Site architecture

We work closely with you to develop a sense of the website to come. We review popular competing sites in your industry — noting what works and what doesn't, what's there and what's missing. We begin brainstorming features, sections, and pages — and with these ideas, we begin building a plan, which we will continually refine throughout the project based on your suggestions and feedback. What we end up with (keep in mind it will continually evolve throughout the project) is a detailed site map clearly illustrating all pages, sections, elements, and links — and distinguishing between core items (to build out first) and extra features (that may be added later).

Graphic Design Phase

We work closely with you to develop a look-and-feel for your website. We collect as many existing materials (electronic or printed) from you as you have that showcase your identity, give information on your target audience, etc. We discuss with you various ideas for how the design of the site can best promote your brand and products or services. We then typically propose one or two site design variations (simple graphic proofs, not working web pages yet), each illustrating a typical page's layout and navigation (often the home page), as well as graphic elements, colors, fonts, spots for photos, etc. At this point, you'll probably like one overall design, but you'll have suggestions for various changes. We'll likely go through several further iterations of the design, before we settle on a look-and-feel and user interface we both love.

Underlying Code

The first thing we do in this phase is to take our new graphic design and turn it into a functional web page (typically the home page) as a demo illustrating your chosen layout (see below). Like everything else we've done thus far, a period of back-and-forth during this phase will contribute to further refinements of the design and layout.

Fixed Layout

This refers to a common type of web layout, in which the design elements and content blocks are fixed in width and position on the page. This is essentially a print layout on the web. One advantage to this layout is that it is relatively fast to implement (in terms of converting the design into working code). Another advantage is that the space on each page is more controllable, so it is easier to drop content into each page (and generally speaking, less content is required per page). It is typically the least costly type of layout to implement.

Adaptive Layout

This refers to a less common type of layout, in which the design elements and content blocks are resized to fill the browser window or device screen. Sites using this layout will render better than their fixed layout counterparts when viewed with (to name a few examples) mobile devices, small laptops, large widescreen monitors, and also when printed. The initial design associated with this layout, and also its implementation (both initially and per page), are more involved than with a fixed layout. But it is the best choice to accommodate the widening range of monitor sizes available, and the growing number of devices that can access the internet.

Content Drop-In

The next thing we do in this phase is to begin dropping in page content. This provides valuable usage data for the site, and it is often during content drop-in (which happens concurrently with writing the underlying code, detailed above) that interface elements are tweaked or even added, and possible new pages or improvements to the site also crystallize. Individual pages may be reviewed on your personal project site, a dedicated password-protected area on our website.

Testing

Testing is done alongside development to ensure compatibility with all major modern browsers (Firefox, Safari, Chrome, Opera, Internet Explorer 7+), at all common screen sizes, as well as on all devices desired.

Launch

If you are hosting on one of our servers and do not currently have a website, launching your site will be a quick and simple process (typically taking an hour or two after final approval of your site). If you have an existing website, it will be taken offline temporarily, and a simple page with your logo and a brief message will be shown during transition (typically an hour or two at your chosen time). If you are hosting at an approved third-party provider, launching will involve final testing on the target host to ensure there are no conflicts (server configurations, application versions, etc.)

Photo Treatment

This is something we only do if needed. Certain photos — especially professional ones — require very little adjustment to look great on the web. For these, our photo treatment is basic: simply resizing and optimizing for web viewing (we use the highest quality settings possible while maintaining fast load times). Other photos (for example, ones of leaning buildings, strange colors, or of a hazy or muddy appearance) may require color, contrast, and perspective corrections. We use many approaches within Adobe Photoshop to solve a wide range of photo issues; the amount of time we spend will be proportional to the severity of problems, coupled with the complexity of the photo subject matter itself. The end goal is always that all photos appear bright, clear and sharp, with horizontals and verticals properly aligned.

Photo Slideshows

These days it is possible to add dynamic, interactive behavior to websites, without resorting to Adobe Flash (which is undeniably a great tool, but is not particularly search engine friendly, nor accessible on all devices and platforms). We use Javascript to create accessible, search engine friendly slideshows optimized for users of any connection speed (photos are only loaded right before they're needed). Note that most good slideshows have both a passive and an active mode: photographs display by default as a looping slideshow that visitors can sit back and enjoy; more curious visitors can also jump directly to specific photos, adjust the slideshow speed, and use other interactive options (for an example, see http://buglets.org).

Photo Gallery

Gallery is a piece of open-source software offered by a dedicated community. Gallery is a versatile photo platform: it can power a simple portfolio site, provide a way to share photos with friends and family, include a collection of client project areas accessible with individual logins, or even support a full online store. Gallery includes a good selection of themes and modules on install (e.g. to parse EXIF data, auto-rotate images, tie into printing services, and more). We set everything up for you, and integrate your custom code and your new graphic design into your new Gallery installation (for a simple example, see https://enlightenedbugs.com/v/demo). The monthly maintenance cost covers security updates and related maintenance (Gallery is typically updated once every month or two).

Custom Blog

WordPress is a piece of open-source software supported by a dedicated community. WordPress is used to power an overwhelming number of blogs these days. It is simple to use, offering an easy WYSIWYG interface that enables anyone to start writing their blog within minutes. There is a large community of developers surrounding WordPress, and a huge number of plug-ins available. We'll sift through these for you and highlight the interesting ones. We can also set up your blog so that multiple people at your company can contribute to it. Blogs are increasingly used by businesses to communicate more personal and more up-to-the-minute issues, which might otherwise never make it onto the website. We'll integrate your new graphic design and custom code into your new WordPress installation. The monthly maintenance cost covers security updates and related maintenance (WordPress is typically updated every month or two).

Internet Explorer 6 Support

You may wonder why support for Internet Explorer 6 is an additional feature. By default, your main content will be accessible in IE 6, but the layout may "break" with a browser support warning notice. Unfortunately, it is only with Microsoft's recent Internet Explorer 8 (still in public beta) that Microsoft has chosen to support industry web standards fully. Internet Explorer 7 falls in between the two — not fully standards compliant like IE 8, but much improved compared with IE 6 — and as the current version of a major web browser we support it. While many people have moved from IE 6 to IE 7 (the latter has a slightly larger share of the browsing market than the former), note that IE 6 is still used by as many as 20% of current web users.

Self-Editability

We currently support Adobe Contribute if you are interested in updating one or more sections or pages on your site yourself (or granting others varying levels of access to make changes to your website). Adobe Contribute features an easy-to-use WYSIWYG (what-you-see-is-what-you-get) interface that enables you to drag and drop text and photos from other applications into your website. Note that some advanced features are incompatible with Adobe Contribute (such as the Photo Slideshows above; we'll let you know of any possible issues if you choose to use Contribute).

On-Demand Updates

If you would like to have us make updates to your site, you may send these updates to us on an as-needed or periodic basis. Note that our minimum cost is one hour (time is billed in 15 minute increments thereafter). Updates may typically be made within two weeks of your request (but may take shorter or longer depending on their complexity, and our own scheduling needs). You may also request rush updates (billed at $240 / hour).

Code Updates

Although we build your site code to be as maintenance free as possible, some updates may occasionally be necessary, as new web browsers are released and web technology and standards change (these range from more frequent minor updates, to less frequent but more significant updates). These types of updates are made at no cost during the first year your new site is up; after that time, you may optionally extend maintenance for another year.