From small, brochure-level promotional web pages to massive, content-rich web sites, my aim remains consistent: Design to focus on your target market and bottom line, and simplify the process so it's manageable and easily understood. Create a harmonious balance between aesthetics, information, and perception, so that the message is delivered most accurately, according to its original intent.

Organizing a web site can be daunting, especially at the beginning of a project. It's understandable that clients are unsure about where or how to start. We usually begin with content. What I often say to a new client: "Gather everything you have that describes your company--Word documents, pamphlets, photographs, slides, anything electronic as well as hardcopy--and put it in a big box. I'll go through all the information, then flowchart the site experience and propose a direction we can try, and we'll take it from there."

Main tools: MS Office, Visio

Graphics are more subjective, intangible, often elusive. The visual scheme ultimately serves the content, but is also instrumental in drawing attention to the content. It has to complement the subject matter and make it palatable to the eye without getting in the way. Just enough to where it feels right, and never more.

Main tools: Photoshop, CorelDraw

I've been handcoding HTML since 1994, producing over 10,000 web pages. Because of my familiarity with HTML and extensive use of macros, shortcut keys and supplemental HTML editing software, I'm able to create web pages faster and cleaner than most WYSIWYG programs. "Clean" HTML code means tags are better organized and can be edited faster and more easily. Because of its customized nature, handcoded HTML allows more specific global search-and-replaces, like changes in telephone numbers or addresses.

Main tools: Hot Dog Pro, Dreamweaver, HTML Validator

Go tell a story. That's mainly what a web site is about, to tell the story of a company, a person, or a project. That story will have tangents (links) that allow the traveler to learn more about a specific topic. Once he goes off the main road, he should be able to return to the main road. Tell the story, make it clear, give the traveler the option of learning more.

A happy web site visitor is one who:

• Understands the site's intent within ten seconds of looking at the home page
• Never gets lost
• Can find the most information in the least amount of time
• Knows what phone number to call or addres to write to
• Is able to quickly familiarize himself with the site's structure and design
• Enjoys the experience so much that he surfs to his heart's content until all the pages are visited
• Bookmarks that site for future visits

A successful web page is informative but succinct, savvy but honest, and able to cater to the whims of search engines without misleading the reader with doublespeak. My task is to take volumes of words and pare them down to "just enough words in the right order."

This is an art in itself, and requires persistence, patience, guerrilla tactics and fuzzy logic. Search engines constantly change their methods, and one must adjust accordingly. If you'd like to see one of my successes, go to any search engine, and type "liver transplant".

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