We utilize the following programs to bring you the most versatile site ...

Static Display: For the display portion, we create custom bitmap and vector graphics using various industry standard applications. We will create custom logos or use your existing artwork and format them to fit your new web design.

Animated Display: Using these same programs, we will create animated content to give your site "eye-candy" and make your site more pleasing to browse for the visitor. We are also very proficient in one of the latest technologies swarming the 'net right now, Flash. We create web site intro movies and will even design your entire site within a Flash interface. Understand that Flash is a proprietary animation technology. There will be millions of visitors who will never be able to view this content should you choose to implement it.

Backend: All services provided by your web site will be located on your web site. What this means is, web applications such as a counter or guest book will run from your web site. We have seen many design companies skimp in this area by using third party or free services. That's not what you're paying for. We will develop custom applications to your specifications. Also related to the backend is database development. Your entire site could be located in a database, and different content will be displayed to the visitor depending on the day of the week or any other factor. We program your web site using ASP (Active Server Pages) or PHP (PHP: Hypertext Preprocessor) to provide your visitors with dynamic content. Your visitors will not be bored visiting the same static web site time after time. There will always be something new with each visit. This works especially well for retail web sites that have sales that can be pre-programmed to activate and de-activate for the length of a particular sale event. Many possibilities are available, in fact, the possibilities are endless.

Browser Compatibility: We test your web site for viewing in Microsoft Internet Explorer, Netscape Navigator. We also view it from the Linux and Unix Browsers (Konqueror, Gecko, Mozilla Firefox). Finally Mac/OSX based browsers are tested for compatibility. You will find many amateur developers sites are only viewable in Microsoft Internet Explorer because it is very forgiving. It is also a known fact that MSIE is the most widely used browser on the Internet, but you want to make sure those who choose a better alternative will be able to view your site.

Technologies Used: Here is a short list of all of the technology we put into web sites we design; Hypertext Markup Language (HTML); Cascading Style Sheets (CSS); PHP: Hypertext Preprocessor (PHP); Active Server Pages (ASP using Visual Basic Script); JavaScript; Microsoft Access, MSSQL, MySQL Databases; COM+ Components for extensions to your web site (these are also custom written in Visual Basic 6); Flash Animations; Custom bitmapped graphics and in some cases interfaces based on many small images placed strategically to greatly enhance the look of your web site.

Bringing it All together: Our program of choice? A text editor of course! Too many web design businesses utilize WYSIWYG (What you see is what you get) programs to develop web sites. Often times these programs add all sorts of "gunk" to your site that is not necessary. We pride ourselves in creating streamlined web sites that are optimized to load fast. This keeps visitors coming back again for more. The longer the pages take to load, the more your visitor may go look elsewhere. In the creation of images, text and the interface for your web site, we pay close attention to every detail making sure that your site is fast. This is the reason we develop everything from scratch. It lends the best solution for any web site being that all images, interfaces and applications all reside on the same server.

In Conclusion: This was a lot to swallow, and we've actually only scratched the surface. If you're interested in building an incredibly streamlined efficient web site, please contact us at ICUDesign. Thank you!