Web Design & Development

Web Design and Web Development, although sometimes talked about interchangeably, are quite different animals. You can be a web designer and have nothing to do with development, and visa versa. Luckily, we do both!

Web Design can be thought of as the creative thinking that goes into what a web site will look like, how it will be laid out on the screen, and what images should be used - which, often involves a graphic artist. Development on the other hand, involves some of the technical requirements to meet the site needs, such as submitting contact forms, programming login pages, dynamic database use and more.

Not only does Gray Matter Creations do both Web Design and Web Development, we adhere to the latest web standards to ensure your site looks its best with almost every browser on the planet. Using HTML/XHTML, CSS and appropriate imaging allow us to take full control of the layout, look and feel of your site!

Whether you need a simple web presence, or a more advanced shopping cart and e-commerce system, we can help you!

Once your site is up and running, you're not forgotten. We can help maintain and update your site per your specifications. See our prices. We do our web site maintenance differently than other web design companies. Many companies charge you a large percentage of the original project fee, on an annual basis, whether you need a little maintenance or a lot. Our maintenance contracts are "blocks of time", which never "expire". The customer has two distinct advantages with this. (1) They can customize what they need, they do not have to purchase an expensive yearly contract, and (2) The customer gets what they pay for! If you purchase a 15 hour package, you get 15 hours of maintenance - the time never expires.

As you know, the web is always evolving, offering new features, dynamic content and endless possibilities. Along with these changes, come improvements in "web standards". Web standards are the acceptable methods, and suggested way of programming web sites. These standards typically improve with each new release of your favorite web browser - this is one reason it's always a good idea to keep your browser updated to the latest version.

There's a lot of chatter online about "Web 2.0". Web 2.0 encompasses a fresh way to approach not only web design, but images, functionality and online concepts. It's a push to encourage designers to take the next step and adhere to the new standards (which are governed by the W3 consortium) which give the client a more robust, search engine friendly web site.

Gray Matter Creations has adopted these new standards, and will continue to implement them in all our clients new web sites.

Search Engine Optimization is very important in today's internet. SEO is the process of making your web site "friendlier" to search engines, such as Google, MSN, Yahoo, Alta Vista, and more....Stand out from the rest!

SEO helps your web site be found in these search engines when people are looking for your business. After all, it doesn't help to have a web site if nobody can find it! This is where Gray Matter Creations comes in.....

When we create your web site, we use very specific techniques to make your site more attractive to search engines, which in the end, helps your site gain visibility on search engine results.

If you're not sure where you need to start, please see our consulting page with more information for people who are new to this exciting way to have your business working 24 hours a day!