What questions should I be asking a new Web Designer

[silverpuresilver]

I am meeting with a new web designer this week regarding designing a whole new website for us. I had my fingers (and purse) severely burnt last year and would welcome any (and all) advice on what I should be asking our new guy. :D

Given all the feedback I have received from the UKBF users, a non-frames based website will be the first requirement(!!!), together with a secure payment page (that is visible to joe public).

I understand that our new guy may be using PHP - is this a good/bad thing? :?

Also, what should I expect him to know about web compliance?

Looking forward to a better and happier new year!!!!

Karen

[Jayne]

Ask if he knows about SEO stuff too :D

Jayne

[crus]

Hi Karen,

PHP is a solid and possibly more portable option that any other scripting language to date. This should help counter any fears of company collapse as any other programmer should be able to drop into the code without issue.

The best I can suggest is how I work for clients.

Exact brief required (I generally have two 1 hour sessions to solidify the brief with a client so that everyone knows what is to be acheived), 25% advance, all code is commented to allow a new programmer to drop in and see what the bits do easily (helpfull when you come back to a project), invoice is for title of code not developement with balance paid at handover, firm dates for handover of site, 2 x cd/dvd with the website, code files if its built in something like Dreamweaver and ALL source image files such as PDF's etc etc. Fixed cost of subsequent management at either an hourly or incident rate.

Hope that helps, if you need a comparisonm quote etc, please feel free to PM me.

D

[Richard Conyard]

Karen,
From your last site I would ask the following bits and pieces:
Experience:- Ask them to point out several other e-commerce sites they have done, look at them, ask if you can approach the companies for a reference

Growth:- Ensure that your website can grow over time (froogle feeds etc.), and that you'll not be put in a position where everything needs to be done again in a few years

Procedure:- Ask them how they would intend to go about working with you, make sure you're happy with this approach

Compliance:- Ask them to make your site compliant (place this in the contract as well)


As for PHP it's just a programming language, at the end of the day it doesn't matter. What matters is that your site starts working for your company and orders come in.

If you have the companies website address and want to PM it I don't mind dropping you my personal thoughts from what they have posted.

[Richard Conyard]

PHP is a solid and possibly more portable option that any other scripting language to date. This should help counter any fears of company collapse as any other programmer should be able to drop into the code without issue.


Some might point you in the direction of PERL, Ruby or Python all of which are just as solid, and some more portable...

now off my high horse, and back onto thread ;-)

[crus]

Couple of good points I missed out there,

but I would 100% say that coding language and structure are important.
Ideally you want the platform to be as independent from the code as possible so that if you need to scale, or your webhosting company disappears or gos bad (biggest in UK did for me), then you can move the site to another host. This can only easily be acheived using main stream language environments, eg PHP, JSP, ASP, CGI, beyond this there are other 'better' environments but they are not as widespread and relocating your site can be a real pain.

Case example, I worked with a company who built everything in webcat, great, but they then had all their servers knicked from a 'secxure' office and decided to go the co location rented route. It ended up with the rewrite of each site to PHP as few wehosts offered webcat at that time.

Hope this helps

D

ps on the shopping / SEO front, you want a static catalogue created which is really search engine friendly, as well as the normal shopping pages that the user will use.

[Top Hat]

Usability, Usability, Usability

They all say they make usable sites, but do they.

Visit there portfolio and actually try to complete tasks, so if its an ecommerce site, try to buy something from it, is it easy, can you find contact info terms etc.

[DuaneJackson]

A written contract with a development agreement is essential. It's tedious stuff but will avoid any disputes later over what was and wasn't agreed.

[Richard Conyard]

101% agree with that one, and that is sitting on the other side and doing web development!

[Coding Monkey]

Some might point you in the direction of PERL, Ruby or Python all of which are just as solid, and some more portable...


Only complete newbies who don't really know how to program would say Ruby. It's the Frontpage of web development! Ahem. The hardcore folk say Perl, as they've yet to understand how much more simple PHP is in most common functions (and that PHP was developed as a primary web development language) and Python is used more for server software rather than websites. So, I'd disagree with all 3 of those people ;)

Anyway, guarantees. Do they guarantee everything they do? I don't work with people who don't. It says to me "you might get what you want, but I'm not confident enough to know it".

[Enigma121]

Personally we specialise in JSP based solutions. We separate any business logic required from the site's HTML tags, by coding it in server-side Java.

This makes for much cleaner code structure that's easier to manage and control - leading to higher quality.

This is because we find PHP (and badly written ASP / JSP), a little too hard to read and maintain. Code mixes with HTML leading to programmer headaches.

JSP is widely supported by most hosting providers as they now support Tomcat based containers.

Above all JSP is more scaleable than any of the other alternatives, so when your site really takes
off it can cope with growth better.

Another alternative to consider.

[mattk]

How did this poor lady's thread turn into a debate about what language is better???

c# and ASP.NET clearly.

[Enigma121]

How did this poor lady's thread turn into a debate about what language is better???

c# and ASP.NET clearly.

I blame crus, he started it.

[mattk]

Karen - in all seriousness. Ask for examples of their work. Ask to see sites they have promoted, look where they rank in search engines and for what keywords.

Ask if you can speak to people who they have built sites for in the past. Ask them if they are happy with their sites performance, both technically and from a sales point of view.

And don't be afraid to ask for a second opinion on what you're told - these Web designers are a slippery bunch!

[fastfences]

How did this poor lady's thread turn into a debate about what language is better???



Doesn't matter how, but Karen is now learning heaps about what to look for, and more importantly, gets a 'feel' of the personalities she may obtain a quote from :wink:
Cheers, Nigel

[fastfences]

And don't be afraid to ask for a second opinion on what you're told - these Web designers are a slippery bunch!

Glad I'm not a web designer; I'd be having your butt for that! :evil: :evil:
Cheers, Nigel

[clairemackaness]

Shop around. Post in tenders on here and get at least 5 quotes and briefs. Most importantly choose someone who speaks your language and who you trust.

[Coding Monkey]

And don't be afraid to ask for a second opinion on what you're told - these Web designers are a slippery bunch!

Glad I'm not a web designer; I'd be having your butt for that! :evil: :evil:
Cheers, Nigel

To be fair, valid point. Oh, no, wait.....

[ink4-u]

i wouls ask can i see at least 5 examples of your work. that are live and running now. when they tell you how to access them contact these people and check this person out. read a little bit about html so they dont think her is another person knows nothing we can get away with anything.

[silverpuresilver]

Wow, what a lot of people working on a bank holiday . . . . .

Thanks so much for all your advice (although it did get a bit technical in the middle :? ).

coding language and structure are important.
Ideally you want the platform to be as independent from the code as possible
static catalogue created which is really search engine friendly, as well as the normal shopping pages that the user will use.

crus, what does this mean? Should I know about it??? (thanks for the rest of your info!!).

Richard - all good solid advice - however, what are froogle feeds? Should I know about these? :oops:

Following on from everyone's advice, I have done further web research on the designers, and they look like decent guys!!!

Thanks

Karen

[DotNetWebs]

Richard - all good solid advice - however, what are froogle feeds? Should I know about these?

Hi. Have a look at this link:

http://froogle.google.co.uk/froogle?q=silver+candlestick

Your web designer may be able to provide a facility for you to easily upload your product catalogue to this site. It is basically a price comparison site. I have added a Froogle feeds to sites I have developed and I have been pleasantly surprised at the number of orders it has generated.

Regards

Dotty (Platform dependant web developer :D )

ps I won't get drawn into the which is the best development language argument but I'm with mattk :lol:

Seriously though, although I am always happy to defend and promote ASP.NET (mainly for some of the reasons Enigma gives for JSP) I agree that PHP will probably be more 'portable'

[SillyJokes]

Karen, Top Hat and I run a successful ecommerce website which we designed ourselves.

If we say that usability is key I promise you it is absolutely essential. It goes hand in hand with accessibility and that goes hand in hand with being good for search engines.

You will not loose sales by having a simple website with few bells and whistles.

Personally,for a jewellery website almost more than any other, I think it is worth investing in good images, either by setting up a small studio yourself (which needn't cost the earth) or getting someone else to do it (which probably will cost quite a bit).

Nothing lets a site down like crumby catalogue images resized (or not even that!!)

[DavidHorn]

Hi Karen -

I found this article that you might find worth reading:

www.sitepoint.com/article/how-to-hire-a-web-designer

The source (sitepoint.com) is a well respected reference web site.

Good luck with your venture and if you'd like to talk about this further, feel free to PM me, or email me through my website,

Regards,

David

[silverpuresilver]

Thanks Dotty - I have had a look at the froogle link you gave, funnily enough there are a number of our products already on there - so it's obviously working for others! Would my web designer need to do anything special so I can upload things?

Silly Jokes - a very successful website so I hear - usability and accessibility - very good advice! We have had some professional photos taken, nearly half of all items, we'll work on building on those.

David - Have read the article completely, all makes good business sense.

Thanks again everyone!

Karen

[SillyJokes]

Yes, Karen, I hadn't looked at your site when I mentioned the images and forgot you were more about silver. Your images look good, I was just musing out loud I suppose.

[DotNetWebs]

Thanks Dotty - I have had a look at the froogle link you gave, funnily enough there are a number of our products already on there - so it's obviously working for others! Would my web designer need to do anything special so I can upload things?

Hi

Your web developers can find all the information they need here.

https://www.google.com/froogle/merchants/feed_instructions.html

It basically works by the user uploading the product catalogue (in a specific format) via FTP . Advanced e-commerce systems will allow the site administrator,i.e. YOU, to do this at the touch of a button (after you have updated you product catalogue)

Regards

Dotty

[silverpuresilver]

Thanks everybody for all your advice. Hope to get things moving shortly and quickly!!!

I also hope to be able to reply to others posts, and not just sponge information of you guys (and girls) all the time!!! :lol:

Kind regards

Karen

[c2webdesign]

Hi Karen,

Tons and tons of useful posts for you on this one - with a few debates on the side, but that's UKBF!

Hopefully the below may help you (just looking at things from my perspectives and my clients):

-> Non framed websites are a must
-> Secure Payment Page - absolutely
-> PHP - good thing!
-> Web compliance - ask his/her thoughts. If they dismiss the notion as hype then tread cautiously.

Other things to look for and questions:

-> Will my website allow me to grow, expand and add new features for example gift voucher systems etc.. (i.e. website not derived from a template)

-> Can they optimise a site for search engines. What is their success rate and what are their examples?

-> Can you easily navigate and use the sites in their portfolio. Do you like the sites in their portfolio and believe the visual design to be of good quality? You need to be comfortable with the work they produce.

-> How often will I see the site as it is being built?

-> What happens if I do not like what I see, can we make amendments and changes as we move along? Will there be any extra charges for this? - unless major changes the designer should be adaptable to ensure you are left with a site you like.

Best of luck,
Dean
C2 Web Design
http://www.c2webdesign.co.uk

Website Design | Online Marketing | Search Engine Optimisation

[Mwebb]

Hi guys,
i am new to this forum, however i am in this process as we speak. I have just started in the last few days mapping out the website with a developer in America.

I went with the company for a few reasons.

1. Their enthusiasum in my project out weighed all others.
2. There proffessionalism was excellent.
3.They have been established for many many years, and showed me great examples of their work, and i got raving reviews from the sites owners. I was also originally referred to them in the beginning.
4.. They were far cheaper than any UK based developers because of the exchange rate.

I would definitely look at taking your designing abroad, or at least get quotes.

I am not in anyway affiliated with the company, but they are www.syndicatedigital.com owned by Bron Fieldwalker. Drop them an email if you are looking for a quote, you will be impressed.

[silverpuresilver]

Just to let you all know that I have met with our new designers, in whom we have a lot of faith. I asked them many questions at our first meeting - I don't think they were anticipating so many questions or comments - they were wryly amused!!! :D

They have now provided us with a provisional home page layout - ***website removed****- if anyone would like to critique it for me, I would be open to comments. I'm sure Clever Cherry would like detailed feedback from me :wink:

Thanks everyone!!

Karen

[Coding Monkey]

To be honest, the more questions you ask, the more likely they are to be able to sell you something. It shows that you're interested and that you want them to sell you that thing right now. That is, providing they're good at their job, but then, they could just make up the answers.

[SillyJokes]

It looks a little pixelated but a good over all impression and the font can be changed.

I like your 'strap line' which lets people know what you do as soon as they land. you mgiht make a bit more of a fuss about being English silver as this speaks of quality.

I would use a big picture of silver to back this up. The big image you are using is crystal with no silver on it.

I'm not sure about the term 'mail sign up'. The terminology sounds a bit like signing your life away, a newsletter sounds less threatening.

It's great to see a nice prominent search box and it is nice to have the cursor land in this box once the page is live.

Personally I like a page that fits my lovely fat monitor but not everyone agrees with this.

I like the nice short left hand menu.

Overall it is looking nice, well done. Looking forward to see it functioning a bit.

[silverpuresilver]

We have had a lot of experience over the past 12 months from our previous designers, who couldn't always give us answers, correct or not. We have more faith in our new guys!!!

Silly Jokes - what do you mean pixelated? It looks fine to me, or is it just because we're looking at it on different screens?

The main photo will be changed to something more 'silver' based!!! Our best photos are from a designer who specialises in silver and crystal - which is what the decanter is all about.

Mail Sign-up - I not sure that I want it that big - do people sign up freely? Should 'mailing list' just be a button in the navigation?

Do you think the left hand menu should be in bigger text?

Thanks

Karen

[SillyJokes]

The text looks pixelly. I think you should consider a different font. Just look at a few different ones until you find on that goes with your site. I think your current font looks almost blurred to me.

The left hand menu text could always do with being nice and large and clear. It makes it easier to click it.

I hope all the text on the site will be adjustable as at the moment I would say it is slightly too small.

It doesn't work on this forum but if you go to sillyjokes hold down the ctrl button and use your mouse scroll wheel you will see the text size change. Those that use larger text will be surfing with the text bigger because it is very easy to adjust with a short cut like this. Think not just blind people but those with reading problems, older people and duffers like me who at 40 don't want to wear specs.

Of course, by fixing the size of the display it makes resizing text much harder.

I'm not sure how many people will want to sign up to a newlsetter about silverware. I certainly wouldn't. You'd need to give them compelling reasons to join like hearing about competitions and getting exclusive discounts.

We have a newsletter sign up but we don't actually send any newsletters out at the moment because we found it less effective than it should have been. Will be re examining this again some time.

[Coding Monkey]

I think the questions asked in this thread are quite important and will help people in the future decide upon what is important to them from a web designer. So instead of now turning it into a web review thread, it might be an idea to setup a new one for your website review?

[Tin]

Although it's just a design visual at this stage, there's early signs of a lack of basic seo but maybe the designers have taken it on board but not indicated such in the visual just yet?
From a quick look at their site it appears that the designers don't seem to offer seo services?
Maybe the client doesn't actually want seo, or hasn't asked for it?

Hope it's not another of those "Oh Dear" stories again. :?

Ray

[silverpuresilver]

Hi Tin - what should the designers be doing with regard to SEO that the site is lacking at the moment? What would I need to speak to them about?

Sillyjokes - all very useful information as usual - what a font of knowledge you are!!! The mouse zooming looks particularily useful, and I have put the idea to designers - awaiting their response (also regarding text).

Mac - appreciate your comments, I have listed another thread, also in e-commerce entitled "Website redesigned - can I have your feedback please?" Could I put a link in this thread to it?

Regards

Karen

[Tin]

Hi Karen
... what should the designers be doing with regard to SEO that the site is lacking at the moment? What would I need to speak to them about?

Not a simple question to answer briefly as they either know how to carry out the work or they don't and when I last looked it was just a jpeg draft design without coding so there's always the possibilty that they'll drop in the seo during development (but my guess is not). I also think it'll lead to awkwardness between you and your developers if you start feeding suggestions to them from a third party (a bit like design by committee) and could spoil the relationship you currently have but try not to make the same mistake lots of people do by thinking that by having your own site it will somehow manage high rankings automatically, it won't.
Initially, I'd suggest you...
1. Ask them if they offer seo
2. Are they effective with it
3. Ask for examples and check out plenty of their work until you are satisfied they are able to to do this effectively.
4. If they satisfy the above then all you need is to agree a price.

If on the other hand they don't offer seo but instead say 'we'll submit your site to search engines' that won't do you much good and has no bearing on whether they can get good rankings for you which is the core reason of selling online to my mind.
In a nutshell, they need to know how to build the site from the ground up for high rankings then your site design sits on top of that.
Fingers crossed they do seo as otherwise you've some tough decisions ahead.

Just so I don't get called a spoil sport by not answering your question more directly you could quietly point your developers in the direction of
* your menu
* order of browser fetched code
* where to place the resultant script code for better effect
* how best and where to place your images
* overall theme

Hope it helps

Ray

[silverpuresilver]

Hi Ray

Thanks for your comments, much appreciated that you took the time to draft a reply!!!

The link to my homepage is just a draft page at the moment, the full monty won't be available for a while, including all the design and coding until it goes live (as I understand).

The designers are very confident about the style of the website, the images to the right of the screen will change automatically to highlight items from our range of products - they're not there as subject categories.

Any pointers on what's wrong with the overall theme by any chance? :lol:
(By the way, the link may not be live now!!)
Regards

Karen

[Tin]

Will PM you Karen as soon as I get a sec :-)

Ray

[Claire B]

I just had a look at their site and it's brilliant. Have you played around with their profiles?

Very funny :D

I think your site will be fab Karen, let us know when it's finished!

Claire