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You are here: Home / Archives for Web Site Design

Do Ugly Sites Perform Better?

August 9, 2009 by Sonja Ray 6 Comments

MacGregor has a content-rich, incredibly useful, but butt-ugly site.

In my opinion, ugly sites can perform very well, and there are a number of factors that can contribute to that: First, ugly sites are often sites that were originally built back in the 1990s by some business owner who had no web design sense or technical knowledge but wanted to promote his business online.

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Filed Under: Usability, Web Site Design

Ethics and Web Design – The Professional Responsibility of the Web Designer

March 14, 2008 by Sonja Ray 2 Comments

Apparently I’m part of a small minority of web developers who believe that the developer has a level of professional responsibility toward the client, regardless of whether the client knows, understands, or requests same.

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Filed Under: Rants, Search Engines, Web Site Design, Web Standards

WordPress vs. Blogger

January 12, 2008 by Sonja Ray 9 Comments

Sometimes, one of my clients wants or needs a blog. And the question always arises, should they use one of the free hosted blogging platforms, such as Typepad or Blogger or a hosted blog at WordPress.com, or should they download the WordPress software from WordPress.org and host it on their own site?

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Filed Under: Hosting, Web Site Design

“Crawlability,” Web Design, and SEO

September 26, 2007 by Sonja Ray 3 Comments

So I got a gentle tweak from Zack Katkin at Unique ID Web Design because I haven’t blogged in a while. I’ve been busy working on projects for clients, but I know that’s no excuse. I’m breaking the Golden Rule of Blogging, which I drill into my clients when they want to start a blog, […]

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Filed Under: Search Engines, Technology, Web Site Design

Pre-Launch Steps for Your Site

March 20, 2007 by Sonja Ray Leave a Comment

Does your host or website developer do these things? Developing a new web site — or re-developing an old one, for that matter — typically involves consulting with the client to determine the site’s target audience and primary objective, creating an attractive and functional design, turning the design into properly coded, valid html, building out […]

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Filed Under: Usability, Web Site Design, Web Standards

Don’t judge a book by its pretty face

February 3, 2007 by Sonja Ray 1 Comment

I’ve never liked to use the term “web site designer” in reference to what I do. Yes, I “design” web sites, but the word design seems to suggest, to many people, strictly “visual design.” I tend to prefer developer, because effective web site development must encompass much more than merely designing a “pretty” or “good […]

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Filed Under: Usability, Web Site Design, Web Standards

Can your site be tweaked?

January 19, 2007 by Sonja Ray Leave a Comment

Many of my clients already have an existing web site when they contact me. Often they’re unhappy with their site’s visual design, or its functionality, or its performance in the search engines. I hate — I really hate — telling a potential client that their site needs to be completely re-developed from the ground up […]

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Filed Under: Search Engines, Technology, Web Site Design, Web Standards

The Official Blog of Tropical Web Works

January 11, 2007 by Sonja Ray Leave a Comment

Whenever you set out to do something, something else must be done first.

If this were not so, I would have started this blog long before now. Work on client sites always comes first. I finally decided to just do it.

Tropical Blogging will focus primarily on web site design and development, search engine optimization, technology, html and css standards, hosting, and other Internet-related topics. Most of the discussion will be aimed at the type of people who comprise the primary clientele of Tropical Web Works — smart businesspeople who are not necessarily steeped in the arcana of these topics. We might stray, from time to time, into politics, pop culture, current events, or other off-topic topics. But that’s okay. This is my blog, and I can write about whatever I want.

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Filed Under: Web Site Design

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