What we do
- Accessible pages will be constructed with web standard XHTML, well-structured semantic content and careful consideration of design elements to ensure readability and usability
- Design of page layouts and styling of heading levels and other text and graphic elements will be implemented using web standard CSS.
- Additional technologies such as JavaScript and flash may be used where appropriate to the design and to improve usability.
Updates and content mangagement
We can look after your site updates for you or you can have a fully updateable Content Management System. The choice of CMS would depend on the requirements of your project. We’d advise using Expression Engine for larger projects that require features such as related content, categorised content and searches. We also work with Wordpress for blogs and Web4-u for tourist businesses.
Are you a tourist business or organisation?
Your Tourism Community provides a framework for tourism business to work together promoting the local area to the visitor with a set of tools that allow business to share information, including website creation and broadcasting to community members [Web4-u], booking online [Bookings4-u], sending newsletters [Info4-u]. This allows you to take control of your marketing and increase exposure to your tourism business.
Why do I need a website?
Better communication
As broadband access gets better and cheaper your customers expect to find information about your company online whether simply to get a phone number or buying a product. More and more people are researching companies on the web before choosing to buy or order services. Tell your customers what you have to offer and give them a reason to buy from you.
Getting new customers
What do you currently do to get more customers? TV? Radio? Newspaper Ad? Cold calling? It all takes time and money. These types of media are great for one off promotions but a website is working for you night and day and throughout the year. Allow your customers to check out your services whenever or wherever they want.
Flexibility
An ad can be restrictive depending on the format or media you use; on a website you can say exactly what you want, when you want, the copy and layout if using print is constrained by the media you choose. Save time and money and say exactly what you want with a website
Accessibility and Accessible Design
Why is it important to be accessible?
Reach the widest audience possible
Your customers are a diverse group of people with a wide variety of skills and experience. They may also be faced with physical and technological disabilities which can make accessing the web problematic. If your website is accessible every member of your target audience can get your message giving you the widest audience possible. The following statistics help illustrate the type of disabilities that hinder web use:
- There are 8.6 million disabled people in Britain, that's one in five of the total population. (Source: Monitoring the Disability Discrimination Act (DDA) 1995)
- Colour blindness affects 7% of males and 0.5% of females. Thats more than 3% of the population. (Source: Everyeye)
- From the age of about 40 … as people age their vision becomes more blurred; they can see big things just as well, but have difficulty with the details. (Source: Everyeye)
- About 2 million people in the UK (over 3%) have significant sight loss and over 350 thousand (0.6%) are registered blind or partially sighted. (Source: RNIB)
- Using a mouse is difficult or impossible for a large minority of users with restricted movement and/or control of their hands and arms. (Source: Access IT)
There are also technological considerations from access to broadband to outdated company software. Thus if you make your website accessible you are reaching the maximum number of customers possible.
Disability Discrimination Act Compliance
Making your website accessible makes economic sense but is also a legal requirement. In order to be compliant with the DDA the RNIB recommend your website should at minimum meet the basic Website Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) and aim for Double AA. For more information read the RNIB article on accessibility and UK law
This is what the DDA says:
Where a provider of services has a practice, policy or procedure which makes it impossible or unreasonably difficult for disabled persons to make use of a service which he provides, or is prepared to provide, to other members of the public, it is his duty to take such steps as it is reasonable, in all the circumstances of the case, for him to have to take in order to change that practice, policy or procedure so that it no longer has that effect.
Designing with Web Standards
Why are standards important?
Standards have been developed to ensure that all websites are accessible across the board, whether you are using the latest version of microsoft internet explorer on 8Mb broadband or a text only browser on a 56kB dial up connection, using your mobile phone screen or a brail display. Web standards ensure the internet is more secure, available for different language and different technologies and provides an open platform for developing new ways of working and communicating.
But why are standards important to my business?
Better in search engines
Sites that are built with web standards have better search engine rankings as search engine spiders can navigate the content more easily. This is because the code is well ordered and uncluttered and includes all the elements the spiders need to index your page quickly and efficiently.
Faster downloads and less bandwidth
Pages have smaller file sizes so they down load faster and use up less server space. Separating content (i.e. words and pictures) from presentation (i.e. styling such as colours, background graphics and fonts) means pages can share style information and so reduce the information required for each page
Transportable
With web standards your website can be displayed in different types of browser on laptops, media players and mobiles. Hand-held devices are given special styles to make webpages work better and look nicer on small screens with bandwidth constraints.
Future Proof
Updating your design and adding features becomes easier and cheaper. Your content is still relevant but you want to update the look and feel of your site, or perhaps you want to apply a seasonal theme. By changing the style sheet you can transform layout, colour and/or fonts.
Original Bespoke Design
By working closely with you at all stages of the development, we will create a tailored design solution that will truly reflect your venture, giving you a product that will stand out from your competitors.
How does your business work?
In order to reach the best solution for your business, we will work together to consider your market and audience, your brand values how your customers see you and perhaps most importantly how you want to be seen. We can then reflect your values in a solution that will work with your business.
Stand out from the crowd
You need an original solution that stands out from your competition. Flexibility, attention to detail, creative flair; these qualities are key to enable us to do this. As an interactive media designer I develop original ideas using research driven design concepts and by keeping up to date with the latest internet design and technologies we can deliver solutions that can compete on the global internet platform
