The world of web design is constantly changing, and let’s face it: your website (the one that you spent forever designing in the first place) can age within a few years and look outdated. Keeping fresh appearances can take a lot of time and effort, but in doing so, you’ll be putting your best foot forward in a very, very long race.
If you have been thinking of doing a website redesign, it is imperative to not get carried away. Focus is key, meaning you don’t want to take away the elements that are already working well, and you don’t want to not change the ones that aren’t. Before you go about this somewhat complex process, depending on the size and structure of your current site, have a good, long think with the following points in mind.
Evaluate Your Visitors’ Needs
Your visitors are a combination of people. They could be first-time visitors, customers, blog readers and so on. It is important to think about all of these visitors when considering a redesign as each might have different needs and expectations in the site. For example, does the website act as a portal where customers can find support? Is the site’s main focus gaining new customers? Is what you’re doing now working?
More than anything, you don’t want to alienate any of your main visitors. In other words, if what you’re doing now is working, you should probably not stray away too far from that when doing the redesign. It can be confusing, shocking or off-putting to say the least to frequent visitors that have to look somewhere new. Change is good, but too much can be overwhelming.
Evaluate the Needs of Your Site Maintenance Team
If other people will be overlooking the maintenance and updates for the site in the future, it is best to consider the code structure and simplicity of the redesign. Will the individual (or team) be able to quickly understand the layout, or should careful labeling of the code be a priority?
Keep the Same URL Structure
This is an easy point to overlook when making a redesign, but you absolutely MUST have a plan for your URL structure or else disastrous events may occur (OK, maybe not disastrous). Just imagine changing a URL when people might be linking to, or bookmarking, the old one. That comes across as a dead link, and chances are that many people won’t bother taking the time to search out the updated one.
There’s also the fact that Google may have indexed the old URL, meaning any traffic you could be getting to your page via search engines will be compromised. Let’s not forget whether or not the page had a Google ranking as well.
If you are unable to do the redesign without URL changes, then it is important to make sure you install the proper redirects so that it runs without a hitch, and your site doesn’t suffer.
Keep It Simple
While fancy additions and plugins are enticing, as stated before – too much change can be overwhelming. Or, unnecessary for that matter. There’s no need to flaunt it just because you can, especially if that flaunting gets in the way of the website’s purpose. There are ways to make a website aesthetically pleasing and powerful without overdoing it with the redesign and taking away from the original vibe.
Convert to CSS
If you haven’t already, setting your website up with a CSS-based framework makes life easier when it comes to upgrades and overhauls. The CSS document will hold all of the formatting for the website’s look, so instead of combing pages and pages of code and content, you may only need to make some changes in the CSS alone. A good setup from the beginning will give future designers and developers a stronger frame to build from, and hopefully less confusion.
Think About Design Trends
One of the main reasons for a redesign is the ability to look more modern, so you have to look around to gather ideas on what is popular now, and what is on its way up. A good place for browsing is on CSS galleries — websites that showcase various website designs. It’s basically a one-stop shop for seeing what’s out there, but you have to be sure to not just steal the ideas and hard work of others in the process.
Note Theme Differences
Whether you are taking over someone else’s project, or overhauling your own, to minimise issues with the redesign, it is wise to note where features may have problems. For example, if you have images and tables that are currently set to a specific width, but the new proposed new design calls for some structural changes, perhaps the information will not display as desired. Go through and make a list of items like this in the beginning, both big and small, so there are fewer issues down the road.
Evaluate Your Logo
Does your logo also look dated and old-fashioned? While it is generally not a good idea to completely revamp your logo (it is part of your brand, after all), it is smart to touch it up when necessary. Think about Google’s recent look upgrade, which also involved slight logo changes in order to bring about a sleeker-looking design. It would simply be a shame to put out an amazing new website that is brought down by an old logo.
Design For Convenience
Perhaps there are some repetitive tasks you are having to undertake with your current website design that could be alleviated with a bit of code and scripts. During a redesign is as good a time as ever to make these sorts of changes.
Don’t Forget Your Purpose
Through all of these points, a good focus on the original purpose of the site is key. Don’t get lost in the moment and add a bunch of gadgets that have no real benefit, and don’t get caught up on the little things that really don’t matter. Your visitors will most likely thank you for sticking to the point anyway.
Tell us what you think about this article by leaving a comment.
