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Concept and Website Design
Our web design services go beyond a nicely crafted web site. We help you develop a marketing concept that grabs the attention of your best customer, both visually and through SEO.
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User Interface Design
In today's world, the functional complexity of your software product is not enough to differentiate your solution. Enhancing your application with a slick and self-explanatory user interface is key when it comes to delivering a cutting edge software product.
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Custom Application Development
As your business grows, your requirements change.
Will the application released last week still be flexible enough to meet the ever-changing needs of your business tomorrow?
Read more about our commitment to flexible application architecture..
Ajax Development
Bring the power of AJAX to make your visitor experience as smooth and intuitive, as it gets!
More on Ajax development..
elKontent TM
Manage your site through a web browser from anywhere, 24/7.
Find out how..
E-Commerce/XCart Customization
Selecting, setting up and customizing an ecommerce solution can be overwhelming and often requires special technical and industry experience.
Let us setup your ecommerce website for you!
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Looking Back..
In the 90s, the primary goal of most websites was simple: basic online presence. That meant static brochure-like content that typically started with "Welcome to our website..", hideous animated GIFs, a Netscape icon somewhere in the corner, a "You are visitor number 99999" note somewhere at the bottom, scrolling texts and dark backgrounds. Companies were tapping into a new marketing medium, standards were low and web development tools were unsophisticated. As a result, a website was simply an attempt to create an online version of a business card.
Now most companies are embracing the new standards. The Web 2.0 Age is here. Tricks to please search engines , embedded RSS feeds, drag-n-drop panels and blogs are becoming as common as the mail box icon and a little "under construction" guy were ten years ago.
What are some of the visual patterns of a Web 2.0 web design?
(and we are only talking about the visual, not functional, trends)
- Simplicity and elegance
- Rounded forms
- Subtle gradients and shadows
- Bigger font sizes
- Pastel colors used for the overall look, and bolder, bright colors used to emphasize important elements
- Big buttons and catchy glossy icons
- Never 100% Flash
- Simplification of clutter
For instance:
Rounded corners, big catchy icons:
Rounded corners, subtle gradients, big buttons/catchy icons, pastel colors with the use of green/orange for items that require special attention:
Pastel colors, big buttons/icons, rounded corners:
Big buttons/icons, rounded corners:
Simplification of clutter
These visual aspects are indicators of a major shift in the way that websites are now being used as marketing tools.
As the purpose of a website matures into a well thought-out marketing crusade aimed at a specific target audience for a specific purpose, so does the website's organizational and visual structure.
For the visitor the site is easy on the eye, and easy to get around, because a Web 2.0 site was designed with the following in mind:
- The knowledge of the site's target customer, and things she is likely to look for immediately upon arriving on the site
- 2-3 most important messages that need to be presented to the target customer on the home page to entice her to explore further, all the way to the "buy", "contact us" or "sign up" screens
- Content that is secondary, yet is beneficial to the visitor and the site's marketing goals
Thus, a good chunk of the expensive real estate on the home page may consist of nothing else but 2-3 content parts each carrying a clear message to the visitor:
If the intent of the website is to maximize its marketing abilities, it makes perfect sense to highlight a few lucid messages on top of the pastel backgrounds.
Also See: The common pitfalls of offshore software development outsourcing
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