Most people instinctively know that a ‘busy’ or ‘fussy’ website is no good, and that a ‘clean’ or ‘simple’ design is better.

One of the scientific reasons behind this intuition is that visually complex images take more brainpower to process than visually simple ones, which directly translates in them taking more effort.

Nature always leans towards the conservation of energy, so brains sub-consciously ‘dislike’ having to expend more effort.

When your eye and brain process an image, they analyse a variety of things, including colour, light levels, shape, size and distance. The more variables there are in each of these aspects the more brainpower will be required.

The problem with using all this brainpower to process the ‘image’ that is the landing page of your website, is that you would really prefer your users to be thinking about your products, services and unique selling points (USPs).

If their brain is distracted making sense of three different columns, each with multi-coloured adverts, several fonts in lots of colours and a plethora of pictures, they’re not going to have any energy left to think about whether they want to buy something from you or not.

If you want to learn about good web design and bad web design, then have a look at our resource bank.

We’ve always believed that simple website are better, but now there is a host of evidence to back –up the intuition. Over this and the next few posts, we’re going to explore: mental prototypes, cognitive fluency, visual processing and working memory – and how all those things affect your web design.

So, what are mental prototypes when they’re at home?

A prototype is a basic mental image your mind holds to represent a particular type of thing.

For example, most people when asked to visualise a bird will have an image of a robin in their brain. The more a bird differentiates from this ‘prototype’, the less ‘birdy’ we consider it to be – for example penguins and ostriches are not considered as birdy as sparrows.

The same goes for fruit (apples), furniture (chairs) and websites.

Using mental prototypes helps us make sense of the world in a practical, efficient manner, so we don’t have to fully analyse everything we come into contact with each time. Otherwise, we would constantly be paralysed with trying to process everything we saw.

The reason this is important for web designers to know is that as result of prototypes, your brain likes things it is comfortable with, and will subconsciously reject things that deviate from the norm.

So most people will have a vague visual image in mind when it comes to a website for a plumber or a trendy shoe store, built up from all of those they have seen previously, and they will ‘want’ such websites to match these visual images.

Some designers and business people think it’s a good idea to be innovative and ‘stand out from the crowd’. This is certainly true in principle, but not if it’s just for the sake of being different. Because if your website is too different from what people expect, then they will find it strange and unsettling. This is unlikely to result in sales and enquiries for you…

So if your website has users hunting around for the navigation or looks like something out of the future, they won’t be sitting there admiring your innovation and cutting edge styling, they will be wondering why the website is so ‘wrong’.

So, by all means, be original and make an impact, but make sure you know what the prototypes for your area are, and that you’re using them to your advantage.

For more analysis, we recommend this excellent article, which was the inspiration for this series of posts: http://conversionxl.com/why-simple-websites-are-scientifically-better

If you found this article helpful and want to learn about good web design and bad web design, then have a look at our resource bank.

We were delighted when Changing Pathways was recommended to us by a good friend, to set up a website for his mediation business.

Colin of Changing Pathways had a DIY website that was no longer meeting his needs, and he wanted something that would perform a bit better, and ensure he and his associates gave a strong impression online and got in front of the right clients.

Colin offers a range of mediation services, including one-on-one, group, conflict coaching and mediation training. From chatting over coffee, we concluded that many companies and individuals don’t find it easy to quantify the costs of conflict and therefore don’t realise the full negative impact that disagreements and distress are having.

Therefore, we decided to create a ‘cost of conflict calculator’, a simple online tool that HR managers and other related professionals could use to enter in the details of the conflict and get an estimated cost. This could be used simply to raise awareness of how such conflicts should not be ignored, and could also be used by managers to justify the budget required to mediate the conflict successfully.

As well as the totally unique ‘cost of conflict calculator’ the web design needed to be calm, professional and give a sense of authority and knowledge without being overbearing. We helped design the logo and company literature and used a simple colour scheme with splashes of colour and bespoke illustrations to visually demonstrate the text content on the site itself.

We also included a resource bank, which Colin can regularly add to in order to build trust and reputation though the website.

Visit the site...

We were proud to create the new website for Grow Well Gardens, a fantastic landscape gardener in Leeds.

Grow Well Gardens is run by Rob, a charming fellow who really knows his Rhododendrons from his Azaleas.

Rob had a basic Flash website that wasn’t doing anything useful – not getting any leads and not really impressing clients who went there directly.

We did a brand new web design, bringing the visuals up to date, including lots of trust-building logos that represent the company’s qualifications, experience and associations, links to social media and comprehensive details of the various services offered.

You can check out the website here: www.growwellgardens.co.uk

We realised that pictures really say it all when it comes to gardening, so the site includes a range of high quality interactive slideshows which allow visitors to browse through a wide variety of before and after pictures. This builds trust and proves the quality of work, and also offers inspiration to new customers.

The website also features ‘A Year in a Garden’ page which offers visitors advice and tips on the most important things to do in their gardens at each of the different seasons. Offering free information like this serves several useful purposes – it builds trusts with visitors, who can see that the company really does have expertise, and it helps from an SEO point of view. That’s because Google loves content, and is more inclined to highly rank a website that offers good quality relevant content than one which just lists services and prices.

We’re pleased to report that the website shot to the top of the Google rankings for a range of relevant searches, and at the time for writing for on the front page for the searches:

•  Gardeners leeds
•  Landscape gardeners leeds
• Garden services leeds

Rob employs a team of enthusiastic gardeners and invests in high quality equipment, which means the efficiency and quality of the work is second to none. They handle everything from garden clearances to regular garden maintenance to fencing, turfing, patios and driveways and basically everything garden related.

If you need a gardener in Leeds and the surrounding area, they come highly recommended!

And of course if you’d like us to work similar magic on your website, then visit our main web design website.

Here is what Rob said about working with us:

As a business owner I recognise the importance of providing a friendly and professional service to clients and therefore I have high expectations of any business professionals that I choose to trust and work with.

Grow Well Gardens website was well overdue a complete re design, after speaking with a few different web designers I choose to use Sentiva.

The whole process was made clear from the start and was explained in a way so that even I could understand. Communication was great throughout so that I felt part of the process from beginning to end.

Kat and her team came up with a fantastic design which met and exceeded my expectations which is just what I need to push Grow Well Gardens forward.

The whole experience with Sentiva was a pleasure from the beginning to end and I would have no hesitation in recommending them to my friends, family and work colleagues.

Robert Vickers, Grow Well Gardens

Crikey! That was a bit of a long break – what can we say, it’s been all go here, from joining local networking groups, expanding our software development output, promoting our beloved Novel Factory, crawling all over all the social media you can shake a stick at – not to mention streetwide power cuts, internet outages and bank holidays – all things which are somewhat disruptive to work – some more enjoyable than others.

But we’re back now, and this blog will now be updated on a regular basis, with a range of webby things, including tips on best practice web design, new trends, search engine optimisation hints and tips and maybe even a few funnies thrown in for good measure.

Watch this space!

If you’re just looking for fab web designers in Leeds, then you should visit our main website here.

Man, the web design market is saturated.

So if you’re looking to hire a web designer, it can be really difficult to figure out the genuine professionals from the amateurs. But the last thing you want to do is invest a lot of time and money and end up with something unfinished, or that you’re not happy with. Equally, you don’t want to pay over the odds, but you understand that if you pay peanuts, you’ll get monkeys.

 

Here are a few (hopefully impartial) tips on how to choose a web designer.

Get a recommendation

By far the best way to choose any service is to go with someone that someone you know and trust the judgement of recommends. If you have friends or colleagues who have had a website designed, then pick their brains. Were they happy with the service they got, and would they recommend who they used? Or did they choose based on price and live to regret it? Use their experiences to avoid repeating the same mistakes.

Get a few quotes

If you can’t get someone through a recommendation, then it’s worth getting a few quotes. This is not necessarily to find out the cheapest price (going with the cheapest option will almost always end in headaches and unexpected expenses down the line), but to get a sense of the service and quality of product they provide. Do they really listen to your needs and come up with a solution that fits? Or do they just send out a standard template email? How they deal with your enquiry is a good reflection of how they will work down the line.

Go with your gut

At the end of the day it’s about finding someone you can trust and work with long term. A website isn’t a one-off deal, it needs to keep working for years to come. So you need to choose someone who you think you’ll be happy building an ongoing relationship with. Good relationships develop into friendships and maintain high levels of trust and a feeling of security. This is well worth paying a little extra for.

If you'd like to learn how to write copy for your website homepage and how to improve your search engine optimisation, visit our site.

There's a lot of talk these days about responsive web design, and whether to have a dynamic or static page width is one of the most basic ways a website can respond to a user's browser.

In case you're not sure what these terms mean, a static, or fixed, page width is one which is set to a definite number of pixels (or centimetres), and doesn't change, regardless of whether it's being viewed on a small monitor or a large one. A dynamic (or as I like to call them - stretchy) page width is one that stretches to fit the available space.

Advantages of a fixed page width

The main advanatge of a fixed page width is that you have more control over the layout of the page, and can be sure how it will look across different browser and resolutions. It means that you don't end up with unexpected dead whitespace and you can be sure which elements will line up with each other.

Disadvantages of fixed page width

The biggest problem is choosing the optimum width. This is about balancing the needs of users with small screens with those who have huge monitors. If you choose a width that is too big, then users on smaller screens will only be able to view some of the site and will have to use the extremely annoying horizontal scroll in order to see the sides. However, if you choose a width that is too narrow, then users on big screens will have large areas of empty space on either side, and the website will look silly perched in the middle.

Advantages of dynamic or stretchy width

By keeping your width dynamic each user will have most of the available space used up, without losing anything off the edges.

Disadvantages of dynamic or stretchy width

If the width is constantly changing, then it means that the page elements will be moving around and you have little control over the balance of the page and how the elements relate to each other. Also, if the main text is in a stretchy area, then it may end up being very wide - which is known to be more difficult to read than columns. It is possible to do lots of clever things to ensure different parts of the page stretch in proportion to each other - but this is a lot more effort.

If you're looking for web design in Leeds, or want to learn more about good and bad web design, visit our website.

We offer managed web hosting as standard with all our websites, because all websites need hosting, and it's a critical part of having an effective, reliable website.

But quite often clients who don't work with technology have no idea what web hosting is, or why they need it. We try our best to explain everything in terms that every one can understand, because a client who is confident that they know what's going on and are in control of the process, is a happy client.

This article aims to explain what web hosting is in very basic terms so that everyone can understand the principles. We don't go into the nitty gritty technical details, so it's not quite as simple as we make out - but it's as much as most people need to know.

So.

What is web hosting and why do you need it if you have a website?

A website is essentially a collection of files, including code files and images. These files need to be stored somewhere. You could keep them on your computer, but then your website would dissappear every time your turned your computer off, and if your internet connection wasn't very powerful, your website might appear unreliable to visitors. Also, whenever someone wanted to view your website, they would be using up your personal intenet connection.

So, instead of having websites live on home computers, there are huge computers which are dedicated to being homes for websites - and these are called servers. Servers are usually very powerful and are never turned off.

Having your computer live on one of these computers is called 'hosting'. Your 'host' is the supplier of the space on the server.

If you found this article helpful and want to learn more about web design and SEO, then have a look at our resource bank.

If you're looking for IT Support services for business or home, then try Unigold 2000.

So, you've got your nice, brand new, shiny website - it's launched and you're waiting on the edge of your seat for it to appear in Google's results... and there it is! Time for celebration!

But hang on, something looks a little... different. For a minute you can't put your finger on it, and then you realise, all the other results are displaying their URL (aka domain name or web address) with 'www' at the beginning, and yours isn't. It makes yours look kind of - stunted.

So, what's going on?

Well, if you've been configuring your website in IIS on the server, then you'll know that you set up a www and a root domain. If you didn't, then go ahead and do that now, and if you didn't configure your IIS, then you'll need to check with whoever did.

This is good practice, because if you don't define it both with and without www, then is anybody tries to go to your website without the 'www', then they will get a flat fail, which is a jolly bad show.

The problem is that when you set both of them up, for some reason best known to themselves, Google treats them as two completely separate URLs.

Luckily, Google offers you the option to sort this out by merging the two and deciding which one you'd prefer to display. You do this by setting your preferred domain. Simply go into Webmaster Tools, Configuration - set preferred domain. It gives you three options:

• Don't set a preferred domain
• Display URLs as www.mydomain.com
• Display URLs as mydomain.com

 

Unfortunately, as is often the case, things are not always so straightforward. When you try to choose one (display URLs as www.mydomain.com, if you're sensible) Google gives you an error that says:

'Part of the process of setting a preferred domain is to verify that you own http:/mydomain.com/. Please verify http://mydomain.com/.'

Great - but how do you verify that you own it?

Luckily, it's not that hard (once you know what you're doing - natch).

Simply go back into your Webmaster Tools overview and 'Add a site' with the domain without 'www' (or with, if you initially added without).

It will take you to the verification page. If you're left the original verification details in place, then all you need to do is click 'Verify' and hey presto, it will be verified. If you've removed the code, you'll need to go in and add it again.

Once this is done, you can go back to the configuration settings, select your option, and finally, Google will be happy, and will start displaying your URL correctly.

Comments and improvements on this post are welcome!

Choosing a web designer is hard. You want to get someone professional and skilled enough to build you a good quality site, but you want to pay as little as reasonably possible. But how can you tell if you're paying peanuts for monkeys or if you're getting ripped off?

Well, experienced web designers are unlikely to just say 'Yes, I can make you a website' without finding out a bit more about the project, the objectives and the client's expectations.

Below is an example list of questions a good web designer will be asking very early in the process - probably in the first conversation, or certainly at consultation. The answers to these questions will help a web designer get a good grip on the project and get an idea of timescales and development effort involved.

If they haven't asked any of these questions, it's possible that either they don't know what they're getting themselves into (and therefore may not be able to meet demands) or are picking a number out of the air, instead of honestly estimating the amount of work involved.

Critical

 

1. Can you describe your business in a few sentences?

2. Do you want mostly an information site, or do you want extra functionality, e.g.

· Ecommerce

· Social media integration

· Private login areas

3. Do you currently have a logo / branding?

4. Who will be responsible for the website’s content? Text and Images?

5. Do you have any websites you’ve seen that you particularly like?

6. Where are you based?

7. Do you have a specific budget and deadline?

Additional 

 

1. What’s your USP (what sets you apart from you competitors)?

2. Can you name a few of your competitors?

3. Can you describe your target customers?

4. What search phrases would you like to be found for?

8. How did you hear about us?

For more advice and tips on choosing a web designer, check out our resource bank.

One of our major projects, Emerson's Select 8 Online, has launched - marking the next generation in their refrigeration technology selection software.

We've have been working closely with the International Climate Technology Corporation, and liaising regularly with the company that built the original desktop-based software to create a new web-based version.

The new web-based software offers the advantages of being available to users anywhere they have internet access, and allowing Emerson to keep all of the data up to date, without engineers needing to download regular updates. Having the latest data is critical in this constantly moving industry.

Having a web-based version of the software also allows the program to be updated with new features and updates on a regular basis, ensuring all users have the latest benefits.

Select 8 Online software offers a range of new features including a flexible interface, allowing users to customise exactly which data tables and graphics they wish to have on display.

A customised PDF report can be generated based on the users preferences and selections from thousands of options, and these reports are frequently used as part of consultant proposals.
 
"Emphasis on a user friendly interface and regular database updates have contributed to its popularity and made it a ready tool for consultants, contractors, end users and students in the fields of refrigeration, air conditioning and heat pumps."

Emerson Climate Technologies

View the software here: http://www.emersonclimate.com/europe/en-eu/Resources/Software_Tools/Pages/SelectOnline.aspx

Sentiva is a web design and development company based in Leeds, Yorkshire - creating robust, elegent software for organisations in the UK and Europe. Find out more about Sentiva's software development and web development services here.