Website Overhaulin'

The Basics

Websites consist of files, one per webpage, containing instructions in "HTML code".  HTML code tells the browser what things to display, where to display them, and how each should look - its "style".  The modern website also has instruction files known as "style sheets", or CSS.  These tell the browser how things which occur repeatedly should look - specific things like headers and menus, and general things like paragraphs, and the fonts to use.

The most important job in Overhaulin' is to convert old-style HTML-only code to modern HTML+CSS.  Once done, pages are already faster to load.  There is a more consistent style throughout the website, and it's simpler to change.

Conversion made easy

This conversion is normally done either by retrofitting or by recreating the whole website from scratch (preferred by many web developers).  Retrofitting by hand means the examining of every line of code, and changing over a quarter of those lines.  It is a long task, extremely tedious, and very error-prone.  Retrofitting by hand is even more expensive than recreating the whole website.  We do neither of these.  We retrofit using automation.

The pair of us at Kennis have a combined total of 60 years of programming experience.  Using this, and an in-depth study of HTML and CSS, we wrote software to automate most of the task of conversion.  Our software saves us from hundreds of hours of work, plus the problems arising from the inevitable errors (plus RSI and possible brain damage).  The new HTML+CSS code is created quickly, and perfectly.

Before we do conversion, however, we and you must do the work of deciding what website changes you need.

Working out what you want

We first guide you through the job of deciding what you want your website to do.  We don't decide for you what it should do, and we don't design what appears on your webpages – you do.  You know your own business better than we ever will – you're doing it – so you personally design your website to fit into and reflect your business.

It's like you are our new office junior.  You are learning the ropes, but this isn't just practice.  There is a real client who must get a first-class result, and you and we together have to make that happen.  We coach you and check on you until you get it right.  More help at the start, less at the end, as you'd expect.

We supply the basics of your coaching in our Design Guides.  The first Guide makes you focus on what the purpose of your website is, and helps you write that down clearly.  If you have a clear idea of what your website should do, then visitors will find your website simple to use.  You and we will work on this until it is right.

Then, with the purpose of the website stated clearly, we coach you on working out what functions and features you need to achieve that.  Basically, asking what pages do you need, what should be in them, and how should they link together?  You supply the ideas and we supply the assistance.  You create your good design with our help.

Creating what you want

Now we design the overall look and layout of your site - what your webpage headers, menus, footers, etc should be.

Then you receive a mock-up of each page-to-be, without any contents yet.  We will assist you in creating those contents - the text and images that the visitors see.  You write the text and supply the images, with our help.  There's an art to writing for webpages, so we will always "finish off" your text so that it works well on-screen.  We will also "finish off" your images to look better, where necessary.

We have very high quality standards and, perhaps to your annoyance, won't do anything which we know is "wrong".  We are professionals and allowing poor quality would be doing you a disservice.  "Wrong" means things that are slow, usually ignored by visitors, usually irritating to visitors, confusing to visitors, etc.

Making the changes

When you and we are satisfied with your website, we will perform the HTML to HTML+CSS conversion, and modify or make webpages to create what you have approved.  The website will be sent to you on a CD for your approval and, once approved, you will receive the actual files for loading to the Internet.

At one or more points during this, you will pay us a modest sum of money.

Let Kennis give your website a real makeover.  [C] Contact us.