Category Archives: Website design

Website design related content and posts.

Dylan Thomas Cranes new website

Dylan Thomas Cranes new website

Dylan Thomas Cranes, Plant and Machinery Hire have a new website.

Dylan Thomas Cranes new website

Tusler Design worked with the team at Dylan Thomas Cranes to create their new marketing profile and website. It’s a business/corporate style website created using WordPress and a customised version of the iMax theme.

Crane and plant hire is a varied and interesting industry. DT Cranes get asked to work on wide range of projects. Creating solutions for complex challenging lifts mean that Dylan and his guys are experts in a unusual and highly-specialised field.

The new website is at dylanthomascranes.com.

Tusler Design really enjoyed working with the team at Dylan Thomas Cranes and achieving a great result together.

The Design Directory

Directory updated and expanded

The Tusler Design Directory just expanded.

Part of the fun of being involved in website design and development is seeing the amazing websites people come up with.

Since 1999 I’ve been looking at all sorts of websites for design ideas, examples (good and bad) and general inspiration. Many of these websites are now listed in the public directory updated and expanded pages here on Tusler Design. Before that I kept them private.

Have a look and see what you think for yourself.

The Design Directory

The websites that set the standard.

The university websites are a good standard for where the industry is heading. These sites constantly evolve reflecting trends in technology, improvements in design and more effective usability.

Most attractive websites.

The most attractive designs are in the yacht builders section and the automobile section. But there are lots of great ideas in all the categories. And you will see how the different industries compare.

For example some of the band and musician sites are fantastic. But it is mostly the more recent artists who seem to put energy into their sites. Established acts don’t put as much effort in and consequently have been left out of the directory for the time being.

Web development tools and resources as well.

You will see there is also a large section on web development resources. These are sites and tools I use and recommend to others.

Your feedback is welcome.

Feel free to drop me a line with any comments or feedback or comment on the Facebook page.

What we do - unique original websites

Website in a nutshell

Creating your new website in a nutshell.

Tusler Design work with you to;

1. Make a plan

Website design examples by Tusler DesignWe’ll happily help you with this but it comes from what you want to achieve and how, for who and when.

2. Buy the domain names

We’ve lots of experience to help you choose effective, appropriate domain names for your business. And we can help you buy the domains you want as well.

3. Set up the web-space and install WordPress

We take care of WordPress installation for most of our clients.

4. Design and configuration

We design and configure websites for clients large, medium and small.

5. Populate with content

If you already have content we can help get it ready for publication online. And/or we can produce content for you.

6. Create mailing lists and social media profiles

The other side of internet marketing is to create your mailing lists and social profiles. We do this for clients and help get it up and running.

7. Roll out site publication and celebrate

Once the site is ready it goes ‘live’ and we then proceed to number 8…

8. Review using analytics, inquiries and sales figures

Web site visitor data is rich nowadays and makes for great review material. Useful sales information helps with developing new products and decision making about how to grow overall.


Dawn to Dusk Enduro new website

Dawn to Dusk Enduro new website

Motorcycle extremes.

Enjoyed working for SCL with the guys at Touratech in Swansea to create the website for the Dawn to Dusk Enduro over the last few weeks.

This has got to be one of the most challenging events in sport. These guys ride their motorbikes over the most difficult track you’ve ever seen. It has to be seen to be believed.

Having grown up in the world of sailing and racing sailing boats I never came across the insane world of motorcycle racing over impossible terrain. Yes I’d seen the Paris to Dakar and have seen the documentary Madness in the Desert but I had no idea that it was happening here in Wales.

The event is in its 14th year so its well established. Riders come from all over the world to take part in the 24 hour marathon endurance race.

There is little doubt you’ve got to be pretty fit and fairly competent to complete the full marathon. There are shorter races though with a junior 2-hour session as well before the main race begins.

Dawn to Dusk Enduro new website is a cracker!

Dawn to Dusk Enduro new website

The site is full of information about the event and links to the registration site as well. There are race videos, photo galleries and a news section, plus results from the past races.

This year’s event is coming up at the end of August so check it out now http://dawntoduskenduro.co.uk/.

The site is built using WordPress publishing system and the Automotive theme.

New website for Project ETaV

Project Every Town and Village (ETaV) have launched their new website using Tusler Design and WordPress.

The project’s main aim is to distribute free literature all over the UK on spiritual subjects. A glorious and noble aim if ever there was one.

The website is a complete resource base with stories, background information, book summaries and links to ebooks … and much more. The site is linked to the Project ETaV Facebook group with a feed running between the sites.

Nectar of Vraja Festival

The Nectar of Vraja Festival is run by Project ETaV and the website features a section dedicated to this esoteric wonderful event.

The new website is at etavbooks.co.uk.

fire and stars holidays

Holidays in Wales

New holiday website just launched.

Fire and Stars Holidays provide barns, gypsy caravans and a dairy on their eco-friendly organic farm in West Wales. They also have an old bakery in the riverside village of St Dogmaels.

fire and stars holidays

All done with a bit of glam and style they offer a genuine getaway from the madness of city life. The whole thing is run by a couple of characters with all sorts of unusual and interesting stories to share.

They happily offer groups and party bookings as well. So larger groups and extended families can book accommodation for special occasions or get togethers.

Take a look at fireandstarsholidays.co.uk.

Matrix and Beyond

Deep healing from Cornwall

New website for Matrix and Beyond

Matrix and Beyond

New website for Matrix and Beyond

Matrix and Beyond are a healing practice based at the Lizard in Cornwall.

They specialise in EFT (emotional freedom techniques) and Matrix re-imprinting which is a method of healing negative past trauma.

Using WordPress CMS

Their fab new website uses the WordPress content management system with the Tempera template – customised of course.

Social set up too

We also set up a Facebook page, Twitter page and YouTube channel for them featuring EFT and Matrix re-imprinting, research, meditation, healing and related resources.

See for yourself some of the amazing results achieved and the conditions treated by these powerful therapies.

Their new website is live now at www.matrixandbeyond.co.uk.

Artastic Ireland new website

Artastic’s new street theatre Ireland website

Congratulations to our good friends at Artastic in Ireland for launching their brand new website at http://www.artastic.ie/.

Artastic are a street theatre and spectacle arts organisation and Tusler-Design worked with them over the last few months to get the website looking and running just right.

Artastic Ireland new website

Artastic Ireland new website

Take a look at what Artastic do and especially take a virtual tour of the galleries which tell a great story of community and artistic expression.

Shapez

Shapez new website

South Wales based ‘Shapez’ can make anything using polystyrene and Styrofoam.

They use a clever hot-wire cutting machine linked up to a computer design system. Then they put beautiful stone, wood, painted or marble effect on. All rather amazing.

Tusler Design worked alongside the team at Shapez to develop the brand identity and new website. More to come in the next few months on this.

See their new website at www.epsshapez.com (link opens in new window).

shapez-s-shot

orissa designs

WordPress Website Examples

The wonders of WordPress as a CMS (content management system) website development tool.

Tusler Design use WordPress a lot. Its become one of the most useful pieces of software used in Internet development.

WordPress is so versatile it can be used for almost any type of website. It has a worldwide group of developers who make it and keep it secure.

Tusler Design recommend most new websites and website re-vamps to use WordPress if they’re not already using it.

Example WordPress Websites

Some examples of websites designed and developed by Tusler Design working with WordPress.

 

Orissa Designs

orissa designsOrissa Designs is owned and run by artist Tracey Jenkins. She specialises in producing art and shabby chic furniture.

The website uses WordPress and is linked to a PayPal account for  accepting payments for online orders. Tracey updates the site herself adding new items as her catologue grows.

http://www.orissadesigns.co.uk/

Camping at Mwnt

Camping at MwntTy Gwyn Farm and Caravan Park (on the cliffs above Mwnt in Ceredigion) wanted a new website and commissioned Tusler Design.

The website gives an instant feel for the unique and wonderful location of the site. To improve the search engine recognition of the website ‘CampingatMwnt.co.uk’ was chosen as the domain name. Site includes a blog and is linked to the Facebook page for Ty Gwyn.

http://campingatmwnt.co.uk/

Completeness

CompletenessCompleteness is the online home of Kasturi Tusler, creative artist and crochet teacher.

The website features her crochet patterns, video crochet tutorials, a blog, downloadable recipes for home cooking (including one for homemade deodorant!). This site is also linked to Completeness’ Facebook page.

http://completeness.co.uk/

Custom House Cardigan

Custom House CardiganCustom House Cardigan is owned and run by creative designer and artist Karina Servini. The Custom House is one of Cardigan’s oldest buildings and has an atmosphere all of it’s own. It now houses a gallery and shop where over 300 local artists and craftspeople have their work on display and available to buy.

The website uses WordPress alongside an e-commerce shop using Magento E-commerce System. The whole thing is integrated within the main website.

http://www.customhousecardigan.com/

Cardigan Bay Company

Cardigan Bay CompanyThe Cardigan Bay Company wanted a super simple site that could show some of their great designs and artwork that was also ready for them to build upon.

This is a fine example of using custom graphics with WordPress to create an instant impression upon the visitor.

http://www.cardiganbaycompany.co.uk/

HuwBryn

Huwbryn homepage screenshotHuwBryn is owned and run by Huw Jones of Bryn Farm near Cardigan in west Wales. HuwBryn produces specialised natural animal bedding for a whole range of pets and animals.

Visitors to the website can order varieties of combinations of natural meadow hay, straw and chippings for practically any animal kept domestically. Visitors can purchase products using PayPal.

http://huwbryn.com/

JR Fabrications

JR FabricationsJR Fabrications is owned and run by Jason Rice and are a welding and fabrication company based in Carmarthen, Carmarthenshire.

The website uses WordPress and features many examples and testimonials from clients of Jason’s. He updates and adds things to the website himself with the occasion bit of tech support from us.

http://jrfabrications.com/

Get your new website built in WordPress and enjoy the benefits of creating and publishing your own content whenever you like…

WordPress Promotion

Contact us now to get your WordPress website rolling.

Modern websites need to work on many different devices.

Make it work on all devices

Modern life: means using a desktop computer, a tablet, a smart phone, a web-tv or something else.

You want your website representing you to the best it can. This means making sure your site looks good and works properly for all users, no matter what device they are using. So they can contact you easily and access your services.

It’s not always easy but we’ve got lots of experience of making it work for clients like yourself.

Modern websites need to work on many different devices.

Modern websites need to work on many different devices.

Improve search engine ranking

Google has made it clear that they give extra weight in their search engine results pages to those websites that have been set up to work on multiple devices. Particularly mobile devices.

Get help.

Tusler Design work with our clients on a one-off basis or more regularly to help make sure everything is working properly on all devices.

We provide training, guidance, support and can do it all for you too if you like.

Contact Tusler Design today and we’ll work with you to get things right on all devices, on all platforms, all the time. So you don’t miss crucial sales calls and business opportunities.

 

Thinking about design

Good design can be vital to making your website work to its best potential.

Design is an important but subtle element.

People (like you and me) like easy-to-use websites. We like it to be so clear and easy that we actually enjoy the process.

jones-carpenters

Jones the carpenters is a classic design

So ‘don’t make me think’

A few years ago I came across a book on website design called “Don’t make me think!” by Steve Krug of Advanced Common Sense.

Steve’s point is that people don’t like to be made to think when they come to a website.

Just like if we go to a new town we look for reliable things like street names and if they are not there we can get disoriented quickly.

It’s not that we are un-intelligent; its that the Internet and computers, smart phones, tablets and all are actually not so easy to use.

Technology is even more challenging when the circumstances are pressured; low or broken connectivity for example disrupting you while you’re trying to book train tickets.

Simplicity rules

Custom House Cardigan

Another classic simple design is on the Custom House Cardigan site

Internet users like websites to be easy to use and understand. So it makes perfect sense to keep things as simple as possible.

Of course, you don’t want to over-simplify and lose the main purpose of your site’s offering. But concepts, ideas etc. need to broken into bite-size-chunks to make them easier to understand.

Think of any major website and how easy it is to use. These guys are spending millions of pounds on research and development to create their sites and keep improving. We can learn from them.

Take a look at your favourite websites with a view to their design and notice the elements and how they are working together.

Websites can be excellent examples of synergy – where the whole is greater than the sum of the parts.

As you can see from our own website we tend to prefer things clean and clear. How about you?

signs are useful to help guide your visitors

Websites as communication tools

Each website has a voice.

And the visitors listen to the voice. They do this by reading, or hearing, your text. They are influenced in this hearing, by the colour scheme, layout, type-set, and graphics of your website.

So use your unique voice

At all times keep in mind the idea of who you are talking to when writing your content. Imagine you are speaking to just one person; the reader.

Images are a powerful means of communicating

Your choice of images tell a story because, “A picture is worth a thousand words.” So, ask yourself, ‘What are you trying to say with these thousand-word images?’

signs are useful to help guide your visitors

Signs are useful to help guide your visitors but there is more to finding your voice and communicating effectively

Email enables direct communication and interaction without having to use the telephone or meet in person. You still have to remember your voice in your email communication.

And of course video telephony is available via Skype and other similar systems. These are an effective means of communication. Often Tusler-Design will communicate with clients over Skype. One advantage being it is instant and thus avoids long distance travel to attend meetings and briefings.

Social networks, (i.e. Facebook) are a great place to promote your messages and to interact with your ‘community’ as there is a balanced audience of male and female users. Twitter is mostly male (though not entirely) and has a different feel and emphasis to Facebook.

And lastly, it’s a personal thing

Your visitors will almost always be alone with you. Websites communicate with individuals and though you might have many visitors, few of them will be with someone else when they’re on your site.

So, why not make the most of the opportunity given us through technology and use the Internet to speak and communicate to your audience and the world at large?

A collection of websites

Planning your website

Start-out in the right way on the Internet and you’ll achieve success much faster.

Here’s a simple tried and tested step-by-step guide to help you plan your website.

A collection of websites

The Basics

Every website is a combination of:

  • content
  • design
  • technology
  • and (much more subtle) credibility

Balance and synergy of these four elements gives your site a head start on the competition.

Know your Audience

Right from the start think about your visitors, your people, your tribe.

Who are they? Ages? Genders? How are you going to offer them something they want?

Have a Clear Theme

Your website needs to flow from your mission. At least it should have a clear theme or subject.

Be Credible

Most websites (yours included) require certain pages in order to be credible. These pages include:

  • home – a welcome message, introduction, links to products and services, call to action
  • about – aims and mission, history, who’s-who, principles and values statements
  • contact – all the ways your customers can contact you; telephone, email, postal mail
  • terms of use – includes the copyright statements and disclaimers notices
  • privacy policy – a statement about your commitment to keeping personal information confidential.

Of course, the above list does not apply to a one-page CV or PR site.

Your products, services, messages, articles, insights, testimonials, picture galleries, video sections, feedback forms, shopping carts etc. will also need pages too.

Talk to Search Engines

Keep on-topic and make your pages relevant to your main subject. Use deep-links to connect articles and pages together.

Search engines like it if you also have a sitemap and special ‘robots.txt’ file.

Think Community

Over recent years ‘Community‘ has become an increasingly important and relevant factor to consider. Particularly this aspect is covered by having a Facebook and Twitter presence.

Keep it Simple!

Remember to follow the 10 principles of online success. The primary one being, ‘keep it simple‘.

Make a Plan

Plan your content, your messages and how you want your visitors, followers, clients, customers, fans and friends to interact with you.

Keep it Fresh

Keep adding and expanding your offering. Don’t let it become stale.

Think Long-term

Maintain a long-term vision for your website. Allow it to grow for at least five to ten years. Longevity is a powerful influence on credibility.

Keep Focused

Remain confident and determined. Just keep building your website and it will grow and develop it’s own character.

Share the Story

Tell others about your website, your services, your blog, your offers. That way they will know to keep checking the site for new content.

Review Regularly

Regularly review your visitor statistics and the pages they are looking at and using. What number of contacts come via the site? Try to create content to increase the traffic, click-throughs, contacts, sales, newsletter sign-ups, etc.

The above is a quick guide to help you in thinking through your site.

Contact Tusler Design to get your website designed and online working for you.

Its personal and it always was...

Websites made easy

The Internet is actually a personal place.

Because we are all persons, (I hope you agree). We are all interacting with webpages, sites and applications all the time when we are online.

So it is a personal environment where we want to establish a connection, or relationship with our readers. This means you and me.

As website owners we can control the content of our pages so that our visitors are rewarded when they come to see us. Seem obvious doesn’t it?

Just like real customers in the real-world visitors to websites love to get fresh content, insight, ideas, inspiration, products and services. If they are pleased, and have a pleasing interaction; they come back.

Its personal and it always was...

 

3 things to remember about your visitors.

Keep your visitors in mind all the time when developing your website;

  • What are visitors to your website looking for?
  • What are they hoping to obtain from you?
  • How can you deliver it for them in a timely and affordable way so they want to return?

Next steps towards online success.

Take a look at our own website planning guide where you can get a good idea of what you need to include in your website.

When you’re ready either phone or email and we’ll be able to help you. Contact us.

Huwbryn homepage screenshot

Natural animal bedding from Wales

Animal bedding experts ‘Huwbryn’ recently commissioned a complete overhaul and revamp of their website at Huwbryn.com.

Huwbryn homepage screenshot

Huwbryn homepage screenshot

Huwbryn supply a variety of premium animal bedding products, all grown on their family run farm in west Wales. Was a pleasure to work with them to develop the new site and animal bedding shop.

Completeness

Completeness lifestyle and handmade gifts website

Completeness

Designer, creator and crochet guru Kasturi has a beautiful new website at Completeness.co.uk.

Kasturi has her ‘maker’s blog‘, a ‘gallery‘ of creations she has produced and ‘handmade gifts‘ available to buy.

The site features a directory of spiritual resources and useful links to help on the journey through life. All in all, rather nice!

JR Fabrications welding and fabrication in Carmarthen west Wales

JR Fabrications new website

JR Fabrications are an established company of welding and fabrication based in Carmarthenshire. Their new website is now online at jrfabrications.com.

You can find out about all their services, read their frequently asked questions and see examples of their welding work in the gallery section. There are some excellent testimonials there as well proving the high standard of their workmanship.

JR Fabrications welding and fabrication in Carmarthen west Wales

Fresh Mundos

Mundos supply gifts for discerning customers

Mundos (the high-street shop in Cardigan) has refreshed and re-launched their cool shopping site at mundos.co.uk. The store uses Magento ecommerce system.

The web site is hooked up to their EPOS system from the main shop using Talgara. So customers can buy anything they like in the online shop and know it’s available in stock – in real-time.

It’s a great example of a high-street shop making use of the Internet.

New look for ‘Cardigan Island Coastal Farm Park’

Our friends over at Cardigan Island Coastal Farm Park have completely re-vamped their web site at cardiganisland.com. The previous site was in place since 2005 and the owners wanted a new look and feel whilst keeping hold of the family centered identity of the farm park.

Visitors vs Qualified Visitors

There are two main groups of visitors to your website; qualified visitors and un-qualified visitors.

Qualified visitors being those people who come to your site and proceed to interact with, and do business with your company.

Regular ‘un-qualified’ visitors are those who engage with your web site but don’t buy anything or make any commitment by joining a mailing list or following you on Facebook or Twitter.

As you know yourself, real people visit sites for different reasons. It is possible to observe information about these real people by looking at the visitor data reports for particular web sites.

As a business person you are almost certainly interested in how your web site performs in relation to your bottom-line sales figures.

As the owner of a web site you are almost certainly interested in its traffic data. Meaning you are interested to know how many people have visited and how many pages they have looked at.

Beyond these overall figures there are further sources of interest. For example which pages have visitors looked at the most? How long are they spending engaging with your content?

Are they able to grasp the messages you want them to? Do they take the ‘call-to-action’ and contact you, join the mailing list, download the file or buy something from you?

Looking at the traffic data you can see trends or busy times for your site. You can see which terms visitors have used in search engines to find you. You can see which other websites on the Internet are linked to you and which give you the most traffic.

You can even set ‘goals’ in your data tracking to see how many times someone inquires, downloads a file, buys a product. And also when they make purchases you can see how they went through the buying process and if they stop you can see which page or form they left in-complete.

Over the long term you can use your traffic data to show which subject areas or themes your visitors are most interested in. You can then create more content for them and you can also point them to further calls-to-action to deepen their relationship with your company.

creative process

Our creative process

creative process

The governing principle in website design is to KISS

“Keep it Simple Sweetie”

 

With that in mind, we;

1. Listen carefully to the client.

We follow the principle of understanding the client, the brief, the need, etc. first.

2. Research and develop.

Once we understand the brief we research and discuss possible solutions and technology to fulfill the requirements of the client.

3. Design and populate.

Create a staging website where we and client can publish and test content and usability.

4. Revise and review.

Once the site is almost complete or at a working level we review and check that the new site fits the brief.

5. Go live and linked up.

Publish the website to the Internet and link it with our directories and other relevant sites.

6. Timely review.

At an agreed time we meet with clients to review how effective the site is and how it can be improved.