Best Web Designer in Canada

How is the best of anything decided? Quite often the best is decided by a group or organization of peers. But what if such a group or organization doesn’t exist? How can the word be spread about something?

These were some of the questions that went through Ed Peterson’s mind at TheSignWorx.com when he was thinking about claiming the title. Although the internet has been around for a number of years now, there are still many organizations and groups that have yet to be formed that will determine who is the best in many areas.

So what would be some of the determining factors to the title of Best Web Designer in Canada? Here is a list of the top 7 proposed criteria:

1. Value for money. The Best Web Designer in Canada would need to produce a quality website for a reasonable cost. Any company can hire enough web designers to produce a great website, but the cost would skyrocket through labour costs, which would prohibit who could afford the site, thereby reducing access to the designer, thereby making them Not the best.


2. Maintainability of the site. A site that requires that skilled programmers be required every time anything new is to be changed or modified, is not producing the best site possible for the client. The Best Web Designer in Canada would produce a great website that can easily be maintained by anyone with basic word processing computer skills. They would incorporate a Content Management System (CMS) that would assist the user in managing the information on their site.


3. Website expandability. The best site design would allow site owners to have addition functions easily incorporated into their site. What a website owner wants to use their website for today, may not be what they want to tomorrow. The Best Web Designer in Canada would use a system that allows for expansion into many new areas of website usage, while not relying only on custom coding as the only means of providing it.


4. Core functionality sustainability. The Best Web Designer in Canada would not use proprietary software for the website main software. Proprietary software would mean that development would be limited to a company’s funding and management abilities, as well as their limited focus for development. Open-source software overcomes these limitations and would be the best option.


5. Changeability. A static website, even one that incorporates dynamic content will be costly. Website owners, whether large corporations or small individuals will look to redesign their website look at some time. The Best Web Designer in Canada would use a system that allowed easy design, look and feel changes, without the need for programming changes. Design changes would be managed through a templating system, where many different vendors would support the system.


6. Core understanding. Almost anyone with basic website understanding can install many of the Open-source Content Management Systems available today. The Best Web Designer in Canada would intimately understand how to customize the system to meet their clients’ needs without jeopardizing the core functionality.


7. Creativity. Much of the glitz on most websites is graphics based. This requires specialized graphics and/or Flash programming knowledge. Such knowledge is costly to implement on a website, and costly to update and maintain. The Best Web Designer in Canada would use understanding and creative extensions to produce similar results, without the cost and reliance on these types of professionals.

This list is by no means the only way to determine the Best Web Designer in Canada, but it is a start. As Ed Peterson at TheSignWorx.com web design does meet all of these criteria, there does not seem to be any reason why he should not earn this title.

If you have any suggestions as to other criteria that could be used in determining this title, please submit them here.