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Aug 15 2013

Awesome Client DO: Three Ways to Communicate With Your Web Designer When Things Go Wrong

You have an awesome business, and you’ve found an awesome designer to help bring your web site vision to life. That’s not the end of the process, though–building a web site takes more than just waving a magic wand, and you might see the occasional strange quirk along the way.

Portland web designer - how to communicate with your web designer when things go wrongA good client knows to give his/her web designer a shout when something’s not right, but if you’re an Awesome Client, you’ll take a few extra steps now, to save yourself and your designer time and energy later on.

How can you communicate with your web designer when things don’t look just-so? Here are three ways YOU can make things quicker and clearer:

Being specific is Good!

When you’re seeing strange things in your browser, it’s pretty alarming. But, when you e-mail your web designer, simply saying, “something’s wrong on the web site!” often isn’t enough, even if your web site is small and simple.

Ask yourself: What page of the site shows the problem? Where on the page is the problem? What should the page look like? What error messages are showing up (if any)? Let your web designer know those details. Just a few simple sentences can save everyone a lot of energy and heartache in tracking down a problem.

(Your computer’s) Details matter!

Web browsers are kind of like snowflakes–they have their own special way of showing a web site. Sometimes, that causes problems that you can see, but your web designer can’t see. What you’re seeing in Internet Explorer on a PC may not happen in Safari on a Mac, and it’s harder to fix a problem when you don’t know what it looks like.

That’s why you can be infinitely helpful to your designer if you give them the details when you see a problem:

  • What browser you’re using (Chrome, Firefox, Internet Explorer, etc.)
  • What device you’re using (Mac, PC, iPhone, Android, iPad, etc.)
  • What operating system you’re using (Mac OS X, Windows, maybe even Linux…?)

Send a screenshot.

You know how a picture is worth a thousand words? That’s even more true for your web designer. A good designer is all about communicating through visuals, so showing your designer what you’re seeing is more powerful than just telling them. Send a screenshot to your designer, and save yourself a lot of time trying to explain in words what can easily be seen through a picture! You’ll also save your designer time and energy, so they’ll get your problem fixed more quickly.

For my fellow Mac-using friends, just hold down Command-Shift-3 to create a screenshot on your desktop. Or, if you’re a PC users, here’s a quick walkthrough on how to take screenshots in Windows.

Portland web design – Portland branding design – Upswept Creative