Can You Do the Website Yourself?
So, you’re looking for a web site?
Odds are, you considered it. They say that if you want to get something done right, you do it yourself. Use this survey to determine whether or not you’re capable of designing your own web site.
Are you good at graphic design?
If you want a professional web site, text and tables just don’t cut it. A picture is worth 100 words. You’re layout needs to possess excellence in beauty and design. If you’re not a wizard in Photoshop, Imageready, Freehand, and Fireworks…good luck. You’ll need it.
Do you have the latest software?
Unless you are an absolutely brilliant web coder, you will need more than Notepad to get the job done. One of the top web design tools is Microsoft Frontpage, which is a tool that I will never, ever, recommend. What do you need? The latest version of Adobe’s web and graphic suites, most likely. Oh, and you have to know how to use it.
Do you know how to create beautiful templates?
HTML is dead. R.I.P. If you want to create a professional web site that loads quickly, looks great, and performs well in search engines, it better be CSS/XHTML, and up to Web 2.0 standards. Stay away from tables! Don’t even mention frames. Those web sites were never alive in the first place to be dead. To make a great template, you should make your graphics in Photoshop, make your graphical layout in Fireworks, and make your CSS template in Dreamweaver. It’s never more simple than that, although it often is much more complicated.
Do you know how to make it work?
Do you know how to integrate CSS, XHTML, Flash, images, text, forms, multimedia, and even content management systems in your web site? If you don’t, leave it to the pros.
If you are interested in a web site but do not have the technical skills to do it yourself, feel free to contact me at any time for a consultation.
