Web design and development

 

Horisk design and develop websites for organisations large and small, from simple ‘shop-windows’ to complex content and feature-rich web applications and bespoke e-commerce sites. Our web development service begins with us gaining a strong understanding of your business so we can providing the best outcomes for your business needs.

Web Design

Your website design needs to create the same professional image as the rest of your business. It needs to leave the same impression with a website visitor as you would like to leave with someone you met face to face. In our sites, web design follows function, but that doesn't mean they won't look great. We produce stylish websites, well-designed both graphically and technically for maximum effectiveness. 

We can modify an existing webiste template to suit your existing corporate identity, or work with our designers to produce a full online and offline identity for you. Horisk work with a number of talented graphic designers including Edinburgh-based Resolve Creative, although if you already have a preferred design company we will be happy to work with them. 

Website Structure & Functionality

Horisk's web development team will analyse the best structure and design approach for your website to present your business effectively. We believe in developing websites with a clear structure and purpose - we won't add features 'just because we can'.  We will discuss the type of visitors you expect and what they will want to get from your website and then advise on how to build it to give your customers what they want. 

We can integrate your site with third-party technologies like Google or Bing Maps for location aware systems, Mailchimp for email subscription management or Twilio for text and voice communications.

Content Management Systems

Content Management Systems (CMS) allow you to maintain the content of your website once it is set up.  Usually we will fully prepare your site for an initial launch, but after that the CMS allows you (if you wish) to edit and add content - change the text, add pages, upload photos, documents etc so that your site stays up to date in the long-term.

In the past we have built CMS from scratch, but now we tend to use open-source systems like Mura, Wordpress, Umbraco and Joomla etc. These systems all work in slightly different ways and are intended for different types of site, but we will help select the appropriate one for your needs and carry out all the configuration required.  If your website has specific needs that can't be met by an off-the-shelf CMS or plugin we can our web development team can develop a bespoke plugin.

Search Engine Optimisation (SEO)

Optimising your website for search engines is increasingly important. Search engine optimisation covers many issues, from choosing your domain name, site structure, copywriting and link strategies, so should be thought about at the start of the development process. We can advise on all the above aspects, as well as devising and monitoring pay-per-click ad campaigns (e.g. Google adwords) for your website.

Mobile friendly websites and apps

With the web increasingly being used on mobile phones and tablets, it is essential that your website should work equally well on these devices as on the desktop.  Where possible the sites we build are are 'responsive' so the design changes to suit the device on which it is is being viewed - without you having to maintain more than one set of content.  If it suits the profile of your customers we'll build your site to be 'mobile-first' - so we're thinking about the mobile experience before worrying about how the site works on a laptop or desktop.

For more complex web sites or processes a mobile friendly site may not be enough so we can advise on and build mobile apps - for iOS, Android and Blackberry.

Accessibility

The accessibility of your website to all users is becoming increasingly important. Horisk are familiar with the requirements of the Disability Discrimination Act (DDA) , the W3C Web Content Accessibility Guidelines and PAS78.

Development techniques for accessible websites include site layout, non-visual markup, use of CSS and copywriting. A beneficial side-effect of improving accessibility can be improved search engine visibility.

Hosting

We can arrange all your web and email hosting, domain name purchases, secure certificates etc. We can host your site on our own servers for full flexibility and control, or are happy to arrange the technical details with your chosen host.

Samples of our design work