Web Design

Look and Feel
A website's 'Look and Feel' is determined by the color scheme chosen, and the site layout.  These contribute to a website being seen as dark or airy, open or crowded, easy to use or complicated.  They can make a visitor feel comfortable, or chase them away.  Color schemes especially are important in marketing, making them a major factor in any ecommerce site.

Images/Sound
Images are found on most websites today.  They often contribute to the 'Look and Feel' of the website, as when used as a background, as content separators, custom buttons, menu options, and logos.  They can add to the attractiveness of the site.  They can also provide information.  They can display products, demonstrate ideas, provide illustrations, or simply add interest.

With today's newer browsers and high-speed access, websites are becoming increasingly multimedia.  Sound and even video can be added with or without streaming, and animations are becoming increasingly complex.  Each of these can be used to enhance or detract from a website. 

Navigation
Have you ever wandered around a building you were unfamiliar with, looking for a particular room?  You don't want to share that experience with a visitor to your site.  If it takers too long for your visitors to find what they're looking for, they'll go somewhere else.  Carefully thought out navigation is essential for your website's success.

Content
The most important part of any website is it's content.  There isn't any reason to have a website unless you have something to say.  As with anything else, packaging in important, which is why you need to create the appropriate 'Look and Feel', add appropriate images, and insure easy navigation.  While good packaging can grab a visitor's attention, there must be something in the package to keep it.  Your content serves as the purpose for your website.  It's what you want to communicate, or share with your visitors.  Every aspect of the site is designed around your content.

Cross Browser Compatibility
The color scheme and layout have been determined.  The images have been selected.  The navigation is clear, and you have your content.  Now you need to put it all on the web.  The problem?  What looks good in one browser may not even display in another.  To make matters worse, many people still use older versions that don't support many new features.  While this may at first appear to be a design issue, cross-browser compatability often requires back-end programming. 

Mainship Systems can help you with all aspects of web design.  Your web site's ultimate design will depend as much on who your target audience is, as it will on what you have to say.  If you have an off-line presence, you will want your site to have the same 'Look and Feel', so that your off-line customers can recognize you online.  Keeping this in mind, we will design a site that displays your content to its best advantage.  If you aren't sure of how to say what you want to say, we can help you.  We will work with you to determine the best use of graphics, sound, and/or other special effects, to draw attention to your message, and not away from it.  We will insure that your site is easily navigated, even by internet novices.  Finally, we will design your site to be effective with any browser.