Like the interior design of a hotel, much of a user's first impression of your site will be based on color, graphics, and logos. However, what keeps patrons returning to a hotel is the same thing that keeps users returning to your website: good infastructure. A beautiful hotel will lose its luster if the beds are lumpy, the water is cold, and the service is slow. Likewise with your website; an aesthetically pleasing site will lose users if it is not functional, accessible, and easy to navigate. Infomation Architecture utilizes this concept to build the foundation of your site.
At PS3Studios we believe that incorporating web standards into site design is the best practice. With XHTML, CSS, DOM, and other standards, web sites can be accessible and usable to the widest possible audience. This page's layout is entirely presented with a Cascading Style Sheet (CSS). CSS allows control over layout independent of page content. This layout independent design makes pages functional across platforms, accessible to users with disabilities, and uses less bandwidth than pages with HTML layout. Click Here to view this page without the CSS.
The use of standards driven site design does not mean compromising on style. Sophisticated use of technologies allow sites to be eye-catching and conform to standards. At PS3Studios we do not see standards adherence as an obligation but as smart web design.