Design & Functionality

You may have seen websites that you like, and ones you don't. The most popular sites tend to be those that provide information quickly and effectively . Cumbersome designs, lengthy animation and unnecessary multimedia just increase the cost, download time, and usually act as a barrier to the visitor's experience, causing them to form a negative opinion of the organisation.

Correct use of multimedia however, such as a virtual tour around your facilities, or spoken word assistance for visitors with poor vision, will serve to enhance the user's experience without causing undue waiting or loading. Providing a user is informed that clicking a particular link will amount to an additional waiting time, they are able to make their own choice whether to wait for the extra content or not.

Whilst a website needs to be attractive to hold a visitor's attention, the navigation system, or user interface is also of major importance. A great looking website can easily be let down by a poor or complicated navigation system, which leaves the visitor lost and confused in a mass of pages with no clear defined ' user experience ', or path to follow. This situation usually comes about when a website is not designed or built to cater for additional development, and as the site grows it becomes more difficult to cram in all the information required. This is why the previous brainstorming stage is so critical in protecting your investment and future-proofing the website.