van der Wyk Design: Designer’s Notebook

When you are looking to create or redesign a website for your company or organization, what you may find is a sea of acronyms an buzzwords. Discerning what is right for your website (what is right for your target audience plus what is right for your company) takes a little bit of sorting through. One choice many of my clients face is whether to develop a CMS website (Content Management System) or to keep the site simple and static.

A Content Management System is really more than a website, it is a website application that runs on your web server; a program that creates a public front end that your web users visit and a private administration back end where you may log in and edit or create new content for your website without needing any knowledge of code or scripting. These websites are great for organizations that update their content often, need more than one person in the company to be able to contribute, and wish to incorporate polls, blogs, special user groups, email newsletters themselves. They use one visual template, and the pieces of content are inserted into the main page, sidebars and menus as directed.

The simple Static Website is a traditionally built site of pre-made pages linked together. As a website designer, I have a bit more control over how the templates look and work together with the different sections of the website. When content needs to be updated or changed, it is easily done with knowledge of HTML, CSS, javascript and with use of an FTP client to transfer the files from your computer to the web server. This style of website is great for companies or organizations that have fewer updates to make, an in-house webmaster, or who would like the designer to manage the web maintenance for them whenever necessary. As a general rule, these sites are less costly to produce than a CMS site with a custom template, but can involve a maintenance contract for upgrades, whereas the CMS site will be more money upfront but does not require additional service.

Which style of website is right for your business?

To best answer this question, take the above information into account, but first and foremost look at the most important variable: your target web user, your clients, customers, fellow community members. Your website exists for them. In my introductory client interview, I help you pinpoint the look and functionality that will best suit the people who will be using your website, and then we look at what your company needs to manage and support the site. To get a head start on this process, you may find it helpful to write a list of needs for your customer base, and then one for your business. Sorting out which tools are necessary to serve your public will clarify and direct your website development choices.

To set up your introductory interview, Contact me.