Web Design in Austin and Lubbock Texas

Welcome ...

Brandon Beck Designs is a website design studio operating out of Austin and Lubbock, Texas. Brandon Beck specializes in creating aesthetically simple and elegant informative websites for the individual. He is a one-man-band so to speak, doing all of the web design, graphics, photography, coding, and maintenance himself, thus lowering costs and keeping a close designer-client relationship.

Brandon Beck's portfolio reflects the diversity of his skills, including websites for attorneys, freelancers, and students. The websites are logically built and coded according to current web standards, which is an ideal foundation for search engine optimization, providing great exposure to prospective clients and employers.

Brandon Beck codes the pages deliberately and by hand adhereing to the latest web standards--integrating XHTML, CSS, PHP, Javascript, et al.--insuring browser consistency and forward compatibility. This also allows for a high degree of fexibility and customization. Take a look at his portfolio to see what he's about.

Do I need a website?

If you are asking yourself this question, the answer if probably yes. Everyday the web becomes a more powerful tool not only for business but also for self-promotion and inter-connectivity. Many people could benefit for a personal website. Ask yourself the following questions:

If you answered yes to one or more of the above questions, a personal website may be a great tool for you. Brandon Beck understands the value of promotional websites and how to make the strongest impact. Brandon thinks from the prospective of the potential client or employer, focusing sharply on clarity and beautiful design.

How much will this cost?

If you want your own website there are several costs invovled:

  1. Domain name (URL) -- usually around $10/yr
  2. Web hosting -- varies, Brandon uses a company that charges around $100/yr
  3. Website design -- varies immensely from designer to designer and project to project. Take a look at the services page to see what Brandon charges.
  4. Search Engine Optimization (SEO) -- varies, and can get very expensive with a major SEO firm. Again, check out the services page.

What technologies do you use?

Building a website correctly requires proficiency in several technologies. There are many to choose from, but Brandon Beck focuses on the following:

Extensible Hypertext Markup Language (XHTML)

XHTML, sometimes written (X)HTML, is a newer, better version of HTML. It is the foundation of any web page and must be properly coded in order for the page to function optimally. Brandon Beck is extremely proficient in XHTML.

Cascading Style Sheets (CSS)

Cascading Style Sheets are the partner of XHTML. Where XTML provides the content of the page, cascading style sheets provide the form. CSS files define the rules of presentation and, like XHTML, Brandon understands CSS very well.

Adobe Photoshop

Adobe Photoshop is the industry standard graphics and photo editing program. It is very powerful but equally complicated to learn. Brandon Beck creates his own graphics and edits his own photos, using Photoshop almost exclusively.

Hypertext Preprocessor (PHP)

PHP is a programming language that runs of web servers and is extremely powerful for creating dynamic websites (i.e. websites that adapt to the user's input). Brandon Beck uses PHP to perform all sorts of tasks, from generating emails to retrieving information from databases.

MYSQL

MYSQL is the industry standard open source relational database technology. It, along with its partner, PHP, drive many of the most prominent websites in existence today. When Brandon Beck needs a database, MYSQL is his choice.

Javascript

Javascript is similar to PHP in that it a tool for dynamic websites but differs in that it runs on the user's computer rather than the server. Brandon Beck tries to minimize his use of Javascript because not all web browsers handle it the same way, but he does use it when appropriate (the slider on the Brandon's portfolio page is done in Javascript).

Asynchronous JavaScript and XML (AJAX)

AJAX is an exciting newer technology that allows a page to be changed or updated without having to reload the entire page. Brandon Beck is exploring and learning implementation of AJAX.

Flash

Beginning in the late 1990's, Flash became one of the most popular technologies for web design, providing slick vector animation, but quickly became overused. Brandon Beck tries minimized his use of Flash because it is not universally supported and has very little utility for search engine optimization (SEO).