While growing up, I have never paid (OK, I admit it’s my mom who does the buying – thanks, Mom.) more than $40 for tennis shoes. That’s almost an impossible thing to do today. Furthermore, the many brands, features, and styles available make the decision-making process harder. Apply that to the more technical subject of Web sites and it’s scary.
Whether the economy is strong or in a slump, there’s always a company with a shrinking budget that requires cutting funds for the IT and other departments.
Furthermore, companies are creating a standard budget for their Web sites like any other portion of their business and they don’t get the outrageous amounts of money like those who did in the ’90s. With much of the cost going towards hardware and networking, Web managers are stuck with the short straw and have to make do with the little resources they have available.
With the availability of quality free or low-cost software and guidance from Web Design on a $hoestring, these Web sites can survive and even thrive. Doing things on the cheap isn’t limited to software as project management, team involvement, content, and technologies have an equal hand in building a successful site.
While most of the advice is common sense, Bickner offers a few tricks most people even tech-savvy ones may not consider. For instance, many shy away from CMSes (content management systems) because of their high price tag. Disregarding CMS is a mistake with the viable and affordable solutions available, but it doesn’t mean going shopping and just looking at the price tags without paying attention to the features.
The process is similar to purchasing a computer in that it’s important to determine what features are needed before shopping. “Content Management on a Tight Budget” describes the features to consider and offers suggestions for bargains.
It’s tempting to skip user testing and save the bucks, don’t do it. Use the suggested workarounds for conducting tests without sacrificing cost and quality. Layout, markup, and images may not sound like something to worry about when under a tight budget. However, it’s how they’re used that can make the difference when it comes to bandwidth costs.
The process of designing sites is like shopping for shoes; try on the shoes you like and go with whatever is a good fit. When it gets to be too much to figure it out go to a backup resource for support. In the case of Web sites, Web Design on a $hoestring is the comfy arch support.
VITAL STATISTICS:
TITLE: Web Design on a $hoestring
AUTHOR: Carrie Bickner
PUBLISHER: New Riders
PUBLICATION DATE: October 2003
ISBN: 0735713286
FORMAT: Paperback
PAGES: 215
PRICE: US$24.99