Redesign vs. Realign

When I started designing websites in 2001, the idea of a “realign” was almost non-existent. Most people or organizations didn’t have a website at all, so they were always looking for a full on design. The years went by, CSS layout overtook older methods, and we have ended up in a much better place. These days, it’s often possible to do a “realign” instead of a full redesign. First though, let’s look at the definition of both terms.

Redesign

Completely reimagining the way a website looks (including aesthetics and layout), its structure, and typically along with that, the functionality of the site.

Realign

Tweaking the way a site looks, including aesthetics and layout, while keeping the overall structure of the content and often functionality in place.

Redesign

There are plenty of reasons to do a complete redesign. If you’re a new client to ClickNathan, one of the largest will be how your site is built. If you’re not using a a content management system or not using the best content management system, I’m almost always going to recommend we move in that direction. What you pay for during the redesign will pay off ten fold over the life of your site, both in the time you save worrying and fiddling with your site, but also in the actual cash you save trying to pay big bucks to designers or developers to make simple little changes to your site.

However, for modern, well-coded and up-to-date sites, you’ve got options!

Realign

A realign can mean a lot of things. In pristine conditions, some websites can be redesigned without ever touching the HTML of the site: we simply update the CSS and we’re good to go. However, this is rare and in most cases, the best performance will be wrought from starting from the ground up with the HTML & CSS, but that doesn’t mean everything else goes out the window. If you have a site that’s served you well or has been an asset in the past but perhaps is dwindling in performance these days, often we can achieve great things simply by reviewing what your site is doing, what it’s done well in the past, and what you’d like to with it come tomorrow. We don’t always need to completely redo the site, but we’ll look over the site’s performance in general and work from there.

Whether you’re looking for a redesign or realign, get in touch with me and we can discuss what might work for you.