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Client Testimonial

  • "We very much appreciate the fact that AC Multimedia are always there should we need to call on them for any updates and renewals. We know our website is taken care of and could not be in better hands..." Read more.

    Anne Wills, Co-Founder
    International Trading Post
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Home > Services > Website Design

Web Design

Websites come in all shapes and sizes from large corporate and e-commerce websites to small brochure websites. Whatever your web site needs, from database driven to small static sites, we can help. We offer the complete solution to get your business online and up and running on the Internet.

A website is a great way of advertising your business to a worldwide or local market. Whether you use your web site to directly generate sales or simply to promote your business, you will instantly feel the benefits.

The first step is to contact us for a friendly no-obligation chat about your requirements. We will then offer advice and guidance and give approximate costs. We will also cover the steps involved and the next course of action. We can help take care of web hosting, domain name registration, and e-mail.

Accessibility and Standards Compliance

The Disability Discrimination Act (DDA) states that a website should be accessible to blind and disabled people. This came into force on 1st October 1999 and surprisingly the majority of websites do not comply with this legislation. The Disability Rights Commission (DRC) launched a formal investigation into 1000 top websites, discovering that over 80% of these websites were near impossible for disabled visitors to access. Read the report.

The World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) has introduced accessibility guidelines named the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) under the Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI), which states what needs to be done to make websites accessible and comply.

PAS 78 is a specification setup by the Disability Rights Commission (DRC) in collaboration with BSI to outline good practice for developing websites.

Accessibility is in the best interest of the website owner for the following reasons:

  • Comply with the legislation to prevent law suits *
  • Website is more accessible to over 10% of the UK (6 million+)
  • Website is viewable on multiple devices and platforms
  • Website load times are quicker

The type of code used to develop an accessible website has additional benefits with search engine optimisation as it's far easier for the search engines to index.

All new websites designed and built by AC Multimedia comply with the WAI-AA WCAG 1.0 (Priority 2) standard or above and the code is valid XHTML 1.0 and CSS 2.0.

* there is yet to be a case in the UK regarding website accessibility. The most famous case was when a blind man successfully sued the Sydney Olympics organising committee for their inaccessible website.

Website Usability

Usability is all about making your website usable, friendly, and easy to use and navigate. This is not a legal requirement, however, all businesses should take usability into account.

With all of our new websites we make sure we follow best practice guidelines as appropriate. Example usability guidelines include:

  • Logo should link to the homepage.
  • Search box should be in the top right.
  • A breadcrumb trail to show the current position from the homepage.
  • Give descriptive error messages when they occur.
  • Navigation should be along the top and left hand side.

Think of a website as a traditional shop. You wouldn't make the shop difficult to walk around, find and choose products, and then pay. The same theory applies to a website. Our belief is that a web site should be quick, easy to navigate and uncluttered.