Building and Hosting Your Own Website - Essay Example

Building and Hosting Your Own Website Design Decisions Web designers of http www.mywebsite.comFROM: Name, Owner of WebsiteDATE: February 1, 2014SUBJECT: Design Instructions for http://www.mywebsite.comI am sending out this memo in connection to the recent findings of the website analyst I hired in my effort to improve website conversion and retention of visitors. I have been informed that a number of improvements done on my current website design could drastically improve my website statistics, hence allowing me to reach a greater number of my target market.

Some of the changes I wish to do include the following: (1) I want to be able to update my website regularly; (2) I want to have a beautiful, yet functional design.Migrating the Website to a CMSAs you are all well aware, I am not a techie person. I have always relied on your team to make updates on the website, and unfortunately, this has lead to a delay in the upload of articles as well as the posting of new products and services. As such, I have decided to do the update myself. I wish to have my entire website migrated to a content management system (CMS) such as Joomla so I can add/remove/revise content without the worry of ruining my website design.

I am pretty sure that you can do this quite easily as my current website host offers a one-click installation of Joomla on the server. Through this move, I hope I can make updates weekly, if not daily, as well as add new writers and editors to the website without giving full access to the backend of the web server.Utilizing the Four Basic Principles of DesignI have recently been looking up new website designs and have settled on a clean, crisp look. I want to use colors for actionable items on the website, as well as photos and quotes to highlight important parts of the content.

Please note that this redesign includes two important parts of the website: the store and the blog. I have written below details of the new design:1. Contrast: I want the background of the website to be white or grayish white so that items (fonts, photos, quotes) will stand out. I want titles or headers of articles to be in all cap and in bold. I want it colored in turquoise (see design document for details). Font of the content must be gray, a bit on the dark side, but definitely not black. 2.

Repetition: Photos for all articles (on the blog) must be in black and white. This way, it replicates the design elements of the fonts and serves to highlight the actionable links as well as the quotes taken out from the article. Moreover, repetition can be used in the Navigation of the store where categories of the products/services I offer are located in the left side, as well as in the tag sphere below it. 3. Alignment: I want lots of white space for the site, but I also want to have crisp lines which can be generated by aligning content to the left (for the blog).

In the store, I want products/services to display in a 4x4 grid.4. Proximity: Navigation (located on the left side of the website), search and social media integration (located on the right side) must scroll down as the client scrolls down so that they can find and share products when they want to. Moreover, it is important to have a way to classify products as “on sale”, “best sellers”, “featured”. If possible, I wish to enable loyal clients to tag the products and classify them accordingly.

Through a visually appealing site, I am hopeful that clients will want to stay longer and read through the articles I post. This way, they can become informed of the latest findings in my industry and I, on the other hand, can utilize various income streams. Perhaps later on, when my website statistics have improved, I can monetize the blog and sell ad space or add AdWords!Please let me know if you have other suggestions.Best,Name, OwnerDOCUMENT DESIGN AND ILLUSTRATIONSPlease note that this document design involves two important parts of my website: the blog and the store.

In general, I want both pages to share the same design – white background, with a minimalist layout.DESIGNING THE BLOG1. The screen capture on the right shows the color scheme I wish to utilize for my website.* Font color is gray for content body and navigation, turquoise for headers. Article titles and links are in turquoise* Font for the quotes on the article body itself are in drop caps, size: 30. Source: http://www.sofiawaldorfschool.org2. Articles must always have black and white photos.

Also, quotes that summarizes the important points of the article must be prominently displayed.DESIGNING THE STORE1. Place vertical navigation for the website on the left side. Navigation for store must include categories of products/services. It must scroll down as the client scrolls down so that they can easily switch categories if they wish.Source: http://sofiawaldorfschool.org2. Website must be integrated with social media, particularly Facebook and Twitter. Social media icons must be placed on the right-side margin of the page.

Just like the navigation, it must scroll down. Moreover, it is important to put a magnifying glass icon for the search function (right below the social media icon) so that clients can search for items/content anytime without needing to go back to the top of the page.Source: http://sofiawaldorfschool.org3. A slideshow must be included in the header. Slideshow features latest products and specials. Slide show must have controls so that clients can move forward or backward. Through this interactive display on the site, I can promote products.

Note that unlike the blog, the store utilizes full color for the photos but all photos must be applied with the same filter (a cooling blue that coincides with the turquoise color scheme). Source: http://demo.joomlabamboo.com/index.php?theme=nov134. Right below the slide show, there must be tabs that classifies products into these categories: on sale, bestsellers, featured, new.5. Products must be in a 4x4 grid. Each product must have a photograph and can be added directly to the cart. By clicking the name of the product, clients can see more information about it.

Source: http://demo.joomlabamboo.com/index.php?theme=nov136. Clients can access their carts by clicking on the cart button over by the header. Moreover, they can contact support or email by clicking the phone or email icon. Source:http://demo.joomlabamboo.com/index.php?theme=nov13