Website Templates

The Holy Grail of website design is to create a design that is pleasing, useful, maneuverable, and manageable all at the same time - and in even balance. Although the first two are truly "in the eye of the beholder", the last two can be tightly controlled by the website designer. Before custom application code is added to any website, MyWebGuy designers must provide a website template that contains a menu system so that users (along with search engine crawlers) can easier find their way through every corner of the site. They must also design in such a way that common portions of the site pages are attached as "include" files so a single edit can propagate through all the pages in the website.

The layouts of our designs are created using Adobe Dreamweaver in template mode. This means we also create the general page design based around a single or small handful of layouts that can be edited a single time and also propagated to all the website pages attached to that template.

In this way, we are able to edit, create, or update webpages on small to huge websites much more easily than trying to maintain single pages one at a time.

Logo Design

A Logo Design needs to tap your inner emotions, stimulate your visual appeal, and etch itself into your memory. Your corporate identity has seconds to impress a viewer with your branding.

A custom logo also helps:

• Reinforce brand, helping solidify consumer loyalty
• Create a positive, long-term impression
• Professional logo design increases credibility

Our Process

Step 1: You complete a questionnaire about your business and what you are looking for in a logo. Any color suggestions, stylistic ideas, and general conceptual thoughts that you provide will help your designer get a feel for the type of visual identity that would be most appropriate for your business.

Step 2: After reviewing your questionnaire, your designer will contact you by phone for an initial consultation to begin the design process. In this conversation, he/she will discuss the project goals with you and answer any questions you may have regarding the process as a whole. The project timeline will be initiated at this step.

Step 3: Based on your questionnaire and phone consultation, your designer will create and present to you several visual logo concepts, along with his/her thoughts and vision for your logo as it relates to your business.

Step 4: After you receive your logo concepts, you will choose your preferred logo concept and collaborate with your designer on several revisions to that logo design. During this stage, your constructive criticism and direct, thorough feedback will be important to ensure your complete satisfaction with the final result. After revisions are complete, your designer will deliver a final, high-impact logo design for your approval.

Step 5: Following receipt of your written approval of your chosen design, your designer will provide you with print and Web-ready formats of your logo.

Photography/Videography

Photo images and video clips for website design can either be purchased as royalty-free stock from photo houses on a per image/movie basis or at a monthly rate. When you can't find the images you need, then the services of a professional photographer/videographer are required. MyWebGuy has aligned themselves with an imaging association that in turn allows us to work with members from around the world.

These members specialize in :

• Product shots
• Advertising imagery
• Model portfolios
• Nature
• "How to" videos
• Presentations

Once completed, MyWebGuy takes over on the production side to optimize images and convert/compress video to make them more usable for Internet viewing. This includes formats like Flash, Windows Media, Adobe Quicktime, etc.

Photoshop Imagery

Taking a good image and making it a great image is only one of the strengths of Adobe Photoshop... but it is an important one in the world of web design.

There used to be a time when retouching a photo meant adjusting colour, adding highlights, and removing a blemish or two... but now designers are able to create artwork that does not physically exist outside of the artists mind!

At MyWebGuy we are able to take your ideas, transpose them into a collection of new or purchased images from a stock house, and then merge them into a single visual representation of your initial idea. This can be as simple as masking out a main character and changing the background or as difficult as creating an entire new world and new life forms.

Interface Design

How a user makes there way through your website or application can mean the difference between a 5 second visit and a 20 minute visit. Depending on the message your site is designed to convey, the menu structure or "interface" should make sure that it meets the following requirements:

• Relates to the entire website design
• Is not the main visual content for any page
• Can be viewed in the most popular internet browsers

The interface can be as simple as well placed text with simple roll-over effects to Hi-tech 3-D designs.

At MyWebGuy we strive to keep the interface design visual but simple enough to not over-power the main concept of the site design or its content.

Image Optimization

Because of the many different Internet connection speeds available throughout the world from slow dial-up to broadband connections, designer must always think about the size of each page being presented and the largest percentage of a page size is almost always the images portrayed. Web page load time can be crucial to the success of a site.

Pictures for the web are usually saved as GIF or JPEG and the latest browser updates also now allow for the PNG format. The JPEG format is best for optimizing continuous-tone images, such as photos and images with gradients or glows. The GIF compression gives the best fit for optimizing flat or simple images with one-color areas, such as logos, illustrations, cartoons, line art. The PNG format is considered the best of both worlds... but because of the lack of support in older browsers, it may not be the best choice if your viewers use a non-supporting browser.

MyWebGuy uses the latest in software technology to provide a balance between image clarity and size. If your website is not new, we are able to go through your server log files and help determine the best course of action for the largest section of browsers used by viewers of your site. If your site is new, we can help determine the browser demographics expected for your site and develop an ongoing plan for adjustments based on the actual browsers used.