designwest
is primarily
a design service
 

Over 20 years we have designed everything from
houses and gardens to packaging and catalogues.
These days we concentrate almost exclusively on the world wide web
--complex sites to simple pages.
Frankly, they're fun.
 

We design and code
WEBSITES & WEBPAGES

We offer three basic approaches and an almost infinite variety of custom touches.
See Designwest Pricing for an overview.
See Design Discussions for theory and examples. We also offer a brief look at Designwest's history, plus rich Resources.

 
 
 

DESIGN DISCUSSIONS button
 
 
 
 

ISP  &  HOST CHOICES button
 
 
 
 

OBTAINING  A DOMAIN button
 
 
 
 

DESIGNWEST PRICINGbutton
 
 
 

 

We are
NOT an ISP
We do not provide dial-up service.
Nor do we plan on doing so --sorry.
However we'll cheerfully help you
assess your requirements and
choose an ISP in your area.

We do offer
SITE HOSTING
of your
OWN DOMAIN
 

or through one of
OUR DOMAINS

yourname.com or yourname.org
as well as several newer designations
and those of a variety of respected nations.

www.yourname.designwest.com
or
www.designwest.com/yourname/

  webpages & websites
Your webpages
are rooms in your house
where you invite people in 
to visit with you for a while.
--
Just like rooms in a house,
pages have traffic patterns
and they have a play of
light and shadows
all throughout. 
These patterns
encourage 
people to
linger
peacefully. . . 
or to move smartly along.
And your rooms say 
a great deal 
about 
you. 
Designwest 
has a look of its own,
somewhat whimsical,
--but our real art is 
to cause YOUR 
very own look 
to appear in
cyber - 
space
 
Your website

is your whole house. 

Granted, it may be 

a tiny one room 

studio apartment! 

But it can also 

encompass 

dozens of 

rooms 

(pages) 

as well as a 

fabulous garden 

and need a fulltime 

staff to maintain it -- 

perhaps even a map 

to help get your guests 

from the bedroom suites 

to the conservatory or 

the dining room 

before the 

food gets 

cold.
 


 

-
 

 
 

Why arrange 
 site maintenance
 
 
Very few sites can get away with being static endeavors.
They need attention; people visiting them need attention! Questions need answering, goofy breaks need fixing, 
live links need to be checked and updated, 
prices (and stories!) need updating.
We distinguish between upkeep
and creating new pages
or structures.

 
 
.

When is there a point to
custom programming
 
 
 

c++

perl

java

flash

cgi-bin

java script
 

...in our brave new world

of webpages, you'll find a host

of powerful toys and tools-- let's use them.

Is your site really just another pretty face?

Set it up to do some serious work --for you,

for your family, your company, your clients.

Let it be a searchable database, a doorway

to your future, your own personal calender, 

empower it to handle business --securely. 


 
 
@
 

!
 

Where's the value in
design consultation
 .
Design principles are universal. 
 

Can you apply them wisely to the web?
 

...rhythm... repetition... focus... human scale... flow...

...all these have an effect on you, whether you're

  • caught up in the grandeur of a cathedral 
  • trying to be efficient in your kitchen 
  • relaxing to background music 
  • aiming to "dress for success" 
  • studying a technical manual 
  • ...or cruising the web! 
The web's a stunningly new medium...
we read it across and down like pages in a book
but it's not really two dimensional like paper...
 

...it's not really 3D scupture but we add shadow effects just to make ourselves feel a little more comfortable...
a little less deprived of touch...
a little better oriented...
a little less lost...

...we "paint" in it by adding light rays
instead of by subtracting light with various pigments...
(see our discussion of web-friendly colors)
 

...it's deeply involved in the use of a 4th dimension --time...
and time is subjectively quite a different commodity to
a business executive searching for a product...
a parent sharing feelings in a support group... 
or someone relaxing in an online art gallery...
 
 

...and at Designwest 
we've evolved some strong principles for strong webpages based on how people are observed to approach them...

There are specialty concerns for viewers who are disabled in some ways and enabled in others...

We even keep track of a list of Pet Peeves...
our own and other folks' too...
See if yours are in here!



.

illustration

We utilize photographs and other graphics that our clients provide and we usually adjust these for website specs. We also create original works in various media, eg the traditional ones of pencil, ink, watercolor, oils, photography (film and digital), and the newer computer based
graphics.
 
 
 
 
 
.

What's
teaching

"Teaching is only efficacious where it's superfluous.
Ok, 
what's the joke? 
Well it turns out that you have to do the learning, but we can help. 
From basic computer use to maintaining your own website to java and beyond... 
We each have distinctly different ways and expertise, but quite a bit of overlapping 
experience, (--and yes, we're all pretty patient!). 
If you want to understand something, we'll be happy to tell you stories that'll put it in
real world terms so you can SEE it, not just memorize magic incantations. 
Need some serious hand-holding? Arrange for private lessons. 
And we're not secretive or jealous about our "trade secrets" 
...see something here you want to copy? 
Just ask.