Display Resolution & Web Design - A Move Forward

PaperStreet is going to take a step forward and begin to design some of its web sites for the 1024 pixels wide audience. Why you ask? Because all signs point to that the majority of users have larger displays. This trend can only continue. This gives us more real estate to put in content and images.

Display Resolution

The current trend is that more and more computers are using a screen size of 1024×768 pixels or more:

From W3Schools

As you can see from the nice chart, since 2002 the 1024 pixel audience has grown from just 44% to now over 74%, while the 800 market has dropped from 49% down to a paltry 20% of the market.

Will the move cause some of the smaller audiences’ minor inconvenience with the dreaded horizontal scroll? Sure. However, we will make every effort to create designs that focus the main content of a page in the 800 pixel range, and only using the edges for secondary content.

Some techniques we can use are design based, such as putting only secondary content on the edges of the screen. Moreover, a lot of times we will be able to add better graphics and photos to the edges to compliment the design.

Other techniques will be technological, such as auto detecting a monitor size and redirecting to different CSS and/or pages. Another solution is using flexible layouts with CSS to put the content area either on the side or on the bottom depending on how large the browser is displayed.

Of course, we will always determine the target audience before designing. If a client’s target audience predominately uses smaller monitors, then of course we will design in 800 x 600.

by Peter Boyd in Design, PaperStreet on April 30, 2006   -    Be the First to Comment
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The Law Offices of Shawn R.H. Smith, P.A. Selects PaperStreet to Design Its Web Site

PaperStreet Web Design will design a new web site and logo for The Law Offices of Shawn R.H. Smith, P.A.

PaperStreet Web Design is looking forward to designing a new web site for The Law Offices of Shawn R.H. Smith, P.A. The new web site’s goal is to create an easy to navigate and visually appealing experience that depicts the firm’s unique image.

About The Law Offices of Shawn R.H. Smith, P.A.

Shawn R.H. Smith served as an Assistant State Attorney for the Sixth Judicial Circuit of Florida for 5 years. Before working as a prosecutor Shawn graduated from Stetson University College of Law and was admitted to practice in 2001. After graduation Shawn worked as a prosecutor, handling over thousands of cases from misdemeanors to felonies. Shawn prosecuted criminal offenses including DUI, Theft, Violation of Probation, Drug Possession, Drug Trafficking, Battery, Burglary, and Murders. Shawn’s experience also includes serving as lead trial attorney on over thirty jury trials.

by Laura Benson in Legal on April 28, 2006   -    Be the First to Comment
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Fountain Law Firm, P.A. Selects PaperStreet to Design Its Web Site

PaperStreet Web Design will design a new web site and logo for Fountain Law Firm, P.A.

PaperStreet Web Design is looking forward to designing a new web site for Fountain Law Firm, P.A. The new web site’s goal is to create an easy to navigate and visually appealing experience that depicts the firm’s unique image.

The Florida real estate law firm represents home Buyers, Sellers, Realtors, Builders and Lenders in all aspects of Real Estate Law - Commercial and Residential Closings, Mortgage Financing, Construction and Contracts. With their expanded practice of Mortgage Law, their firm can now represent the Home Buyer to obtain home loan financing directly from the secondary mortgage market at a lower cost and at a lower interest rate.

The firm also practices in many areas of estate planning. The firm will save you time and money by walking you through the basics of estate planning and the associated tax issues.

by Laura Benson in Legal on April 28, 2006   -    Be the First to Comment
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PaperStreet Launches New Web Site for Moran & Shams, P.A.

Moran & Shams, P.A. launch their new web site with the help of PaperStreet Web Design.

Moran & Shams, P.A. is a full-service commercial law firm which combines an unusual depth of practice experience with a commitment to personal attention unique for a firm of its size. It traces its origins in Central Florida back more than 30 years, and enjoys client relationships which have endured for decades.

The Orlando commercial law firm prides itself on maintaining a tradition of service, accessibility and responsiveness not often found in modern commercial law firms. Moran & Shams’ commitment to excellence is also marked by the highest degree of loyalty to its clients.

As a result of the consistent quality of their legal representation, Moran & Shams’ attorneys have achieved a solid reputation among their peers in both the legal and the business community.

by Laura Benson in Legal on April 28, 2006   -    Be the First to Comment
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PaperStreet Launches New Web Site for Lawson, Davis, Pickren & Seydel, LLP

Lawson, Davis, Pickren & Seydel, LLP launch their new web site with the help of PaperStreet Web Design.

Lawson, Davis, Pickren & Seydel, LLP, provides clients with the resources of a large firm, while providing the responsiveness and personal attention of much smaller firms. At Lawson Davis, they have worked hard to assemble the finest team of legal professionals with areas of expertise tailored to meet the unique needs of their clients. The firm’s commitment to their clients is matched only by their integrity and their strong commitment to aggressively and ethically represent their clients’ interests.

The Atlanta corporate law firm has served its clients in Atlanta, the Southeast and the nation for the last three decades. The firm was founded in the Bicentennial Year (and month) of 1976 by William H. Lawson and G. Thomas Davis. Bill Lawson brought to the new firm an established legal expertise in business and finance, and Tom Davis had served as a Senior Assistant Attorney General and Division Head in the State of Georgia Law Department, handling litigation and trial matters. The two first met while attending the University of Georgia Law School.

They beleive that problem-solving for clients today, both corporate and individual, involves a combination of good lawyering and effective communication with clients, adverse parties, regulatory authorities and governments. With this understanding, the firm is equipped to apply its legal talent and business experience on behalf of its clients to achieve efficient and economical results.

by Laura Benson in Legal on April 28, 2006   -    Be the First to Comment
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PaperStreet Launches New Web Site for Baker & Zimmerman, P.A.

Baker & Zimmerman, P.A. launch their new web site with the help of PaperStreet Web Design.

Baker & Zimmerman, P.A. is a nationally recognized trial law firm, committed to protecting the rights of people injured through negligence. Since 1993, they have represented clients in courtrooms throughout Florida. Over the past 10 years alone, they have recovered more than $70,000,000 in settlements and verdicts for their clients. These verdicts and settlements have established their position amongst the elite personal injury trial firms in Florida.

The Florida personal injury law firm’s litigation teams, all of whom have extensive courtroom experience, are assisted by a support staff of professionals with diverse backgrounds. They are equipped with state of the art technology to ensure that their cases are organized, their presentations are forceful and effective, and their messages reach opposing attorneys, insurance adjusters, judges, and ultimately, jurors. They maintain relationships with nationally known experts in fields such as medicine, engineering and economics to ensure that all of their cases are meticulously prepared.

Highly professional legal services, substantial resources, creativity, endurance, and commitment to our clients and the community are the qualities that best describe Baker & Zimmerman, P.A. We take great pride in the fact that hundreds of former clients consider us friends and stay in touch with us years after their cases have concluded. Let Baker & Zimmerman be “The force behind your fight”.

by Laura Benson in Legal on April 28, 2006   -    Be the First to Comment
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Working on Spec vs. Portfolio

Every once in awhile we get a client asking us to provide samples of design work for their web site project. While we would like to provide concepts for them, unfortunately PaperStreet is not setup to provide samples before we are actually signed. We do this for a few reasons:

Service Reason
Most importantly, designing on speculation is hurting the client. Before starting any project, you need data. Data helps you understand what you will be doing, how you will position the site, and how you will design the site. We typically fill out a client questionnaire, map out a site structure, and plan the site before starting any design work. Designing something before we get all the data would be doing any client a disservice.

Portfolio Reason
Prior work is really the best way to judge a design firm. To win projects, we let our prior work speak for itself. Because we are a custom design firm each client will get something that is unique, tailored to them and making them shine.

Business Reason
From a business model, working on spec is inherently dangerous. The more time you spend on spec work, the less time you have for existing clients and new clients. If you go a few months without winning any work, your business will suffer, which means current clients suffer, and eventually your business could fail.

Time Reasons
Working on spec usually causes time restraints, as you do not know for certain that you will sign the client. How much time do you spend on a concept? How many concepts should you produce? Do you spend extra hours on a client that is not really interested? How do you tell whether you have a good shot at landing the client? With too many variables it is tougher to plan the business.

Pricing Reasons
Typically, firms that work on spec charge a bit more for their work. It is simple math. If you spend 10, 20, 50 or 100 hours on a spec project and do not win the project, you eventually have to make that time up. How do you do this? Simple, you charge new clients and existing clients more for your projects.

Legal Reasons
Working on spec is bad from a legal standpoint. Not that any client would ever steal a whole design, but firms can be tempted to take ideas or themes. It’s always annoying to see an idea or two that you had in a design end up on someone else’s portfolio.

by Peter Boyd in Design, PaperStreet on April 24, 2006   -    Be the First to Comment
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Web Design Questions

We are often asked a bunch of questions regarding web design, optimization and everything else you can think about for marketing. Here are the top questions and answers. =====================

1. Tips for easy and effective Web site navigation.
Planning. Planning. Planning. Would you start writing an appeal without an outline? You need to outline your site navigation as the first step in the web site process. Start with a site structure that is in bullet or numbered format. Once you have outlined what content will be on the site, how people will move through the site, then the navigation falls into place pretty easily.

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2. What qualities make a Web site aesthetically pleasing?
What qualities make a person aesthetically pleasing? Since beauty is in the eye of the beholder we often can just tell whether a web site is ugly or professional just by looking at the site. However, typically bad web sites have either (a) no planning, (b) no theme, (c) too many cooks in the kitchen, (d) bad photos / graphics, or a mix of all of the above. Aesthetically pleasing sites are properly planned by a design team. The law firm typically gives them overall goals and lets the design team do what they are paid to do…be creative.

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3. What kind of content should be included in a Web site (newsletters, articles, news)?
Everything. Put as much as you can online. This includes firm bios, attorney bios, newsletters, articles, news, highlights, cases and more. Firms now can have extranets to interact with their clients.

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4. How can you measure whether your site is effective?
It depends on the goal. If your goal is to increase revenue, then measure the revenue attributable to the web site through a system of contact forms, client signings, and good bookkeeping. If you goal is increase in inquiries, then track the inquiries from one contact form or from call in questionnaires. If your goal is simply to increase traffic, then any statistics package that is installed on your web server should do the trick. Of course, you must first set your goals for the site.

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5. Should the site have a blog?
A web site should have a system that allows the firm to easily post articles, news, or events. Whether you call it a blog, a content management system, or an overworked web developer, the main point is that you should be able to update content easily, online, and in real-time.

The good news is that blogs and content systems are now cost-effective and easy to install. This gives all law firms the ability to post information without technical knowledge. Of course, you have to find the time to post information in your busy schedule.

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6. What are the most common Web site mistakes?

No Contact Information
It’s already hard enough to get a potential client to your web site, don’t make it any harder for them to find your law firm. Put your phone numbers, address, and other contact information on every page.

Clueless Navigation
Ever been to a site with a bunch of pictures and no navigation text? Wait! Suddenly you scroll over the picture of a gavel and - poof! - “ABOUT US” suddenly appears. Then you scroll over the picture of a smiling woman and “OUR ATTORNEYS” appears. This is clueless navigation. By the time you scroll over all the pictures to see what they say, you’ve forgotten the title of the very first picture.

Bad Flash
Don’t you just love long Flash introductions that have swooshing text, such as “law firm,” “employment law,” “atlanta” and “new york”? Web research shows that 98 percent of Internet users click on the “Skip Introduction” button before the Flash presentation is through. ‘Nuff said.

Caveats
This site can only be viewed in Internet Explorer 6.0, Flash 5.0+ enabled, on a 1024 px by 768 px monitor that has a refresh rate of 75mhz, 3.0 Pentium 4 processor, 256mb RAM, and 50GB hard drive, etc. etc. The last time we checked, a web site was NOT a piece of software you buy at Circuit City. All web sites should be cross-platform/browser compliant and should boot automatically.

Spelling errorz [sic] / Broken Links / Coming Soon
This is rookie-league stuff. Every web design program has a feature that checks for spelling errors and broken links. Further, you should never put a page on a site unless it has relevant content.

P o o r l y F o r m a t t e d T e x t & G r a p h i c s & C o l o r s
Would you put a 48pt title block on a pleading? How about rainbow colors for your letterhead? How about a spinning gavel in your courtyard? Then why would you use odd fonts, bad colors, and awful graphics on your web page?

Cheesy Music
If potential clients wanted to hear Jimmy Buffet, they’d drive to Key West and listen to him play. Why do web sites love to play cheesy music to entertain us while we learn about the intricacies of a homestead exemption?

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7. Tips for search engine optimization.

Relevant Content
Content is king. Search engines rank web sites higher if they offer relevant content that contains such words or subjects. For your law firm to be found, your site needs to offer authoritative information on your practice areas. Do this by adding articles, newsletters, alerts, profiles and anything else that is relevant.
Quick fixes like jump pages, cloaking or hiding content will hurt rankings
While unethical tactics do not hurt anyone like a weapon of mass destruction (WMD), search engines view these techniques just the same. Each search engine company has its own team of inspectors that regularly ban web sites that use these spam techniques. Use these techniques at your own peril. They may help you in the short term, but eventually you will be caught and your site banned.
Edit your Meta Tags
Meta tags are HTML-coded information that search engines look at when crawling on your web site for information. In the simplest form, meta tags consist of a title tag (although technically not a meta tag, its the most important tag), a description tag, and keywords tag. To optimize the web site, your firm should decide on the most important words to place in title, keyword, and description tags. In addition, your firm should create different meta tags for each page of the web site. This will allow each page to be indexed differently by the search engine.

Links
As stated by Google, the best way to ensure a top listing is for your web site to be linked to a lot of other web sites. This is known as link popularity. We encourage clients to seek out links with related companies. We do not recommend creating spam links or linking to spam sites that artificially boost your web sites rating, but receiving quality links to your site will boost its ranking.

Register your Web Site
To capitalize on your firm’s link popularity, meta tags, and content, your web site needs be registered with the top search engines and as many other web sites as possible. However, submitting is easy and if your web site has been on the Internet for more than a year then likely all search engines have already included your web site in their directory. Finally, there’s no need to submit your web site to 1,000 plus search engines as almost all web traffic comes from a handful of search engines (Google, MSN, Yahoo, AOL, and Ask.com)

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8. Should law firm sites include attorney contact information and e-mail addresses, just the firm’s general contact information, or fillable generic forms to send to the firm?
It can include all of the above, or it can include none of the above. It really depends on the law firm. Some firms promote a cultural of allowing clients to contact partners and associates (whether its electronically or via the phone). Other firms shield information and only have a direct point of contact with a senior partner. If your firm is open and wants calls or emails to anyone, then post everyone’s info. If your firm wants a single point of contact, then put the partner’s info or generic contact info for the firm.

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9. What do you think is overkill on site?
Flash introductions. Don’t you just love long Flash introductions that have swooshing text, such as “law firm,” “employment law,” “atlanta” and “new york”? Well, I don’t and since web research shows that 98 percent of Internet users click on the “Skip Introduction” button before the Flash presentation is through, then neither does anyone else. This is because most Flash introductions are time-consuming and have no purpose other than to put in some more cowbell (i.e. something that is not needed, but fun). In web design it is important to remember, just because you can do it doesn’t mean you should. Whenever considering adding more cowbell to your site first ask: How is this helping my potential client?

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10. What law firm Web sites do you think are successful and why (give a few examples)?

PaperStreet web sites, of course. Actually, any web site that meets its goals and stays on budget is a successful web site. The problem is that most web sites do not define their goals.

DallasJustice.com - Law Office of Michael Lowe
Michael Lowe, a solo practitioner has received over 1000 inquiries per year for the past two years. This is not hits, but actual inquiries directly from the web site.

WTHF.com – Watt Tieder Hoffar & Fitzgerald
The new firm was able to brand itself as a construction only law firm with a new logo, web site, and advertising campaign.

FRC-Law.com – Fowler Rodriguez & Chalos
The New Orleans based law firm was able to update its web site online, in real-time from its Miami office, thereby telling employees and clients (many of whom are oil, gas and shipping companies) how to contact the firm during the hurricanes.

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11. What steps should you take and what questions should you ask when choosing a design or Web consulting firm?

General Ideas
Set a goal. Both in time, budget, and what you want the web site to achieve.
Contact as many designers as possible. You will receive a variety of quotes, timelines, and technologies.

Read, read, and re-read your proposals. Ask questions about the quotes, timelines and technologies. Read more articles online about the technologies and understand what you are getting from each designer. An informed client is always a happy client.

Go through each designer’s portfolio. Every designer has a few good sites, but look at all of their sites. If you like the overall work of a designer, then most likely they will produce something that you are happy with.

Narrow your list down to three teams and either have additional in-person interviews or phone interviews. Note that a design team does not have to be local. Web design teams typically work great via email and the phone.

Specific Questions
What is the timeframe?
Costs? How do you bill? Hourly? Flat Rate? Monthly? Payment Method?
Will the firm own the copyright in the design?
Will we be able to maintain the web site after launch?
What is included in the design fee? What is additional?
What is included in the hosting fee? What is additional?
What is included in the search engine optimization fee? What is additional?
What other services do you provide? Advertising? Print? Logos? Content? Photos?
Do you have any conflicts of interest?
What should be my expectations in new inquiries, traffic, clients, and image

by Peter Boyd in Design, PaperStreet on April 21, 2006   -    Be the First to Comment
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Tips for easy and effective Web site navigation

Planning.  Planning.  Planning.  Would you start writing an appeal without an outline?  You need to outline your site navigation as the first step in the web site process.  Start with a site structure that is in bullet or numbered format.  Once you have outlined what content will be on the site, how people will move through the site, then the navigation falls into place pretty easily.

by Peter Boyd in Design, PaperStreet on April 21, 2006   -    Be the First to Comment
Bookmark Now or Else:   

What qualities make a Web site aesthetically pleasing?

What qualities make a person aesthetically pleasing?  Since beauty is in the eye of the beholder we often can just tell whether a web site is ugly or professional just by looking at the site.  However, typically bad web sites have either (a) no planning, (b) no theme, (c) too many cooks in the kitchen, (d) bad photos / graphics, or a mix of all of the above.  Aesthetically pleasing sites are properly planned by a design team.  The law firm typically gives them overall goals and lets the design team do what they are paid to do…be creative.

by Peter Boyd in Design, PaperStreet on April 21, 2006   -    Be the First to Comment
Bookmark Now or Else: