Pro Web Design

Why choose a professional designer?

You want a creative, effective and ‘custom’ type of website. Only a company with the skills and knowledge to produce these results can offer this to you. Living Graphix started doing webdesign about 7 years ago. Studying HTML, Adobe Dreamweaver, CSS and Adobe Flash & actionscript. Websites have come a long way in such a short period of time. Companies have undertaken to make it easier and quicker. A great number of software companies have jumped on the band wagon. Offering easier services where one can create their own website using an already built UI (User Interface) and all this, “they claim” is free. There are some drawbacks to this. Although they are great for possibly starting with. They are definitely not a full solution. They are very limited when it comes to customizing. They will have to be paid for at some point, make no mistake. When, if, we are actually educated enough. It works out far more cost effective in the long run, to have a professional design a custom website for you. Host it locally (Here in South Africa) and possibly even maintain the site for you. We, like many design agencies, know what we are doing. We have stood through the trials and know the in’s and out’s. However, if you still feel that the work can be carried out as effectively by your cousin, aunty, friend, brother or sister. While we don’t suggest it, you are welcome to it. We all had to start
somewhere and we do encourage people to learn. Here at Living graphix, we are skilled and knowledgeable when it comes to websites and website hosting. We have done the trial and error for you, so you don’t have to.

HTML & PHP “static” website advantages & drawbacks.

Back 8 years ago, smart phones were only just starting out. Ipads, tablets and the like weren’t even thought of yet. That is where HTML came into it’s own. It is quick to design, quick loading on most PC’s and light weight. Because we only had one screen to concern ourselves with and few screen sizes. It made designing a site easier, with less planning. It also took up far less space on hosting servers. Learning HTML has almost become obsolete because of WYSIWYG (what you see is what you get) programs that actually create it for you while you design. In general this is why you will still find HTML (Hyper text markup language) and PHP (Hypertext Pre-processor) websites being offered, still very basic to set up and also the reason we still find inexperienced people offering these sites for cheap. They are unfortunately, like everything, becoming outdated. A professional can do a fantastic creation for you using HTML & PHP. But they would not be cheap and they certainly wouldn’t be using WYSIWYG web builders. Also, when it comes to SEO and being responsive, these sites, although functional, are not practical in the long run. Can be extremely bland and not very appealing.

CMS (content management systems) advantages and drawbacks:

With WordPress and Joomla coming to the fore. Initially created for blogs. They have become awesome ways to build commercial sites. Especially where SEO (search engine optimization) comes in. With more and more pro designers turning to creating templates and plugins or extensions for these free CMS’s (content management systems). A CMS, and there are a few, like: Joomla, WordPress, Drupal, Silverstripe, Cushy, Frog, ModX, Magento, Opencart, Woocommerce to only name a few. There are literally hundreds. It becomes more cost effective. Granted it is making designers jobs more and more obsolete because it becomes easier for just anyone to do it. We do, however, still need the skills and expertise, when it comes to laying it out. Customizing and tinkering with the code. CMS’s offer responsiveness, which we need now, with smartphones and Ipads etc. Because your site now needs to fit on a whole bunch of different screen sizes. We don’t need to be concerned with the skeletal part of the website and as the name suggests it is a content management system. So your content is managed for you. It can be quite a frustrating way to build a site. Yet we basically cover all of our bases with the necessaties and can focus more on giving you a great looking return on your investment.

Make the right choices!

In short, websites are just that, an investment. If they are designed correctly, you will make a great return on your investment. They  are not something to
simply just be there. It is a tool to grow your business. think on how you are more attracted to a company if their website is attractive, clean, fresh and easy to navigate. Please don’t expect skilled work to be done by unskilled people. It does not bode well for your company image. Your website is your store front. The more people that are intrigued by it, the more clientele you can expect. If you want your business to generate money, commission a pro. If you want to attract business, get Living Graphix to do it for you. But, if you are not growing and getting more customers in. Have a look at your website. Because 9 out 10 people these days are going online first, to find what they are looking for. Yes, your website is important, so, contact us now!!