Websites Are Not Set in Stone, But…

April 28, 2010 | by Carrie Hane Dennison | Posted in Web Content, Web Design

Often when we hand over websites to clients, they have questions like:

“Can I add another page to the main navigation?”

“Can we make that font blue?”

“Can we add an image there?”

The answer to all of these questions is “Yes, but…” Here’s why.

Your website is not set in stone, but we have followed web standards and best practices for content, usability, user interface, coding, development, and information architecture. These make your site visually appealing and consistent, easy for users to use, and easy to update. When you start making changes to font or navigation or design, you may lose consistency and the usability that users want and need.

Sometimes it takes awhile to get from the beginning of your web project to the end. But it is important to remember that at the start we had discussions about the site map to determine the best names and categories for the site. We then based the design on those words and categories.

So when you ask, “Can we add another page to that main navigation bar?” my answer will be “Yes, but then the design will break.” We have worked with to you plan for a certain number of main navigation categories, adding or removing one changes the assumptions we have built into your site set up.

All our sites use cascading style sheets (CSS) to render layout and font styles. This is best practice for coding and separates the content from the design. Not only does this make the code better, but it makes it easy to make a single change to a font or layout style and have it apply throughout the site.

So when you ask, “Can we make that font blue?” my answer will be “Yes, but you really should use the styles set up for your site to keep the consistency of design.”

The list could go on, but hopefully you’re getting the idea. The beauty of websites is they are ever changing, unlike a printed brochure. This allows real-time updates to get information out to many people fast. It allows you to change the name of a speaker in a matter of seconds. Images can be swapped out when you have a new president of your company. All good things that make the web so wonderful.

But just because websites can be changed easily, doesn’t always mean they should be. A lot of thought was put into making your site the way it is. Therefore, a lot of thought should be put into changing it. After all, you would think twice (or possibly three or four times!) before changing the font of text in a magazine.

Your website is just as important, if not more important, than your print publications. Think carefully before changing it. And when you decide there is a good reason to change it, make sure you do it in a way that keeps it looking and working its best.