Planning Ahead

Whenever you build a website or design one most people get dreams of how far there website should go. Those are great things to have in mind when coding or designing that site.

Open up Your Styles

Here's why. Over hundreds of hand written websites (code not purchased by application or open source project) started of with one simple idea, and accomplished that idea for one person. For instance WebMD, started as just medical information for a handful of select clients, but today it has grown to over hundreds of topics and millions of users.

If you have not read my "Think Open Source" blog if your are a developer, you should consider reading it. If your are not a developer but a designer (or a little of both) I want to give you some suggestions.

1. Do not think your above standards. Standards are there because they have a sound application in the field your working with. Each standard is tried and tested (desighn wise) to work on most browsers. If you very from standards just a little bit you may find issues with some browsers.
2. Style with an idea of expansion. When you style you want to consider every aspect of the website and think of what aspects have the most possible room for expansion. With those aspects that may be expanded, try not to build constrictive controls, or designs that limit its expansive possibility.
3. Always go for the middle ground. Some designers say that they need to code for lower resolutions (like 800*600) and lower speeds (like 52kbs), the truth is most websites should be coded for 50% of the users (1024*768, ISDN 128kbs) all other users won't mind a smaller looking site or having to scroll just a bit.

If you head my advice I guarentee your style and layout will not expire as often as your style may. You will see your style remaining on client websites longer, and your clients will began to trust you more.