We have done some research and soul searching and have concluded that, in the future, a well designed web site that meets the needs of owners as well as their customers will be responsive designs and Content Management Systems (CMS). And accordingly, we have retooled our company to deliver these products.
OVERVIEW
Responsive design is a flexible web page that recognizes the different screen sizes, from desktop to cell phones, and provides a slightly different presentation of the web page content to give the best experience possible for the different screens. These designs accommodate todays cell phones, tablets and desktops and also will work on any future screen sizes.
A CMS puts an application program between the user and the web languages like html, Cascading Style Sheets (css), and javascript. The CMS approach makes it possible for users, without knowledge of web programming languages, to create and modify web pages.
RESPONSIVE DESIGN
So, what do I mean by "best experience." When using a desktop with a well-designed web page, the text is readable (no zooming) and you only have to scroll in one direction, usually up and down, to view all of the content. That is the objective for a best experience when using a tablet or cell phone.
Currently with non-responsive designs on both tablets and cell phones, the web page is displayed in full desktop layout. Since the screen size for desktops are larger than tablets and cell phones, the smaller screens must zoom out (reduce size of the web page content) to display it on the screens. This forces you to zoom in and scroll left, right and up and down to read the entire content.
The responsive design does not work that way. For each tablet and cell phone the web page is displayed to "fit" full screen at a readable size, no zooming. To accomplish this, the desktop version of the web page is altered by changing the layout and/or deleting some less essential items. So, the entire web page can be accessed by only scrolling up and down. Also, in the responsive design there are features recognizing the touch screen aspect of tablets and cell phones.
Click HERE if you would like to see a web site with examples of responsive web designs. This web site you are currently viewing is a responsive design. If you are viewing this from your desktop you can test this responsive design effect by simply reducing your browser window (called viewport in web design) and noting the changing page configurations. This test works on all responsive design web sites. On non-responsive web sites, you will not see this changing configuration.
CMS
A CMS program is available from many providers; the most popular are Drupal, Joomla, and Wordpress. Each provides a set of instructions for creating a fully functional web page. All that is really needed is an ability to read, understand and follow written instructions. You actually don't have to create the web page from scratch. There are literally hundreds of templates (some free of charge) that have already been completely designed and all you need to do is provide your specific content such as images, writings, etc. Also, if you decide to switch to a new template, your specific content will transfer to the new template.
Probably the biggest reason to go with CMS is that you can make changes to the site anytime you want without having to rely on a web design professional, thereby being able to keep your site current. This allows you to have sections like announcements, news events, and interesting article that can be updated as often as you like. Also, you can keep current things like changing business hours, telephone numbers, etc.
Now, even though all you need is to be able to read and follow instructions, there is still a learning curve and still a fair amount of time that you will need to commit to become efficient at using the vendor programs. This is where we come in. We are prepared to assist in any way from giving you advice and instructions on how to get started to fully developing your site and then turning it over to you with specific, easy to follow, instructions on how to update and make changes to the site. We can also provide continuing consultation for you.
Our advice, even if you don't have current plans to update your site, have your site designed as a CMS. The look and feel of a CMS is not different than a traditional web site. Who knows, maybe some time in the future you may want to start making some changes to the site, and if you already have a CMS, then you are good to go.
