Choosing colors in web design

I love the contrast of black and white but imagine a world with strictly black and white design.

Yuck.

I wouldn’t like that for very long, would you? Think of all the beauty we would miss if we didn’t have color.

10 Questions to Ask Before you Choose a Web Designer

Questions to Help You Interview a Web Designer

by Beth Cole

How did you choose your last web designer? Was it because of a referral, possibly?

I think referrals are an awesome way to find a great web design partner, but in addition to checking out design portfolios you might also consider interviewing your next web designer with questions like these.

A Website Launch Checklist

The Big Picture Web Launch Checklist

By Beth Cole

Here’s a handy big picture website launch checklist to sum up the Website Launch Series that finished last week.

Check out the other post articles here….

1. Laying the Foundation;
2. Content;
3. Design;
4. Promotion.

Here’s the checklist:

Inside Advice about Launching your Website

I caught up with Mary Verstraete, CEO of the Center for Coaching Excellence recently to ask some questions about her recent website launch. I hope her answers will be an encouragement and help to those who are considering a website launch or re-launch.

Congrats to CCE!

I want to send a big shout out and congrats to the Center for Coaching Excellence on their recent website launch.  It was a privilege to work with CEO, Mary Verstraete and her team to bring the website to life. Mary had this to say about our project…

Wow, Websites Have Grown Up

Last week I enjoyed reading Michael Martin’s post at Pro Blog Design about how websites have changed in the last ten years, what a great summary.

I created my first website in 1997 using Dreamweaver, oh my, it was a piece of work for sure.

7 Tips to Spiff Up Your Website for the New Year

[Photo Flickr Anindya Baruah]

Your website is kinda like a dog. You tell it to “Sit. Stay.” and it pretty much does.

Your dog needs spiffing up every now and then, and so does your website, so here are some quick tips to clean it up for the New Year.

Congrats to Kim Avery

Kim Avery recently re-launched her Life Coaching for Christian Women website, and we wanted to send her a quick high-five and whoo-hoo!  Way to go, Kim and THANK YOU for allowing the WebServant to be part of your fun project.

Why some websites are ugly and how to make yours a little more beautiful

I see a lot of template and D.I.Y. websites that look ugly and outdated, yet are being used as a calling card for professional people.

I understand that cost is often a consideration and custom design is not for everyone. But I want to encourage those of you who are offering professional services to match your website appearance to the caliber of service you provide.

My mom always told me you can’t judge a book by it’s cover, and that is true, but the problem is, we ALL make snap judgments about quality based on appearance because we live in such a visual society. You are being Googled, whether you realize it or not, and judgments are being made about you by your website.

So if you are using a website template or D.I.Y. tool, here are some tips on how to easily make your website a little more beautiful. I am sure I have overlooked plenty, please add your thoughts in the comments.

• Watch out for cut and paste. I see a lot of  pasted Word document content. The problem is, Word has built in formatting that will override the CSS style settings of your website, so the content you paste directly from Word will not look like it belongs. If you are using Wordpress, try using the Word or Text clipboard paste tool when pasting text, or the text cleaner (eraser tool) to remove formatting from the imported text.

• Padding around images. When text buts up against your images with no breathing room it just looks bad. In Wordpress, when you edit the image, click on the “Advanced” tab and next to Image Properties add “10px” vertical and horizontal spacing. Ahhhh, that’s better.
• Use a transparent background for images. If you want to use your logo or another image in the header of your site, ask your designer for a version with a transparent background vs. white. Your image will blend in to the header better without that white blocky background.

• Consistent image size. Mismatched image sizes from page to page make your site look jumbled. Try to stick with a certain size standard, i.e. 250px square or 250px x 180px.

• Limit font colors. Just because your website editor gives you 20 different font color choices, that doesn’t mean you need to use them all. Stick with one main color for text with a complementary color for headings and links. If you are using a Wordpress theme, this will already be set for you through the style sheet, but again, pasting from Word will override this so just be aware.

• Keep fonts and styles consistent. Your website will look more unified if you limit your font choice to one or two and keep all headings as H1 for example, with H2 for subheadings. Also, watch capitalization, i.e. are the words in the headline all capitalized or just the first word? Either way is okay, just keep it consistent.

• Uniform ad size. I see a lot of pasted ad graphics in sidebars that are a jumble of shapes, sizes and colors. This is really distracting for the reader. If you are going to use advertising, try to keep the ad size and shape uniform. You might not be able to control the color, but the size should be tweak-able.

The website content you offer and the conversions that happen as a result is going to be a better measure of success than the beauty factor. But, if you can make your site easy on the eyes, easy to navigate, and easy to take action — you’ve done it all. I’m with you all the way

What suggestions do you have?

Website Makeover: Loup Basin Public Health Department

We specialize in coaching websites here at the WebServant, but we also enjoy working with communities and civic organizations.

I wanted to share with you the results of a recent web makeover project we did for Loup Basin Public Health Department (LBPHD). The goals were to improve navigation and usability for readers, and to give LBPHD an easy way to manage and update their content.