A Close Look at a Dynamic World
When you decide that you need a website of your own, you should keep in mind that building these digital locations is a job that employs thousands of experts and professionals. They earn their livings honestly, because the work can be as complex as any science or field of engineering. Website design combines pure programming, pure creativity, and hybrids of both, from start to finish. The rewards for mounting a good website can be considerable, and they include international renowned, financial profit, and creative satisfaction. When undertaking a job so complex, there are many traps that are easy to fall into. When you begin to build a site independently, especially without the benefit of HTML coding knowledge, you should know that you will probably need to spend some cash on the project, if only to register the name of your site. For the amateur website designer who builds for fun, this is not a problem, but for anyone who is ready to invest large amounts of cash int o their site, problems and pitfalls can cause serious harm. Even people who are building for their own amusement, however, can lose interest in their work if they find themselves blocked by some of the odd problems unique to the digital world. Some of these tips are of the kind that engineers must ruefully confront with a grin: "Is the machine plugged in?" It happens to everybody who works on digital equipment sooner or later. Other tips are based on abstract considerations of design, while others focus on budgeting concerns. Consider the following website design tips as a general guide and as a map to avoid the simple mistakes that slow down work and produce frustration.Preparing for a Long Effort
It is possible to build a website without learning the HTML programming language. This is akin to building a birdhouse without using power tools: it can be done, but it can't be done very well. As a learning project for children, building a birdhouse serves an excellent introduction to project management. It requires forethought, concentration, and patience. But it is not a serious construction. The ability to build a website is similar. Some people create their sites to display content that means a lot to them, even spending the money on a domain name, without really caring about the professional website design of the site, and that's fine. For anyone who comes to the project with a more serious purpose in mind, it is a good idea to learn HTML, or perhaps hire a professional website designer. The language is not overwhelmingly difficult in any way. It is not something that can be picked up and enjoyed like a Frisbee, but it is not as hard as earning a colleg e degree. The apt comparison is the musical instrument. Most people can learn to play music, to a certain extent. Most people are even capable of joining a band of fellow musicians and playing for the entertainment of the public. And other people dedicate themselves to their instruments and become virtuosos, (or are born to the art, like Mozart, and display the talents of a prodigy). It is possible to find websites online that will provide a batch of drag-and-drop tools for website construction that don't require any HTML code at all. They should be avoided if your website is a serious concern. For posting personal content and other recreational uses, drag-and-drop is fine. Don't be surprised if, after a certain interval of steady work, drag-and-drop websites turn out to have a few fees for you that you didn't anticipate.
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The Perfect Words on the Front Door
One element that makes the World Wide Web work effectively is the labeling system for websites, the domain name. Developed by programmers at the University of Wisconsin in 1983, domain names are all collected and registered for a fee in locations that can be checked by every digital presence n the Internet. Today, several international and national groups work closely together to keep the Domain Name System, or DNS, in order. Some of the "vintage" domain suffixes are .com, .net, .edu, and .org, while countries can register sites with two-letter domains, such .fr for France, and .us for the United States. Buying a domain name for your site is an extended shopping process. There are thousands of websites that specialize in taking the name you want, checking to see if another website has already created it, and then registering it with the DNS, and good website designers will have a list of regular domain providers that they have worked with. One problem that arises f rom domain name purchases can include the use of unusual characters like &, #, and >, which are not easy to remember. Simple and short are best for domain names. When you do purchase your domain name, make sure that your vendor offers you a control panel that allows you to make programming changes – many vendors will force you to make very change through their offices, which can be time-consuming. You may want to consider using the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers, or ICANN, to inspect your vendor's history. ICANN is a non-profit corporation based in California that is dedicated to stabilizing domains on the Internet, and they only approve of domain name providers after an extensive vetting process. For a small website, a U.S. citizen can reasonably expect to spend about twenty dollars a year for their domain name. Large websites with commercial traffic are more expensive.
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The Details and the Research
The creation of a website requires more than a domain name. It requires a host or server to deal with the traffic that your site will generate. Like the domain name, the cost for the services of a web host should not be very high. You will need to find a web server you can afford, and as with the domain name process, there are hordes of vendors ready to sell you that service, some of them much better than others. Some host provide a long list of extra features, while others will simply offer bandwidth, data transfer speed and a few GB's of free space. If you are doing website design for a commercial site, the price will rise with the volume of signals that your site can handle. You will need to choose your server carefully, and that means getting to know the marketplace. The amateur can simply turn to Yahoo or Google, of course, and receive acceptable service, but this will not be free. More elaborate services will need to be measured for the bandwidth allowed, t he disk space provided, the number of email accounts allowed, the rate of data transfer that is possible – the list goes on. For the past few years, the top web servers have been these, with the most popular listed first, and then in descending order:
Apache, from the Apache Software Foundation;
International Information Services, operated by Microsoft;
Nginx, (pronounced "engine x"), from Nginx Inc.;
GWS, operated by Google.
Clearly, someone who understands the digital engineering involved should purchase hosting services. The needs of the website should also fit into a commercial profile that can be compared to similar websites. As in any shopping expedition, research is the key: this assumes that the shopper is familiar with the technical specs of the website. You can go online to inspect recommended servers and hosts of all kinds. Bargains are always tempting, but keeping in mind the old cliché that warns of the deal that is too good to be true; it probably is. Thankfully, any new website should not cost so much as to require a huge loan. The expense of a good host or server (not forgetting the price of most domain names) should be manageable for almost any new business, and the least of your worries.
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There Is No Music Made Without a Stage
When you build a website, you can sit down and just assemble whatever comes to mind, if you want to, just as a jazz musician can play spontaneous solos in the middle of a melody. However, it takes years for a jazz musician to develop the skills he needs to play spontaneously. If you want to build a website that works commercially, you need to think and plan and write like a musical composer. If you are a professional website designer, you need to be able to sit down with clients and create websites in cooperation with them. This can be a difficult process. Clients may or may not understand what is possible. Website designers may not understand parts of the client's business that are essential to the site's success. There are so many potential problems with the blank page, there is sure to be a process of education for all concerned when websites are conceived and outlined. Website designers must be prepared to learn a new business every time they meet their lat est client.
To build your website as an amateur will be an interesting process. There will be a learning curve that may not rise very quickly, especially if you are using drag-and-drop programming. Even the amateur will benefit from a session of outlining and penciling in, however, and having a goal or image in mind at the start of any creative project usually leads to the best results.
The designing session can be some of the most rewarding parts of the website creation process. Alfred Hitchcock was known for saying that after he wrote the screenplays for his movies, he would just as well preferred to not make the movie, because all the creative work had been done on paper. A planning session that is conducted without courtesy or care, however, can result in clients returning for endless editions and rewrites. For the professional website designer, an approval signoff on the final version of the website is a necessary part of business, which prevents misunderstandings and never-ending corrections, and should be introduced as such during the planning session for the site.
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The History of a Modern Idea
When we say "website design," we are talking about a subject with a deep background in history. Design can refer to the ergo metrics of a chair, or the traditional choice of jade for sculptures in China, or the use of the arch in architecture. The Wikipedia definition of design is a real mouthful: "the creation of a plan or convention for the construction of an object, system or measurable human interaction." It may seem surprising to find references to architecture in the digital manipulations of website design, but the fact remains that the Bauhaus School of architecture, so influential in the 1920's and 30's, has had a tremendous recent impact on website design. The Bauhaus developed a theory of design for print production called modernism, which has in turn tremendously influenced the new school of website user interfaces called flat design. What originally affected print has transferred fairly completely to modern websites. Flat design emphasizes sim plicity and two-dimensional visuals. Where the Bauhaus pushed for sans serif typefaces, the flat designers now push for graphics that reject 3D visuals.
Another competing theory of design is called skeuomorphism, and it derives from the Greek words of "skeu," for tool, and "morph," for shape. Long a favored practice of Steven Jobs, skeuomorphism attempts to duplicate materials or techniques from other mediums into the work at hand. Just as iMac buttons appeared to be three dimension metal stubs, the iMac calendar was drawn as a small icon with pages fluttering upwards. Skeuomorphing in general aims to create a sense of familiarity and comfort with materials. With the rise of smartphones, the savings of memory that flat design allowed pushed it to the fore, and it now dominates the industry of website design.
Website design is a creative thing. If you want to design your own website, you deserve the joy of shaping it to your whims, as every other artist and craftsman in the world shapes their medium. There is no right or wrong in design, although there may certainly be more productive or preferred methods. It is important to note that every graphic element in website design consumes memory, and that eventually that consumption will affect performance, so handle with skill. While amateurs might be able to ignore practical necessities until their sites crash every five seconds, professional website designers have the needs of the client to consider. Nevertheless, there is no pleasure in refusing to share an idea. When a website designer comes to the planning table, there is an actual obligation for them, as the possessors of an education in design and digital construction, to share their ideas, suggest new approaches, and provoke ambition. After all, a new idea that succeed s may turn out to be incredibly profitable for the client! Whether these ideas are flat or skeuomorphed makes no difference at all.
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Source: Offering Up Some Website design Tips
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