Davy and Davy

What I do

I design and build websites.  The World Wide Web is a multi-platform, non-browser specific medium.  I design using standards compliant techniques to ensure that the pages reach as wide an audience as possible in an effective manner.  I believe in clean design, simple, easy to use, navigation and functionality that suits the particular website.

I design and build websites

I started building websites in 1995 and so have grown up with, and am still growing up with, the development of the World Wide Web itself.

The core of all my website designs is HTML (or XHTML).  I produce small Adobe/Macromedia Flash movies for visual interest but not for website navigation, which I believe is the function of HTML.

Where server-side processing is required my favoured preprocessing scripting language is PHP (which means "PHP: Hypertext Preprocessor" - I know, it doesn't make sense) but have worked with ASP and so use that language if it is prefered.  In cases where a back-end database is required then MySQL is a favourite.

For client-side processing, Javascript is my obvious candidate.

I write bespoke content management systems into websites where the amount of management needed is relatively small, or for websites requiring major levels of content management I use off the shelf CMS such as Joomla, which is open source, but nevertheless design standards compliant websites around such a core.

I generate graphics that are suitable for web pages and incorporate graphics and images into practical websites.

I design to standards.  I design for accessibility

I design to the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) standards and guidelines.  These are HTML and CSS standards and the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG).  I usually design to either "HTML4.01 Strict" or "XHTML 1.0 Strict" (Extensible HTML).  HTML 4.01 is the final version of that specification.  XHTML builds upon that with an XML based version to create standards that are intended to provide richer web pages on an ever increasing range of platforms as well as personal computers.  The "Strict" flavours of the standards do not use the older "depreciated" elements and increase the probability of future compatibility.

I constantly keep abreast of developments and make valued judgments about the techniques that are best for your site and your requirements, just as I have done for a decade and more.

I use a variety of design and styling techniques to achieve the best out of the medium.  I design for accessibility.  That means I endeavour to reach as wide an audience as possible - users with different web browsers (or "user agents") on different computers with various internet connections, as well as visually impaired users.

In some countries there are more than commercial reasons to comply with accessibility guidelines.  For example, the UK's Disability Discrimination Act, which came into force in 2004, is being interpreted by some, including the Disability Rights Commission, as covering accessibility to certain websites.  Also the EU is asking European institutes and member state governments to comply to WAI Level AA (a middle level of performance).

I'm not a fan of paid-for search engine placements but rely on search engines just loving standard compliant and well constructed pages.  However, where possible, I will submit new sites to search engines and directories to give these sites a head start.

My designs are "tableless", which means I do not use HTML tables for layout, positioning or styling purposes.  Instead I use Cascading Style Sheets which is what CSS is for.  This helps accessibility.  I do however use tables to display tabular data, which is what tables were meant to be for!  I also try to write good semantic markup.  This means I use HTML elements to indicate what they are supposed to mean and not just for styling purposes.  For example a major heading will always be marked as <h1> and the next related subheading will be marked as <h2>.

I write words

With ten years marketing experience I can write words as well.  So if you need some help in producing copy for your site then I can assist.  If you already have marketing material I can take that copy and adapt it for your website.  In any case I'll suggest how we might adjust any wording to improve search engine performance.