Client: Project7 Consultancy
Case Study: Web Design and Web Development
Project7 is a leading professional services consultancy who specialise in Lean Manufacturing and Lean Leadership Training & Consultancy on a global scale. The company came to us with a specific brief which required a complete overhaul of their existing website – providing a more dynamic system that would allow easy updating and maintaining of site content. (more…)
Web design in Liverpool by Studiowide
Google is currently targeting Liverpool businesses to promote the benefits of having an online presence. The global internet giant believes Liverpool lags behind many rival cities in its use of the internet for business, including Manchester, London, Leeds and Bristol.
"The internet has created many opportunities, but many Liverpool based small business owners feel they don’t have the expertise they need to help their businesses grow online," said R Saggi, head of small business initiatives at Google UK.
The standards for web design are constantly changing and here at Studiowide we’re helping all types of small businesses in Liverpool with their web design needs. It is our aim to create websites that are scalable and functional across many platforms. We only employ the use of best practice coding methods that are recognised and reliable, rather than give our clients a website that will need redesigning as soon as the next trend comes along.
We have recently finished a project for Liverpool based business who came to us for the design and development of their website. The company which supplies Human Resource services to the SME and corporate sectors immediately recognised the benefits of having an online presence, and approached Studiowide for a complete web design and development package.
The website needed to look simple, clean, and be easily adaptable for new content. Once we had come up with an overall design concept, we then created a page template whch the client uses to add their own additional content via a bespoke content management system.
Web design and development might seem pretty daunting to some small businesses owners, because of this we do our best to clarify the issues and keep the nerd-talk in the office. Max Steinberg, chief executive of Liverpool Vision, the city’s economic development company, said: "There is strong evidence that no matter how small the business, or in what sector it operates, even a basic understanding of how to exploit web and email technology is a real driver for growth.”
As a company, Studiowide works closely with the Google product range, we use a complete Google offering in our own operations, including recently moving our domains to the Google apps infrastructure.
Because of this experience and our knowledge of web design and web development, we can offer Liverpool small businesses the potential for growth and the opportunity to help improve their efficiency, through better use of online technology.
To read more about our approach to web design for small businesses in Liverpool, take a look at our web design and web development pages or get in touch.
We have recently completed a web development project for a new client who is located in The Netherlands. The client is a well-established instrumentation company who supplies temperature measuring products world-wide.
Following our initial discussion of target markets and positioning of the business within the individual territories that it operates in, we proposed an integrated web development solution that would allow for multiple websites to be produced, based off one ‘parent’ master corporate design.
The main benefit of having this solution is that our client can manage their master website through a bespoke content management system. From their main control panel they can also produce ‘child’ versions of the main site at the push of a button.
The child versions of the web site are fully editable and allows for the product managers within each country to define the details of their content, based on their individual market needs.
The result is up to 9 websites being produced for the cost of one web development fee. The solution is highly expandable and will allow for even more Multilanguage sites as and when the client requires it.
We have begun work this week on a web design and web development contract for an electrical engineering, building and civil engineering company based in Ellesmere Port, Cheshire.
The client already has a basic HTML brochure style website but felt that the site looked tired and needed revamping. One minor issue with the previous site was the lack of upkeep that had gone on (or not gone on, as the case may be). We addressed this by offering a bespoke content management system (CMS). This would allow the customer to update their own content as easy as completing a word document and clicking save.
The content management system immediately appealed to our client as a cost saving advantage. The system does not require further on-going maintenance from our side and the upkeep charges are contained in-house with the client.
Other advantages of having a CMS website is the fact that the site will be dynamic rather than static HTML. This will also help in the future should our client have a need to feed any information such as news and updates, from the website, into social media sites like Facebook or LinkedIn.
Our web development team can design and build totally bespoke content managed websites, and if required can also provide a straight conversion of a static website over to a dynamic content managed system - for less than one might think.
Our project deadline is 4 weeks so we’ll post some images of the site once it’s finished – we’ll also be uploading to our portfolio as usual.
If you're getting to the point where you think that online talk is becoming like another language then this post is for you. When researching a new web site design or web development project you might come across some technical terms or buzzwords. This glossary can help you as a quick reference guide.
A/B Testing
Testing two different versions of the same website page to evaluate which one performs better.
Accessibility
Taking into consideration people with disabilities in the initial stages of the web design project. It involves the optimisation of the web site. For example, a text-only version of a web site will make it easier for a visually impaired person to listen to its content using special software.
Anchor Text
The actual text of a link to a page. On most websites, this text is usually dark blue and underlined, or purple if you’ve visited the link in the past. Anchor text helps search engines understand what the destination page is about.
Blog
An online journal that is regularly updated.
Browser
This is the software we use every day to view web sites. Popular browsers are Microsoft Internet Explorer or Mozilla Firefox.
CSS or Stylesheet
This is short for Cascading Style Sheets. Written in HTML, this is commonly used to style web pages. Styling options, including page layouts, colors and fonts, are typically preset to help control cohesiveness and an overall professional look and feel for your website.
Canonical URL
The canonical URL is the best address that a user can find a piece of information on. Sometimes you might have a situation where the same page content can be accessed at more than one address. Specifying the canonical URL helps search engines understand which address for a piece of content is the best one.
Content management system (CMS)
A web-based way for people without extensive technical knowledge to update content on their web sites.
Database-driven sites
A site that uses database technology is more dynamic than flat, static-sites, as certain changes to content and design can instantly be applied across the entire web site. A popular type of database technology is MySQL (pronounced ‘My sequel’).
Domain name
Your web site address (such as www.studiowide.co.uk).
E-Commerce
The buying and selling of goods and services via the internet. Examples include Play.com or Tesco.com and Amazon.
Eye tracking
Technology that tracks where people’s eyes travel across a screen, used to optimise web site design.
Favicon
This is the small graphic, typically your logo or other representation your website, which appears in a browser’s address bar, favorites or bookmark lists.
Forum
An online message board that allows visitors to create conversation ‘threads’ and reply to other messages.
Guarantee Images
Images that instill trust and show credibility.
HTML (HyperText Markup Language)
The underlying computer code used to display web sites.
Hosting company
The organisation that stores your web site and keeps it online.
Landing Page
A dedicated website landing page, usually containing a form or call-to-action that is used for lead generation. This page revolves around a marketing offer, such as an ebook or a webinar, and serves to capture visitor information in exchange for the valuable offer.
Layout
How the web page is designed. For instance, a form or sidebar can be placed on the left side of the page, while the description or main body is in the centre.
Navigation
A web page element, usually located at the top, with links that help visitors to navigate through a website.
Pixel
Short for picture element. The smallest element of an image. Graphics are often measured in pixel width.
RSS (Really Simple Syndication)
Often known as news feeds. RSS technology allows the syndication of content found on blogs and news sites. It saves subscribers having to visit each of their favourite sites, as their latest headlines and content can all be viewed via a news reader.
Search engine
A web site such as Google or Bing that searches other web pages.
Search engine optimisation (SEO)
The art of optimising your web site content so that it appears high up in search engine results pages.
SERP’s
Search engine results pages. These are the pages that are displayed to you when you undertake a keyword search via a search engine.
Social network
Web sites like Facebook and LinkedIn that make it easy for like-minded people to make friends, reacquaint with old colleagues and create and share messages or other content with them.
Tag
A key description applied to a piece of information such as blog entry or image.
Unique sessions
The measure of individual visitors to a web site.
Usability
How easy it is for people to find what they are looking for when moving around your web site.
User-centred design (UCD)
Web site design process that focuses on identifying and meeting the needs of the end-user.
Web 2.0
The latest generation of web sites whose technology makes it easy for users to create their own content, such as Facebook and Flickr.
W3C
The World Wide Web consortium, a group that develops and agrees on technical web standards.
Weblog
See blog.
Wireframe
A visual reference point that outlines where the main design elements will be placed on a web site. It may be as simple as a sketch on paper, or designed in something like Microsoft Word.
XML
Extensible Mark-up Language. Computer code that describes how data included on a web page, document or other file is structured (as opposed to how it’s displayed). This allows particular content to be intelligently used by other web sites or applications.
Photo credit: Dylanfm via photopin cc
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