Web design tools

I have been designing websites since 1997, and since that time, there have literally been numerous web design tools introduced each year, many claiming to greatly simplify the process of designing a website. With the plethora of options now available for creating a site, consumers can easily become baffled with the many options to choose from.

In this article I will discuss how to find the right web design tools for your needs.

1. Define your specific needs
First, you need to define exactly what you want your site to accomplish, as this will dictate which web design tools you should consider. If iwhat you need is strictly an opinion or information site, a simple blog might suffice. On the other hand, if you have a database to access, or want to conduct transactions, you will most likely need to hire a professional. I recommend writing down the goals of your site to get a better handle on the scope of the project.

2. Determine your skill and commitment level
If you just want to create a personal website, selecting professional web design tools like Dreamweaver and Photoshop will be plain overkill. These programs are meant for professional web designers, and the casual hobbyist, unless extremely determined, will most likely be overwhelmed with these tools. A more reasonable solution will be to utilize web-based, template driven tools for creating sites. On the other hand, if you need a sophisticated site but cannot handle working with professional-grade software, it may make sense to hire a professional.

3. Set a reasonable budget, and don’t be a freebie hunter
I have tried out some free web design tools and they are for the most part not very useful. You will most likely need to spend some money on such things as books, tutorials, and basic software. If you try chasing free tools that may or may not exist, you will probably waste a lot of time and end up with web design tools that prove unsatisfactory.

After defining your needs, your commitment level, and budget, you may want to consider these "best of breed" web design tools:

The best tools for professionals: Dreamweaver and Adobe Photoshop.
These two programs have been the de factor standard for professionals since the very beginning. Although these web design tools can handle most tasks, professionals will still need a good HTML reference book or two as well.

The best web design tool for non-professionals: WebWizard
This is the best non-professional solution among many similar programs that allow you to build websites with nothing more than basic word processing skills. WebWizard allows you to select your site’s overall look from hundreds of pre-designed, professional templates. So while your site may not look completely unique, it will definitely look professional.

The best tool for creating a blog site: Wordpress
I know Blogger is quite popular, but Wordpress is a better tool in my opinion because it allows for more customization and is more extensible in terms of additional features. Also, one can use the Wordpress blogging platform to make sites that do not look like blog sites at all. In this sense, Wordpress can be used as a true web design tool instead of a simple blog tool.

Bad web design

If you have looked through some websites there are a few things which may not be liked. For instance the color of the website is Too Gaudy! Or may be the Site is too slow. Let’s see a list of features which really annoy the end user and possibly stop them from visiting your site in the future.

Should I give you examples, people will be annoyed. But if I do not give, then you will be annoyed. I am in a position where I cannot decide. I will leave the Examples for now, but will add them when I have decided on it.

A website could be a real annoyance if it takes ages to load up. A flash website specially will take a load of time to come up on the screen. Seeing the Loading page for more than 10-20 seconds is really annoyance. Get rid of the flash, not many people need to see your Funky animation. They need the data you have to provide, unless of course, if you are portraying your Animation skills. A 3D animation designer or a Graphic designer will be required to do this. But make it load as fast as you can and reduce the file size to the best.

The second most annoying thing is the color. Not everyone likes to see a multi colored website. That doesn’t mean that you will create a website in black and white. You surely don’t want your website visitors to be bored. You want them to be stuck to the website. Keep the design neat and make sure that you don’t use more than 3 colors on your website. Make the site lively with a very professional design, Neat colors and quickly loadable pictures and animation.

Error Free Web pages are the next annoying thing. Have you noticed error messages which say a “Variable X not initialized. Debug. Yes/No/ Cancel”? That’s really annoying. Make sure that your users don’t get to see these error messages. It affects the credibility of your website and its better off to have an error handler in place and get your website tested before it goes online. No errors on your website will make it better on search engines too.

Page not found. A link in place but the page cannot be found. This really annoys users. When a person is taking all the time to browse your website and he cannot find the information he requires but finds a Page not found error! It surely doesn’t look good to the eyes and surely not on the websites credibility. Check your website before you put them online and make sure there are no errors.

I have a few more to add up to the list but you will have to wait and see them in the next website design article. Till then, Take my word and Make sure that you have the guidelines followed.