The internet is used by millions of people from various age groups and demographics. To be successful in today’s tough world wide web, a website design company needs to grasp the concept of variation, to provide audience-specific website designing solutions to its clients.

Age is crucial in determining a website’s target market for a lot of reasons, such as accessibility, psychology and user-friendliness. While there are other aspects that play a major role in the success of  website design, we will discuss the importance of age.

In this era, the difference that age groups play in using the net is more evident than ever before. Conduct a research on the age groups that use the net for something very similar to what your website offers or will offer. This would help you determine your user base and design your website accordingly. But keep one thing in mind, you just cannot take anything for granted so be careful when you begin your website designing process.

Divide your target users in 4 age groups – children, adolescents, adults and senior citizens.

♦  Children: Today’s  children experience the most intense impact of the internet. Even a few years

ago, kids had limited computer skills but now, they are as familiar with computers and internet as can be, thanks to early exposure both at home and at school. But as far as dealing with errors is concerned, children are less patient than adults

Website design for children poses less challenges than website design for adults because children do not have anything specific in mind when they surf the net. They just want entertainment and that gives the designer the freedom to create entertaining, educational and interactive websites.

When you create a website for children – keep the site as clean as possible, use bright colors, use sound and animation, offer educational games, use iconography, create content that’s relevant to the fictional characters children are familiar with and avoid integrated advertisements. They would distract children very quickly and easily.

♦  Adolescents: They are more fluent with computers and more patient with errors than children.

They use technology to be in touch with their friends through social networks. They are not very adventurous when it comes to exploration. They prefer to go to websites that they know rather than discovering new websites. According to studies, the difference between adults and adolescents is that the latter are more concerned about their social interactions rather than working towards a set goal on the web.

When designing for adolescents – pay more attention to graphics than text, use sound and animation but not as much as you would use for children. Provide a clean interface and keep the content simple, but not so simple that it seems kiddish.

♦  Adults: This is the age group many web designers target for testing their website’s usability.

Considered to be the average internet users, adults, though not always computer literate, possess some knowledge of the computers and internet. They are the most skilled and comfortable web users. They know what they want and they are focused. Though accessibility and usability are two factors with adults, you have to keep in mind that they are not dependent on instructions. Which is why, website designing for adults is simple but at the same time challenging.

♦  Senior Citizens: As they are more accustomed to a world without internet, the senior citizens appear to be the ignored part of the demographic when it comes to website design.

They lack fluency in computer skills, plus their health condition becomes an obstacle in their being active on the net. But they are definitely more patient and more focused on the reason why they use the web. They like to research, read and engage into activities with like-minded people. Which is why, they are likely to be a part of communities more than any other age group.

When designing a website for senior citizens – Upload the text content in large fonts, put as little animation or any other distraction is possible, make the navigation easy and create easily noticeable websites wherein links are easy-to-click. Keep away anything that can create confusion and promote social interaction.

No matter which age group you are targeting, your website will be perceived and used differently by different age groups. Usability is one of the key factors of website designing and you can’t ignore the fact that you can’t cater to everyone, but you have to offer something for everyone. Every web user is unique, but a wide audience may be looking for what you are offering.

Most people are aware of the fact that content is a crucial aspect of any website design. Good content adds value to the site and retains interest of users. Unfortunately, most ignore the fact that apart from quality of the content, its presentation is also important.

For presenting the content in an attractive manner, paying attention to paragraph is important. Here, we will highlight some typesetting conventions and provide you with tips that will help you to adapt them for screens and devices.

The Typeface

Before discussing typeface issues, we would like to clear a myth. Most people associated with any website design company believe that one should exclusively use sans-serif font for body text. However, this is not true for every situation. In certain situations, you can opt for serif fonts. If modified properly, certain serif fonts can be legible and attractive.

Breadth of the font family should be the most important criterion, for selecting a Web font. Check whether the font includes italic and bold styles. Choosing such a font will ensure that you can place greater importance (by using italics/bold styles) to certain aspects of the paragraph.

The second issue related to typeface is rendering. Experienced web design professionals usually opt for embedded and system fonts (example, Verdana) for headings and body text respectively. The main reason why Verdana is popular is because it renders well at small sizes.

In case, you do not want to use Verdana, checking on-page demonstrations of selected fonts can be a great idea. To save time, avoid  experimentation with fonts containing the words ‘narrow’ or ‘thin’.

Font Size

Most of us are aware of the fact that all web browsers render content at 16 pixels automatically. This highlights the fact that 16 pixels is the general standard.

In our CSS style sheets, we write 16 pixels as 100%. This is a good idea, because it is similar to what the web browser would have selected for us. In case you want the paragraph content to be more than 16 pixels, edit the value. Opt for a percentage value that is equal to ‘whole pixel’.

Leading

Leading refers to the space between two consecutive lines of information. Leading affects readability, because it highlights rows of glyphs that one should cross from left to right. The main problem with leading is that if it is not used correctly.

If you put in excessive space between lines, the whole text will appear fragmented. On the other hand,
if you avoid using space, the paragraphs will appear cluttered.

Final Touches

We have discussed issues related to typeface, font size, and leading of paragraph text. We understand the fact that in certain situations, you may wish to modify certain paragraphs. Taking the help of special  combinators and selectors, you can target particular paragraphs and modify them.

Let us discuss indentation as an example. In web design, indenting the initial line of every paragraphs is the most popular way of dividing paragraphs into sections of information. However, the first paragraph does not require any indentation.

Therefore, you need to exclude this particular paragraph from CSS rule. Opt for the adjacent sibling combinator to target only those paragraphs that have a preceding paragraph.

Add a stylish touch to your content with the help of these tips.

Accessibility of a site indicates how far it is easy to use. Accessibility is crucial, because it simplifies the process of exploring a website. If users find it difficult to explore various sections of the site, chances are high that they will leave it within few minutes.

Apart from making a site usable to general visitors, one also needs to make it user-friendly for people with various physical disabilities. Web developers often face the challenge of making a site accessible. Today, we will offer few tips that will help you to make your site accessible to every visitor.

1. Opt for a table-less web design

Many people, while developing a website design, choose tables for layout. This is not wise because tables interfere with accessibility of a website. More specifically, screen reader, a device that blind people or those with low vision use for exploring a site, cannot navigate a table-based website.

Opting for CSS (Cascading Style Sheets), on the other hand, can make your site usable for disabled persons and general visitors.

2. Use simple language

Most of us are aware of the importance of simplicity in web design and content writing industry. If people fail to understand your designs or articles, chances are high that they will not return to the site.

Simplicity is especially important, when you want to make your site accessible for every visitor, including the disabled. Interpreting a text can be more difficult when you are hearing it and not reading it. Therefore, for people with visual difficulties who are hearing a narration of your article, language of the text is critical.

For this reason, opt for simple language, while writing the text of your site. Do not forget to break down long sentences into short ones. Avoid technical words or those that are difficult to understand.

3. Pay attention to navigation

Blind people cannot interpret navigation of a page visually. For this reason, you need to take extra care to ensure that the device they use can interpret the navigation path easily. Pay attention to the name and structure of every navigation link. Avoid too many drop-down menus.

For best results, research about the topics that visitors search in your site. Thereafter, simplify the navigation process to ensure that visitors reach their desired sections within a short time.

4. Site map is critical

When it comes to making your site accessible, site map is a critical tool. Site map allows disabled persons to understand the site layout quickly and thus, simplifies the process of navigation. This is also true for general users.

5. Avoid using links that contain useless information

To make visually impaired people understand contents of a site, screen reader usually reads out links of a web page. If a certain link includes only a vague term, such as ‘click here’, the disabled person will not be able to understand its functions properly. For this reason, always include necessary information in the links.

We have highlighted few tips that you can use to make your site usable to any visitor. However, you should consider the fact that with advanced technologies, the way disabled people interpret websites is changing. Therefore, you need to stay updated with latest technological trends and modify your site accordingly. This will allow every person to explore your site properly.

If you are confused about designing your site following the above points, you can hire the services of a professional website design company for the purpose.

Many people underestimate the importance of domain names. However, the truth is that, domain names can play a critical role in your website’s success. Domain name is the first thing that a visitor will notice about your site and thus, it is important to come up with a memorable domain name. Domain names can also provide you with a unique identity.

If you are wondering about the techniques that will help you to identify good domain names, read on.

• They are Simple and Short

It is a known fact that people tend to remember things that are simple and short. The general rule is that a good domain name should contain less than 10 characters. Avoid exceeding 20 characters at any cost.

As far as word numbers are concerned, try to use one-word domains. Two-word and three-word domains like webguru-india.com and logo-design-india.com can be considered good and average, respectively. A great example of a short domain name can be quotes.com.

• They are Memorable

Most users do not have the time to bookmark sites. Rather, they prefer to memorize domain names of their favorite sites and type them when they are surfing the Internet. Using a complicated domain name can interfere with the user’s desire to memorize the name.

• They have Easy Spellings

Your domain name should not contain words that are difficult to spell. Using words that have complicated spellings can result in the user landing in some other site. To simplify the user experience, do not use unknown foreign words or those that have complicated pronunciation.

Additionally, avoid words that have unusual combination of alphabets.

• They come with .COM Extension

Did you know .com domain extension enjoys the maximum popularity in the world? Additionally, most people have the tendency to remember this domain extension. Except in special cases, using .com domain extension can be a great idea.

A simple and memorable domain name can enhance your site traffic greatly. Therefore, before deciding about a domain name, pay attention to all these factors.

Weak vision, partially blind and colorblind people constitute a good portion of web users visiting your website everyday. You should take care to create a website design for the visually impaired so they can read content and navigate your site easily.

To create a successful web presence, you need to make your website accessible to all people. When you design a website, consider all types of users visiting your website, including those with visual problems.

Color – Almost 8% of men and 1% of women users suffer from color blindness and can’t identify red from green in a website. Use of these two colors in your website’s design means creating problems for this section of the web users. This, however, does not mean you must design a black and white website, but overuse of red and green should be avoided. Use a color analyzer to maintain color contrast in your site.

Web designers often use colors to identify tabs, menus, sidebars, etc. Instead of colors, use icons or underlined text for better navigation.

Text – What use is a good design without content? Frankly…not much! If your text is not visible to low vision users, your site is of little use to them.

To make text readable, include the most important points of your discussed matter in the first 1-2 paragraphs of the article. Break the webpage’s content into different sections by including headings, bullet points, tags, etc, to help better reading. You must avoid animated, scrolling and flashing text in your website. It’s not only difficult to read for people with weak vision, but also people with normal vision.

Choose some of the most commonly used fonts for your text. Ariel, Verdana, Tahoma, Helvetica are fonts commonly used with which our eyes are familiar, and thus, helps better reading.

Image – People with low vision will typically magnify a site to view its images and text. Avoid using low resolution images in your site. Although low resolution images load faster, they blur when zoomed, causing a user’s eyes to strain.

Use as few graphics in your site as possible. Pages without graphics load much faster than image-heavy websites and that helps both partially blind and normal users.

An ideal website is one that is easily accessible to all internet users. When you design a website keeping in mind the visually impaired, it helps your website acquire a wider audience.

While doing business, you will find some clients who are reasonable and some annoying. Some religiously pay for the web designing projects you have executed for them, while there are others who refuse to make a payment.

What is the solution when such situations arise? There is no specific rule to follow, but since you are communicating with different people, you need to deal with your clients differently so that you are paid after the successful delivery of your project.

Here are some ways to prevent your clients from not paying you:

Document Your Work: There are clients out there who prefer a documentation of your work. Pen down the summary of your web designing project and send it across to your client. This makes your work look more serious and the client is reminded that he has to pay after the execution of the project. This is the most clever and gracious approach to ask for your payment and a great way of increasing the possibilities of getting future projects from the same client.

Create Watermarks: If you are into graphic design, most often you will come across clients who intend to create business cards, logos, or catalogs. Protect yourself by watermarking your images. It is an identification mark you employ on the entire design, thus barring the client from using your work and refusing to pay later. Ensure that you apply the watermark covering the most intricate portions of your created designs to make any editing of image at the client’s end, very, very difficult.

Avoid Launching the Site: The best way to deal with non-paying clients is by not launching the site you have worked on. Be clear from the very beginning, intimating your client that his website will not go live unless he makes the full payment. If you choose to do otherwise, trusting your clients blindly, you may land yourself in money-problems.

Closing Down the Site: If a client is extremely irrational and refuses to make payments, you are welcome to do the most obvious…simply close down the whole website your creative designers have worked on till the time your client sees reason.

Embrace Part Payments: You may find clients who will tell you that they are short of funds in making the full payment. In such cases, embrace part payments. Do not make the mistake of refusing as that might make the client walk away with your work and also the money he owes you.

You may have to wait for a considerable period of time for cashing the entire amount for your completed project, but in the long run, you will benefit.

Choosing the Communication Method: Choose the mode of communication with your client prudently. It is better to contact the client over phone rather than by email. You know that not answering to your emails is the most convenient option for a non-paying client. Keep a tab on him over phone since it is difficult to refuse payment on phone.

One-to-one interaction proves beneficial because refusal comes easy on paper than on your face. Bank on it! Visit the client when needed and if possible. Remember, getting irate with your client is not a solution. A bit of tact, and not coercion, will help.

Disclaimer: The above aren’t sure-shot methods of extracting payment from non-paying clients. All you can do is try some of these ideas and hope for the best!

Do you have additional ideas? Share with us!

So, you have set a target for yourself but you are adamant not to give into any pressure or temptation. But distractions come thick and fast when you hit the floor and you succumb to peer pressure and end up wasting half an hour or so chit-chatting with your friends. The result: you find yourself getting crushed under extreme work pressure that you can no longer handle. Moral of the story: Don’t get distracted!

Here’s how…

Reward Yourself: If you are allowed login to your Facebook or Twitter account, do it, get yourself updated with what’s happening around you, and get over it! Spending hours on a social network means you are wasting your time, effort and your company’s money. So stop this practice. It’s not that hard, especially if you reward yourself with few simple pleasures – spend some time on the balcony to give your parched brain some relief or unwind at the coffee shop located nearby. A fag-break maybe relaxing for you and its one time you can turn the “statutory warning” away from you.

Get The Right Music: There is no better way to keep yourself motivated throughput the day than listening to soulful music. Keep handy a collection that can inspire and relieve you from work pressure when it is most unbearable. Moreover, it will help you keep distractions at bay at the workplace and this will have direct and positive impact on your productivity.

Go Invisible: – No, I ain’t asking you to put on an “invisibility clock”. I am driving at solutions far simpler and less romantically inspired. Go “invisible” in GTalk, MSN, Skype or try custom message like ‘Busy. Do Not Disturb!’ And please, don’t start a conversation should someone ping you.

Also, if you want to get rid of a colleague whose habit is to stop by your desk and pester your life with silly questions, you need to put on your trusted head phones. They keep you busy and help deter “unwanted presence”. Of course, particularly distractive people will stop at nothing but ignorance is your best chance. Take it.

Find Interest in Work: Try to love your work. You are a creative person and website designing should be your role call for passionate engagement. Trust me…loving your work is the best and only way to ward off distractions and keep self inflictions of the same at bay.

Nowadays without having a proper website no business can prosper. So if you are planning to launch one, you need to remain careful while selecting a website design company. In present times, you will find loads of such companies offering web design services but do not get confused. Concentrate on some of the points and take your decision confidently.

While undergoing the selection procedure you need to consider your budget. Though nowadays you will find a wide range of web design companies, very few among them will provide you quality website design services at the most affordable rates. So, if you want to stick to your budget strictly, you need to spend your valuable time on the selection procedure. Added to this, you should also follow some proper tips for making this task much easier and faster. These points are discussed below: Continue reading ‘How to Find a Good Website Design Company that Offers Quality Services at Reasonable Rates?’ »