Comments on: Good Web Design is Not Guesswork http://www.freshbooks.com/blog/2006/07/20/good-web-design-is-not-guesswork/ A blog about our thoughts on entrepreneurship, teamwork, our services, the Web and anything we find interesting. Sat, 21 Nov 2009 07:27:46 -0500 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.4 hourly 1 By: Petaluma Web Design http://www.freshbooks.com/blog/2006/07/20/good-web-design-is-not-guesswork/comment-page-1/#comment-65786 Petaluma Web Design Tue, 24 Feb 2009 03:58:31 +0000 http://www.freshbooks.com/blog/2006/07/20/good-web-design-is-not-guesswork/#comment-65786 I concur, and your graphical example is spot on, which solidifies my belief.....content before design. When I first started in the biz, it was all about cool looking websites. Content before design makes it so much easier to design. Many web site owners have no idea that they have paid for a website design that actually pushes potential clients away. Conversion is the goal and content is the key and thank you very much for a great blog. KR I concur, and your graphical example is spot on, which solidifies my belief…..content before design.
When I first started in the biz, it was all about cool looking websites. Content before design makes it so much easier to design. Many web site owners have no idea that they have paid for a website design that actually pushes potential clients away.
Conversion is the goal and content is the key and thank you very much for a great blog.
KR

]]> By: » Blog Archive » Design Technique 6: Wireframes - StevenClark.com.au http://www.freshbooks.com/blog/2006/07/20/good-web-design-is-not-guesswork/comment-page-1/#comment-45427 » Blog Archive » Design Technique 6: Wireframes - StevenClark.com.au Fri, 10 Aug 2007 22:55:19 +0000 http://www.freshbooks.com/blog/2006/07/20/good-web-design-is-not-guesswork/#comment-45427 [...] a software product. Web development isn’t any different. A common design technique called wireframes might be something you find useful when designing your [...] [...] a software product. Web development isn’t any different. A common design technique called wireframes might be something you find useful when designing your [...]

]]> By: Web Design http://www.freshbooks.com/blog/2006/07/20/good-web-design-is-not-guesswork/comment-page-1/#comment-31977 Web Design Fri, 02 Mar 2007 11:35:10 +0000 http://www.freshbooks.com/blog/2006/07/20/good-web-design-is-not-guesswork/#comment-31977 i'm agreed you must provide once type of service for project to $5000 and other for over regarding the article yes, you can provide simply and easy for understand information like phone numbers (attention on prefix code) e-mail with one-click and etc. i’m agreed you must provide once type of service for project to $5000 and other for over

regarding the article yes, you can provide simply and easy for understand information like phone numbers (attention on prefix code) e-mail with one-click and etc.

]]> By: Fall Teleseminar Series 2006 - Call 2 of 9 - with Andrew Goodman http://www.freshbooks.com/blog/2006/07/20/good-web-design-is-not-guesswork/comment-page-1/#comment-18043 Fall Teleseminar Series 2006 - Call 2 of 9 - with Andrew Goodman Mon, 25 Sep 2006 21:06:14 +0000 http://www.freshbooks.com/blog/2006/07/20/good-web-design-is-not-guesswork/#comment-18043 [...] FreshBooks post about how to design a good contact page [...] [...] FreshBooks post about how to design a good contact page [...]

]]> By: ReFresh: The September 06 Edition http://www.freshbooks.com/blog/2006/07/20/good-web-design-is-not-guesswork/comment-page-1/#comment-17163 ReFresh: The September 06 Edition Fri, 15 Sep 2006 18:24:53 +0000 http://www.freshbooks.com/blog/2006/07/20/good-web-design-is-not-guesswork/#comment-17163 [...] “As a follow up to a post I wrote about dealing with larger customers, once again Jim Logan in his Cash Flow Blog has some good suggestions for composing a good collection letter.”“Earlier this week Michael spoke with John Jantsch, author of Referral Flood, who has great advice about how to generate more referrals for your business. I listened to the call and took notes - here they are in point form.”“Now, I am not a lawyer, but here is a contract for web designers that I used to use when I did consulting and web design projects for less than $10,000.  It’s a great contract for those small brochure-type websites in the $0-$5,000 range (we used a different contract for engagements over $10,000).  Why is it a good contract?”Good Web Design is Not Guesswork “I want to tell you about a process you can use to design your pages.  Your users will benefit from the time you invest in page layout, and so will you because it will reduce the number of changes you need to make later to get a page right.  Also, your site will be more successful so your client will want to invest in additions and that means more revenue for you.” [...] [...] “As a follow up to a post I wrote about dealing with larger customers, once again Jim Logan in his Cash Flow Blog has some good suggestions for composing a good collection letter.”“Earlier this week Michael spoke with John Jantsch, author of Referral Flood, who has great advice about how to generate more referrals for your business. I listened to the call and took notes – here they are in point form.”“Now, I am not a lawyer, but here is a contract for web designers that I used to use when I did consulting and web design projects for less than $10,000.  It’s a great contract for those small brochure-type websites in the $0-$5,000 range (we used a different contract for engagements over $10,000).  Why is it a good contract?”Good Web Design is Not Guesswork “I want to tell you about a process you can use to design your pages.  Your users will benefit from the time you invest in page layout, and so will you because it will reduce the number of changes you need to make later to get a page right.  Also, your site will be more successful so your client will want to invest in additions and that means more revenue for you.” [...]

]]> By: Web template http://www.freshbooks.com/blog/2006/07/20/good-web-design-is-not-guesswork/comment-page-1/#comment-13299 Web template Fri, 01 Sep 2006 21:52:54 +0000 http://www.freshbooks.com/blog/2006/07/20/good-web-design-is-not-guesswork/#comment-13299 I enjoy your articles. I will visit your blog again. Robert I enjoy your articles. I will visit your blog again.

Robert

]]> By: Michael McDerment http://www.freshbooks.com/blog/2006/07/20/good-web-design-is-not-guesswork/comment-page-1/#comment-5559 Michael McDerment Fri, 21 Jul 2006 12:36:02 +0000 http://www.freshbooks.com/blog/2006/07/20/good-web-design-is-not-guesswork/#comment-5559 Thanks Jay - and again congrats on the FireFox project.: http://www.radiantcore.com/blog/archives/12/07/2006/skinningafox Thanks Jay – and again congrats on the FireFox project.:
http://www.radiantcore.com/blog/archives/12/07/2006/skinningafox

]]> By: Jay Goldman http://www.freshbooks.com/blog/2006/07/20/good-web-design-is-not-guesswork/comment-page-1/#comment-5489 Jay Goldman Fri, 21 Jul 2006 05:09:10 +0000 http://www.freshbooks.com/blog/2006/07/20/good-web-design-is-not-guesswork/#comment-5489 Mike is dead on right about this - and I say that as part of the team that he's working on this top secret, non-Fresh Books, not time intensive project with (well, not time intensive for him). And, actually, I stand somewhat guilty as charged - I jumped the gun on doing some wireframes before we had done some of the more basic prioritization of features. But I had a good reason - and one that I think is worth repeating here. Discussions about design are very abstract things until you make sure that everyone at the table is speaking the same language. In this particular case, the client provided everyone with a well-written requirements document that spelled out what they thought they wanted, and I felt that it was worth spending an hour on wireframes for that vision to make sure that we were all speaking the same language. It helped everyone at the table to understand what they were asking for, and provided a great medium for us to draw and note on. There's a lot of value to be found in low fidelity prototypes, like wireframes, provided that everyone understands that they are meant to be iterated and marked up and destroyed. Mike is dead on right about this – and I say that as part of the team that he’s working on this top secret, non-Fresh Books, not time intensive project with (well, not time intensive for him). And, actually, I stand somewhat guilty as charged – I jumped the gun on doing some wireframes before we had done some of the more basic prioritization of features.

But I had a good reason – and one that I think is worth repeating here. Discussions about design are very abstract things until you make sure that everyone at the table is speaking the same language. In this particular case, the client provided everyone with a well-written requirements document that spelled out what they thought they wanted, and I felt that it was worth spending an hour on wireframes for that vision to make sure that we were all speaking the same language. It helped everyone at the table to understand what they were asking for, and provided a great medium for us to draw and note on. There’s a lot of value to be found in low fidelity prototypes, like wireframes, provided that everyone understands that they are meant to be iterated and marked up and destroyed.

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