The clients design flaw

When it comes to designing everyone knows that not all designs convert to the web. I have experienced in the past where clients who are good designers like to create there own design for us to build. This helps reduce cost on their side because they already have a design in hand. But in a worse case scenario that is not always the case. On average a design from a client can take up to double the time to construct and here’s why……

Integrity

Every web designer knows that everything has to be a standard on every page. The layout,  styles etc. They all have to match. While we can do different layouts per page and different styles this can drag on development time and if anyone uses templates in Dreamweaver should know that a nested template for each page is annoying.

image placement

Similar to integrity that images should be set apropriately. Within the scructure of a website we have footer, header, etc so when a design comes through which images cross over between the header and content, can cause issues.

Everyone likes big images, only if they are used appropriately and using them efficiently within a design structure. This means  images should not be constantly used. This helps reduce loading times and is good for Google and your hosting.

Design size

In my line of work we tend to use fixed width at around 980px wide, they are easier to maintain and develop without worrying about screen resolutions. Many designer clients like perfectly box shape designs, they do not like the scroll s bar on the right hand side. What they do not know that screen resolution plays a huge part on how a site looks so if you have a picky client this can prove hell.

Font types

This is my favourite and I am sure every web developer has come across this. Designers love fonts. In web design unless you integrate some special font embedding system which can be seen on all machines you are resitricted by a few. Most normal designers do not really get this unless you explain it to them. I have seen designers use Verdana, specific windows based font they want as their content text or fonts like comic sans which you end up pulling your hair out because they designer loves it so much. Some fonts in specific areas is okay if they are used as images such as headers or maybe menus with a Javascript rollover but best try and avoid.

Before taking any work from a client who is a designer make sure they design is agreed and signed off for before  even trying to build with it. It could save you hours of additional work.