Web Design
& Website Design UK

Whether you're looking for a simple 3 page web design or a dynamic online shop, we pride ourselves on offering our clients affordable, high quality websites that will perform for you and your business.

eCommerce
Web Design Packages

We make starting or upgrading your online shop as simple and cost effective as possible. Choose from our 'Off The Self' Open Source packages or our website developers can build you something truly bespoke.

Web Optimisation
& Internet Marketing

All of our websites are built as standard to be 'Search Engine Friendly'. We also offer a range of optimisation campaigns to boost and stabilise your organic rankings in the leading search engines like Google, Bing & Yahoo.

New Business Websites
With our Website Builder Packages

Get your business online quickly and affordably with our new Website Builder Package. In 5 easy steps you can choose a design, add pages, pick dynamic features and receive an instant online quotation.

Welcome to
Creare Web Design & Marketing

We are one of the UK's largest web design and marketing companies, offering clients the complete service spanning design, development and marketing.

When choosing a web design company, the design and usability of the website plays an important role in the success of your online marketing. At Creare we traditionally employ both graphic and web designers who together, stunning, appropriate designs that are technically sound. Equally important are the following factors that you should take into consideration:

1. Web Design - Cross platform, industry standard coding with a keen focus on website usability.
2. Marketing - An understanding of your online objectives and existing marketing concepts.
3. Website Optimisation - Search engine friendly website coding and maintenance of search engine rankings.
4. Functionality - Bespoke dynamic systems such as CMS and eCommerce, developed to your exact requirements.

For more information about any of our services then please call us on 0800 01 999 06 or alternatively you can complete our online enquiry form.

Web Design
Resources

Web Design Encyclopaedia

Our extensive 'Web Design / Website Design Encyclopaedia', aims to archive an up-to-date catalogue of everything in the world of web design. From CSS to W3C Compliance, our web design encyclopaedia articles are written and maintained by the public, similar to the format on Wikipedia. You can read, edit and contribute new web design articles that span all aspects of web design.

Website Design Resources, Templates & Downloads

Our website design resources contain a rich variety of informative PDF's, vector artwork and website templates. All of our website design resources are free to download and are regularly updated by our in-house design team.

Web Design Careers at Creare

As one of the largest web design companies in the UK, we at Creare are always on the lookout for aspiring talent. Check out our careers page for our latest web design, development, SEO and sales vacancies.

Web Design
Portfolio & Case Studies

Below you can find a small selection of websites taken from our web design portfolio. Simply click on a website thumbnail to be taken to the case study on our portfolio. Alongside each thumbnail is a small speech bubble, indicating the features and services that are featured on that particular website.

Creare's
Web Design Video Blog

Web Design History

Web site design has come a very long way since the Internet's very first web site back in the early 1990's. Like the Internet's very first web sites, the majority of sites are presented in a computer language called HTML (HyperText Markup Language). HTML is currently in its' 4th version, with the next major version, HTML 5 currently being rolled out. HTML 4 has been the core Internet Mark-Up language for nearly 10 years. Ever since the original conception of HTML, the Internet boom has spawned an array of hundreds if not thousands of other languages, software and mediums that are used in collaboration to produce modern, attractive and dynamic web sites.

Web Site Design & Web Development

In modern times, there are a whole host of features available to build a both stunning and interactive web site. The construction and completion of a web site can be categorised in two main areas:

1. The Design

The primary objective of a web site should be to meet the requirements of the client. In most cases this would be to attract then convert Internet users into customers, subscribers or in the case of charities, donators. The design of the web site is paramount to reassuring, educating and ultimately convincing the viewer that they have come to the right place, or that they have found what they are looking for. It is the responsibly of the web design company or sole web designer, to produce a suitable design that is attractive to the target market, and doesn't deter people from exploring the web site. Web designers often use a variety of techniques, programmes and software during the design of a web site. These may include any combination of the following:

• Hand Drawn designs - and conceptions are used to quickly produce layouts and visuals for the design.
• Adobe Photoshop - Can be used to produce mock-ups and 'Internet Ready graphics'.
• Adobe Illustrator - Is another tool for producing mock-ups, graphics and design elements.
• Adobe Flash - Can be used to produce animation, movement & interaction on a web site.
• Adobe Dreamweaver - Is used to construct the web site as it is being constructed for the Internet. Some designers even use Dreamweaver to help them with the design process of a web site.
• CSS - Cascading Style Sheets. CSS is used in conjunction with HTML to design and style the web site from a separate file. The use of CSS brings many advantages including advanced design features, lower file sizes and a universal styling document that updates the presentation and design of the site automatically from a single document.

2. The Development

Once the design of the web site is in place, either as a mock-up or coded HTML skeleton, the web site then requires developing. Development can be as basic as constructing the design as a web page in HTML, or it can be as complex as using the design to 'skin' a complex, Database driven web site. Development can be completed by the same designer, or in the case of bigger/complex projects, within a team of individuals who specialise in certain areas of construction. Web Developers or Web Designers can use any of the following to develop a web site to completion and the ongoing maintenance:

• HTML - Hypertext Markup Language is the basic language for presenting a website.
• XHTML - is the markup language with the same depth as HTML, but XHTML also conforms to XML syntax.
• XML - is a custom language for creating custom markup.
• RSS - Stands for 'Real Simple Syndication' and is a popular format for publishing frequently updated articles and stories like blogs.
• ASP.NET - Is the Windows Framework used for dynamic applications.
• PHP - Is a free (released under the PHP License) scripting language for constructing dynamic web sites.
• MySQL - Is a Open Source Database platform (available under terms of the GNU General Public License) and used in conjunction with PHP and other languages to store and retrieve data.
• AJAX - is a coding nickname for the combination technique of XML and Javascript for making rich internet applications.
• Javascript - is an established client-side scripting language commonly used by web site developers.
• Perl / CGI - is an aging scripting language that was developed originally for NASA in 1987.
• Actionscript - is a scripting language primarily used within and to integrate Flash. The latest version of Actionscript is 3.0 but 2.0 is still widely used worldwide.

Open Source and 3rd Party Web Design Software

Creare also utilise Open Source & 3rd party web design software. Open Source is essentially software that is developed by teams of people and is distributed for free on the internet. Open Source software covers a variety of web design applications including blogging software and e-commerce software. To name a few of these applications, Creare are familiar with the following:

• Wordpress - This is an Open Source blogging platform that requires at minimum, a basic understanding of HTML to install. Wordpress is updated frequently by its' developers and is available worldwide to the public.
• Magento - This is a free E-Commerce shopping cart application that literally has everything you need to be selling online.
• EKM Powershop - Is an 'off the shelf' third party shopping basket application. Creare have been using EKM Powershop for several years and are very familiar with their interface.
• Paypal - Is becoming one of the most popular and safe methods of sending and receiving money via the internet. Creare have experience with integrating and utilising Paypal.
• Google Checkout - A rival to Paypal, Google Checkout is Google's offering to paying online. Creare are able to integrate Google Checkout into static and e-commerce web sites.

Web Site Accessibility

Another key consideration to think about when choosing a web design company is accessibility and usability. Modern Internet Browsers and web site programming allow web sites to be constructed to allow users to:

• Increase the font size on your web site.
• Narrate the text on your web site.
• Navigate around the site with Back & Forward buttons.

Whilst all of the above factors should be taken for granted when you choose a web design company, the unfortunate fact is that you can't. Ensure that accessibility and 'Cross Platform' support is a key objective of your chosen web designers.

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