So, your web space is secure (or will be shortly) and you have a great domain name. Now it is time to start your site's Basic Design.

I design all of my sites in Micosoft Notepad or Wordpad which are basic text editors. In reality, that is all you need. Web page software such as Microsoft Front Page, does not help the process any as long as you know basic HTML / XML code.

For the most part, all of my Websites are written in HTML or XML code (including CSS and CSS-P) which is the most basic Web authoring language. I do use some JavaScript now, but my skill in this area is limited. If you need lots of Java Script, Flash, ASP, or DHTML, etc., you will need a Web designer with a lot more experience than I have.

HTML / XML coding gives me the ability to combine text, graphics, and photos into a web page for a very pleasing affect. It also lets me link pages together and also provides links to other Websites.

I can also link your e-mail address to any page, so clients will have the ability to contact you if they need more information.

You might want to check out other Websites with color schemes and styles you like. And then supply me with the URL's of those sites so I know what you are thinking. Finding the right color combination can be truely exasperating. You would think that with only 216 colors in the Web-Safe Color Palette, it would be easy. But it is not.

The goal at this stage of the game is to come up with one page that has the perfect header area, the perfect footer area, the correct color combination and a good menu structure that will accomodate the pages links necessary to get to your other pages. This is usually also a good time to come up with an area on your page for graphics or photos.

What we are looking for is the perfect page structure that we can duplicate for all of your individual pages. Once the content, graphics, and photos are added, it is very difficult and time consuming to get to each individual page to change the fonts, colors, and especially the page structure. It can be done, however, but it takes a lot of time and of course, money.

Proper planning can make all the difference between an inexpensive project, and one that gets out of hand and never gets completed. It is critical to get the Basic Design wrapped up first and then add content and graphics later.