies.
  • When the coding/construction is complete, we demonstrate every page and navigational path to and with our client, using the scenarios which were documented before the design phase. We carefully note all problems and desired changes, if any. One final adjustment cycle completes the project.
  
  
• ONGOING MAINTENANCE OF WEBSITES WE BUILD

• At the client's option, we contract to perform the ongoing management and maintenance of their website - to become the "webmaster". We will establish a mutually-agreeable contract for these services, and either fixed, or proportional rates will be negotiated relative to the amount of time/effort which will be required on our part.
• If the client wishes to perform their own management and ongoing maintenance, or wishes to contract with another party to do so, we turn the site over to the appropriate party. Training of the client, or a third party, to perform maintenance of the website will be billed at mutually agreeable rates.


• TESTING AND EVALUATION OF YOUR CURRENT WEBSITE, FROM THE VISITOR'S POINT OF VIEW

• We have an outstanding capability to evaluate the effectiveness of existing websites from the point of view of a completely uninitiated visitor. We begin by working with the client to clearly define the purpose of the site, who the intended/targeted visitors/users of the site are, what they will want to find, see, and/or do at the website, and what their likely capabilities, skills, and knowledge will be. We, like all persons, have personal preferences, so defining these parameters allows us to step into the shoes of the intended visitor/user, review and evaluate the website from their perspective, and to make our judgements through those eyes.
• To evaluate the site, we develop a set of different visitor scenarios (different things the visitor would want to find, do, or see at the website), and then navigate the website according to each of those scenarios. We might actually use a completely uninitiated tester, who is chosen to reflect the defined capabilities, skills, and knowledge of the intended user/visitor. The "blind" tester would be accompanied by a silent observer/recorder, who notes each outright error in the function of the website, and also each thing that is hard for the tester to accomplish or understand.
• After the evaluation of the website is completed, we deliver a complete, point-by-point report documenting each issue/anomaly we detected during the testing, and a recommendation for redesigning or re-coding some portion of the website so that it fulfills the intended purpose, and/or makes the website faster, easier, or better for the intended users/visitors.



PRICING OF OUR WEB DESIGN SERVICES

The design, building, testing or evaluation of a website is extremely variable, depending on the size (number of pages, amount and type of content on each page) and complexity (complex or dynamic presentation or functions on each page, extraordinary security requirements, compatibilities/accessibility to different types of devices, amount of custom design and/or preparation of images or graphics, dynamic/active features on pages, etc.) of the website. This of course means that the time, effort, and cost of developing a site is also extremely variable. We prefer designing and building relatively small, simple, and straightforward sites for individuals, small businesses, etc., as opposed to large, complex, high-risk corporate behemoths.

All of our web design services are rendered under our standard contract, which will include an extremely clear specification of exactly what we are to do, what the products/deliverables will be, when the products/deliverables must be completed, and any qualities, quantities, or parameters of the specified products/deliverables which are necessary for us to make rational projections of our effort, additional technology, costs, and time duration that will be required to do the job. We will then propose and negotiate either a fixed price, or itemized rate proposal with our prospective client. The contract will also specify change controls so that duration and price can be adjusted by mutual agreement if/when the originally-specified contractual products/deliverables change profoundly during the progress of the project - in other words, to deal with scope creep.

If a website to be designed is very similar to a website we have already constructed for another client, we can usually use those similarities to design and build the new website faster and cheaper than starting from scratch; these cost savings will of course be passed along to our client.

Please CONTACT us if you'd like to discuss the design, construction, testing, or evaluation of your website. We look forward to working with you to make a great website!