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Good Arch Firm Websites?


Brian Cassil
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Our firm is in desperate need of a new website and I have been given the task of leading a web designer in the creation of one. I have a pretty good idea of what I want but I thought it wouldn't hurt to look at some other firms sites and see what works and what doesn't. I would be interested to know what you guys think make for a good architectural firm's website and even better if you could link me up to some good examples.

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I would couple of things that I would avoid...

 

- splash pages that force you to read or watch something.

- pages that force you to launch another window in order to access the site

- pages that force your screen into full size mode

- a site that is entirely flash based, flash integrated into it is fine

 

....these are all things that inhibit me when i am searching for information. just my one penny.

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I would couple of things that I would avoid...

 

- splash pages that force you to read or watch something.

- pages that force you to launch another window in order to access the site

- pages that force your screen into full size mode

- a site that is entirely flash based, flash integrated into it is fine

 

....these are all things that inhibit me when i am searching for information. just my one penny.

 

Amen Brutha!

I like these two a lot.

http://www.boora.com/

http://www.hga.com/

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One of the main things to think about is functionality as well. You don't want to have a site that is hard to navigate or update.

 

Another thing to think about is making your site search engine friendly. Although full flash sites are cool, they aren't really SEO friendly. This is due to the fact that your site is completely contained in one page and the text isn't searchable by a search engine. However, you can always build a html site and include flash pieces.

 

Hope that helps...

 

crw

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Since November.

 

That's about what I thought. I got a bunch of calls from a headhunter looking for someone to work in the San Fransisco office last summer. As much as I would have loved to work for an elite design firm like HOK (do you ever have to render cold storage facilities?) I basically had to say I'm too tied down with my family here in Salt Lake. Looks like it worked out for you. Congrats!

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I understand people's aversions to all-flash sites... I frequent Slashdot and I swear to God they never stop complaining about it. Saying that, it has its place, and I quite like the site that we had designed for our studio (http://www.tangram3ds.com) -- we told the designers that we wanted something that put images front and center and would let people full screen our work on their screens. At the same time we wanted simplicity and elegance.

 

What they came up with we've been extremely happy with, and to boot despite it being a flash site they did an incredible amount of work on the back-end to make sure that every line of text is stored in an html file that's spidered by search engines. In fact, we've even gotten projects by people searching for firms that we've listed as having worked with, and our site comes up!

 

Just saying Flash definitely has it's place. And while the tech savvy may find it annoying at times, I still think the majority of web-going audiences will be impressed by a well-designed flash site. Just keep it simple in layout, easy to navigate, and don't overdo it on the flashy Flash stuff. ;-)

 

Good luck with the project!

 

Shaun

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