[thelist] How do I build a proposal for a website?

[Simon Willison]

Hi Sylvia,

There are a few things in your post that set alarm bells ringing, for
me at least:

> We will use Swishzone (Flash template) to do the entry to the website. This
> should include the home page, about the company, contact us, where to buy
> (top page), products (top page), news (top page).

First: why Flash? Especially since it looks like you'll be using a
pre-built template. Have you taken the many usability and
accessibility issues Flash introduces in to consideration? The kind of
site you are describing sounds like it would be much better served by
a plain HTML interface.

> I like the thunder and lightning effect when the whole IE window is
> shaking – we can easily implement this.

This is a gimmick. It looks tacky on a 14 yr old's geocities site, but
on a commercial site it would look down-right unprofessional. People
often forget that their web site is nto the end-destination for most
of their users: people frequently have a number of sites open at once
(to research price differences and competing manufacturers for
example) and as such sites should avoid using any techniques that will
detract from the other pages a user has open. Things like shaking
effects, background music and so on are distracting and can result in
users closing your site window and focusing on your less intrusive
competitors.

> The quality of the website is important but far from crucial.

!!!

I don't understand that statement at all. Why create something low
quality if there's a chance to create something good?

Best regards,

Simon Willison
-- 
http://simon.incutio.com/