Hi guys,

 

I'm new to this forum and looking for some general advice in respect of web design.

 

I have an idea for a website that I have been working on for some time now but am battling with myself over various issues. My site is based around displaying statistics and analysis. This started out as a hobby and I've been trying to design and develop the website myself (simply because I can't afford to employ someone to do it for me at the moment) but I'd like to take it a step further and perhaps turn it into a commercial site.

 

The main problem I have is that I am no designer and I just don't know what looks good whether it be in respect of layout, colour scheme, use of charts/tables, font-types etc. So I find myself agonising over this which in turn puts barriers in place to me progressing my project. I can't tell you how many times I have tried to change the look of my website only for it to never look anywhere near as professional as some of the sites you seen on the web.

 

I obviously know the content I want I just don't know how to best present it.

 

Now I may be jumping the gun a bit with my agonising which is the reason for my post, but I'm not sure whether I should just be getting something up and running no matter how it looks and worry about being able to afford a designer to re-design later on or whether the initial design and layout is too important not to get right before going on to develop it.

 

I'm sure I'm not the only one ever to be in this position so I was wondering if any of you have any advice for me.

 

Thanks

 

Steven

Personally I wouldn't worry too much about design until you’re planning on going public with it. If you're still at the stage where you're playing around with the workings and development of it I'd just carry on until its "finished"

 

Any good designer will be able to work around whatever you produce. If you don't want to hire a designer there are loads of resources and templates online that'll help you. You can also post the layout on places like this, people are always willing to give their opinion.

 

For now stick to neutral colours, no more than a couple of different fonts, basic navigation. Design around it once you're happy with the content

Joanna's hit the nail on the head I think. When it comes down to it, your web-sites purpose is to convey information to your users, so the first port of call is always to perfect the site content and treat the design as the step afterwards where you craft the design around the content. There are exceptions to that of course as sometimes there's a blurry line between what is site design and what is site content. As you're presenting statistical analysis I can empathise with your problem to an extent, because there's always that temptation to alter the way in which you present your statistics (whether that be bar charts/tables etc) to suit your changing ideas on how best to design your site. Thus the temptation to design your site concurrently with the site content will drag you into the quandary you find yourself in, where you're constantly adjusting your material around the site design and vice versa.

 

The easiest way around this problem is to draw a mental distinction between your content and the site design. Forget that your material will ultimately appear on a website and lay it out in a manner that it's easy to follow. Do this in Adobe Fireworks/Photoshop, Microsoft Word or even on pen and paper! Once you've found a good way of presenting your data then consider the site design around that content.

 

Eoin

Thank you both for your quick responses and comments which have been very helpful.

 

Things are a bit clearer in my mind now, I'll concentrate on getting the content right and a basic design for now.

 

Steven

Here you are

Chris,

 

Thanks for the link, I'll take a look at it. I notice that you are local to me so maybe when I'm ready I might call on you!

 

Steven