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Introduction
Below is information about web design, if you have any information
about web design please email us and we will add it. Before you
can post a Web site to the World Wide Web, you need a unique address
for the site. This site's domain name, for example, is internet-guide.co.uk.
To ensure that each website has an address that no other site is
using, domain names must be registered with the domain administrator.
In most cases, this is InterNIC.
Other sites you can check to find more information about finding
a website domain is at
Web Site Planning
The most important part of designing a web site is in the planning.
There is no point in starting to write the HTML when you only have
a vague idea of what you want to accomplish. In the long run planning
will save you plenty of time and hopefully stop you doing the dreaded
redesign.
The first step to take is to decide what your web site will be
about. It is a good idea to look at other web sites on the same
subject to see what the competition is like. You can also learn
ideas from competitors on what works and what doesn't. It is at
this stage you may also realise that your idea is not feasible (
e.g., creating a search engine, search engines like Google would
be near impossible to compete with).
You also have to take into account what the costs of creating your
web site will be, e.g., hosting costs, buying scripts, employing
people to design graphics etc. Plus you should honestly evaluate
your own web site designing skills, if you are a beginner you should
consider creating a simple web site to learn the trade.
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Content Development
The content of your web site is the part that will make or break
it. Useful content is what gets users coming back again and again.
Thou having a good graphically looking web site is desirable, without
any good content users will soon be drifting away. If you are just
a beginner and are designing the web site yourself it is a good
idea that the content of your site is something you are genuinely
interested in, not only does it make the development of content
enjoyable but your enthusiasm will make your content genuine.
If however you have money to spare and are planning a big project
you may want to hire a creative writer, or for businesses, a Web-savvy
public relations professional to help you put into writing some
of the concepts your web site wants to express. If your web site
will sell a product or involves dealing with the public, a good
help page is essential and all questions users will ask should be
answered here.
This will save time answering emails or the telephone. Another
good idea is creating an online community to keep users coming back,
this can be done by creating a forum. A forum is a good place for
your web site to get valuable feedback on what your web site is
doing right or wrong and gives your users a chance to interact.
Below is two of the best forum packages available.
PhpBB - http://www.phpbb.com
Ultimate Bulletin Board - http://www.infopop.com
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Creation of the HTML
Once you have planned the basis of what your web site is about
and created the content the next stage is to code the HTML web pages
(you could design XML web pages and other formats, but we won't
cover that here). It is possible to code your web pages by hand
in a simple text editor like Notepad, but this times a long time
and doesn't allow you to view the look of your pages while coding
them.
Therefore the best way is to use a web page design package such
as Macromedia Dreamweaver or Microsoft Frontpage which automatically
generate the HTML code (this web site is coded using Macromedia
Dreamweaver). However a good knowledge of HTML is useful in making
the HTML generated by these programs cleaner and for adding meta
tags and such like. Macromedia Dreamweaver has a useful function
that allows the user to have a split screen with the bottom half
being the code view and the top half being the design view.
You will also need a graphical design package like Adobe Photoshop
or Macromedia Fireworks to create the images for your web pages.
Furthermore you may need php, cgi, perl scripts to automate functions
in your web site like email forms, tell a friend forms, error handling,
ad management, forums, guestbooks, search engines, counters and
more. You may need to employ a programmer to help with development
of your web site scripts.
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Creation of Graphics
Along with creating your HTML code for your web site another important
part of your web site is graphics. Good well designed graphics are
an important part of making your site look professional and interesting.
A good logo and titlebar can give your site a customized feel and
give your users a better indication of what your site is about.
One way to achieve good graphics is to pay someone to design them
for you, however this is expensive. The other way is to buy a good
graphic design package and create the graphics yourself, this way
you can learn a skill and save yourself a lot of money in the long
run.
Graphic Design Packages,
Adobe Photoshop
Corel Draw
Macromedia Freehand and Fireworks
Quark XPress
Serif Page Plus
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Promotion
Once your web site pages have been created and you have uploaded
them by FTP to your web site host, you then need to promote your
site. Obviously there is no point in having hundreds of pages of
useful content if no one is going to view them. If you have plenty
of money you could advertise your web site in newspapers, magazines,
radio or on the television, but for the vast majority of people
this isn't an option. Therefore the best place to get traffic to
your web site is by having it in Search Engines and Internet Directories.
Search engines - Google, AskJeeves
- Teoma, Fast Alltheweb.com,
Yahoo, Alta
Vista
PPC (pay per click) search engines - Overture,
Espotting,
Directories - Looksmart,
ODP (The Open Directory Project),
Yahoo
Again if you have money to spare a professional Internet marketer
can help spread the word fast and soon start bringing more people
to your site using everything from advertising on the Web to zippy
contests.
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Maintenance
Once your web site is up and running and the traffic is increasing
you cant just leave your web site alone, maintenance is important.
Obviously the larger the web site the bigger the job of maintenance
and with some web sites this can become a full time job.
When conducting web site maintenance you need to make sure that
your content is up to date and still relevant, that emails are answered
promptly, that link partnerships with other web sites are kept,
analysis of traffic to look for improvements and areas to concentrate
on. These are just some of the things required during maintenance
work.
During maintenance you should always be looking for the weaknesses
of your web site and improvements you need to make. A web site is
an on going venture and cannot be left alone to erode. Again feedback
from users is essential for good maintenance.
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Things to Avoid
When designing your web site there is certain things you should
avoid,
Make sure your web site works on a wide range of browsers, dont
just check it with Internet Explorer.
Avoid using annoying images and text that either flashes or flickers,
these are certain to make people leave your site.
Make sure your pages are small (below 40K) so that they list well
in search engines like Google and also load quickly for users.
Avoid using to many images on your pages, so that they load quicker
and are content rich (text). Search Engines love content and hate
image laden web sites.
Banner exchanges and tacky promotion gimmicks shouldn't be used
as they give users a poor impression of what your web site represents.
Web pages should also be designed in either 640x400 or 800x600
because over (50%) of users on this site have a screen resolution
of 800x600. If you design your web site pages in a screen resolution
above 800x600 you will find that it won't fit the screens of 800x600
and below.
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