Right Mind Creative

How can the average consumer be confident they are hiring the right web design and development team? Below are five easy checks anyone (no matter the computer literacy level) can use to evaluate the portfolio of a web designer.

1. Colour Theory

Do the colours look good together? Do the colours used match the intended audience of the site? Are your eyes straining? You don’t need to know anything about colour theory to know if it is present. Chances are, if something is off, you’ll just know.

2. Contrast

If the website was in black and white, would you still be able to make sense of everything on the page? Do the important elements get your attention right away? If you feel like too many things are competing for your attention, or nothing is grabbing your attention, there may not have been enough thought put into contrast. You should know almost instantly what the most important element on the page is, and which elements are secondary.

3. Load Time

How long did you have to wait for that page to load? Is it more than your used to? There are many factors that can affect the load time of a website. Some may be out of the control of the web designers hands, but it is still their job to do everything in their power to get a website loaded as fast as possible. Faster load times will also improve your rating in search engines.

4. Content Hierarchy & Layout

Does the page present its elements in order of most important to least important? Are elements like the navigation in a logical place? Do they move around from page to page as you move through the site? Does the content of the site have headings and subheadings? Proper formatting of a page leads visitors through the site’s content from the most important to the least important. It also makes a long page of content easy to skim so your visitor can find what they are looking for faster. Properly formatted content will let google and other search engine know what’s important and can increase your search engine rating.

5. Validation

Go to http://validator.w3.org/ and enter the address of the website in question. Upon hitting enter a list of errors produced by the page will be loaded. Don’t jump to a conclusion just yet, there are many factors at play here. Errors do not necessarily mean the website is broken, at times the errors you see are acceptable and sometimes unavoidable. However, if you see a lot of errors use your best judgment and compare them to the errors on a competitors page. It is very important to note that errors will happen (sometimes it is necessary to break the rules a little). If you are curious to know if the errors you find are acceptable or unacceptable, just drop us a line and we will be happy to help you with any questions. Again, the fewer errors the higher your site will rate in search engines. These five checks are easy for anyone to do, and are all based on a gut feeling. If something just feels off when your browsing through a web designers portfolio, then chances are there is something off. In design, everything is done for a reason. If you have a question about the work of a designer, they should be able to tell you without hesitation the reasoning behind nearly every aspect of it. With a good designer, the amount of thought put into the details of their work will be instantly recognizable.