What to look for in a website developer
I was asked recently what to look for in a website developer. I wasn't sure how to respond, since for seemingly obvious reasons I've never actually looked for a website developer.
In case you're looking for someone to help you with your website, here are my thoughts as a web professional: don't settle. Make sure that the geek you choose knows their stuff...if they don't, you should choose someone else.
Essentially - despite being a designer - I consider design secondary to code. Why? Simple: if you have a great design but bad code, your site probably won't work well...but if you have a so-so design with great code, your site can exceed your expectations. A well-written website is very easy to redesign, so the code seems more important to me. Here are a few things to consider:
1. What's your goal?
If you don't know EXACTLY what your website is supposed to accomplish, you'll never know how to build it, whether it's a dismal failure or amazing success, or when to make future changes. If you don't have a goal, you should stop all other activities and figure out what to do.
2. Who's your audience?
Web development is all about presentation. If your audience is your own organization, you'll do things differently than you would from a 'marketing' perspective. For example: a captive audience doesn't need to find your website...they know exactly where it is. Search engine considerations go right out the window in such cases. If, on the other hand, being found by strangers is important to you, it's crucial to choose a developer who knows their stuff. Knowing who your website is for is more than a secondary consideration.
3. Plan for the future
Here's my not-too-subtle personal opinion: if they don't hand-write valid and semantic (X)HTML + CSS, they're not going to help you in the ways you probably need help. Here's what that sort of code does for you:
...a. Makes updating and maintaining your website easier (and usually less expensive)
...b. Makes redesigning your website in the future (in 2-3 years, probably) much less time-consuming and difficult (and usually less expensive).
...c. Makes the search engines love you. They don't prefer good code to bad, necessarily...but bad code almost always makes your web pages fatter, which is an important consideration for search engines. The better your code, the (usually) better your ranking. As one example, I showed someone earlier today how to trim their existing web page from 34000 characters to 12000 without changing how the page looks or acts. Most search engines consider your code-to-content ratio an important consideration, so that change would probably jump their ranking significantly.
...d. Makes your site work better for everyone. You don't know how people will access your web page...so valid and semantic (X)HTML + CSS is the best way to go. Older and deprecated code won't render as well for folks using phones, screen readers, etc...put your best foot forward and you'll be surprised at how successful your site can be as a result.
There are three parts to a successful website: good code, a nice design, and quality content. Make sure that whomever you choose will address all three.
- Tony
In case you're looking for someone to help you with your website, here are my thoughts as a web professional: don't settle. Make sure that the geek you choose knows their stuff...if they don't, you should choose someone else.
Essentially - despite being a designer - I consider design secondary to code. Why? Simple: if you have a great design but bad code, your site probably won't work well...but if you have a so-so design with great code, your site can exceed your expectations. A well-written website is very easy to redesign, so the code seems more important to me. Here are a few things to consider:
1. What's your goal?
If you don't know EXACTLY what your website is supposed to accomplish, you'll never know how to build it, whether it's a dismal failure or amazing success, or when to make future changes. If you don't have a goal, you should stop all other activities and figure out what to do.
2. Who's your audience?
Web development is all about presentation. If your audience is your own organization, you'll do things differently than you would from a 'marketing' perspective. For example: a captive audience doesn't need to find your website...they know exactly where it is. Search engine considerations go right out the window in such cases. If, on the other hand, being found by strangers is important to you, it's crucial to choose a developer who knows their stuff. Knowing who your website is for is more than a secondary consideration.
3. Plan for the future
Here's my not-too-subtle personal opinion: if they don't hand-write valid and semantic (X)HTML + CSS, they're not going to help you in the ways you probably need help. Here's what that sort of code does for you:
...a. Makes updating and maintaining your website easier (and usually less expensive)
...b. Makes redesigning your website in the future (in 2-3 years, probably) much less time-consuming and difficult (and usually less expensive).
...c. Makes the search engines love you. They don't prefer good code to bad, necessarily...but bad code almost always makes your web pages fatter, which is an important consideration for search engines. The better your code, the (usually) better your ranking. As one example, I showed someone earlier today how to trim their existing web page from 34000 characters to 12000 without changing how the page looks or acts. Most search engines consider your code-to-content ratio an important consideration, so that change would probably jump their ranking significantly.
...d. Makes your site work better for everyone. You don't know how people will access your web page...so valid and semantic (X)HTML + CSS is the best way to go. Older and deprecated code won't render as well for folks using phones, screen readers, etc...put your best foot forward and you'll be surprised at how successful your site can be as a result.
There are three parts to a successful website: good code, a nice design, and quality content. Make sure that whomever you choose will address all three.
- Tony
Post made: Fri, Jan 4 2008 - 23:54 PM
Category: Design
Tags: |
