What is design? It's the way that the page is organized, including the content, images, navigation, etc...

Why is design so important? A good layout will help your users easily find information, it will help you get listed in search engines, and it just looks good! To better illustrate this, take a look at the two examples below.

Example #1	Example #2

Although these pages have drastically different amounts of data, they both serve as public search engines, so their main focus should be the search bar. The example on the left is so cluttered with information that the search bar seems to get buried. However, the example on the right clearly draws focus to two things only: the name of the company and its search bar.

Things to keep in mind when designing your site:

• Usability - In order to give your users the best experience on your website, they need to feel like they already know how to navigate through your site, even though it's their first visit. This can be accomplished through solid interface design principles.
• Searchability - There are many different ways to program a website, but there are certain ways to give your website that extra edge in the competitive world of search engines.
• Download Time - Not everybody out there has a high-speed internet connection. A lot of people are using school computers, library computers, or even cell phones and PDAs to access the Internet these days. Keep your large images and other media to a minimum.
• Accesibility - Unfortunately, not all browsers were created equally. Everybody has a different combination of versions of browsers, operating systems, Flash, media support, etc... This means that in order to reach the widest audience, your website must be sensitive to those with older equipment.
• Aesthetics - People can and will gauge the reliability and professionalism of a company by its website. A strong and straightforward website will give your company that extra touch of professional care.

How can Soarin Solutions help me? Soarin has years of experience in Interface Design, Usability and Accessibility. The difference between us and other designers is that we always design websites with all of these factors in mind. Anything less would be an incomplete web site.