| |
Return to article list
Beginner’s guide to website design (aimed at potential website owners)
This is a brief introduction to websites for people who know little or nothing about what is needed to get started on a website design project.
It covers some of the key factors that you need to take into account when planning your site.
What is a website?
A website is a collection of pages which can be accessed on a computer that is linked to the internet. A website can exist to provide information, to act as a showcase (an artist website for example) or to sell the owners products and services.
When are thinking about having a website, you ask yourself four questions:
- Why do I want a website?
- Who is it aimed at?
- What do I want my website to do for me?
- What do I want to say on my website?
If you have good answers for each of these questions, then you definitely need a website.
What will I put on my website?
In the world of web design, content is king. Most people visit websites because they want information – the appearance is secondary. (The exception to this are showcase sites for the arts where the look of the site is equally important of course.)
So before you contact a web designer, it is a good idea to draft your content first. This means identifying what pages you want to include, thinking about what photographs or artwork you want to have, and thinking about the colours and website look and feel that you want to present to visitors.
Choosing a domain name
A website needs an address - this is called the domain name. The first very important rule to remember is that if a web designer buys a domain name for you, make sure it is done in your name. The reason for this is simple. If your details are not on the domain name registry – then you do not own the domain name. This means that if the web designer disappears for any reason, or does not pay the renewal fees, you will lose your domain name, and it is almost impossible to retrieve.
Domain names are normally leased for one or two years. There are many suppliers to choose from. Some of our clients have already have a domain name when they contact us. For us to be able to host a site, we need to transfer the domain name to our host (which can be a bit of a headache). Ideally, we like to register the name for you so that there are no problems.
.com or .co.uk?
.com names imply a USA base whereas .co.uk suggest a UK base. .com addresses are more expensive – they can cost up to £30 per year. .co.uk addresses are much cheaper – between £5 and £10 per year. .org and .org.uk suggest charity or club. There are others (e.g. .biz, .net, .com.uk) but they are less popular and probably not worth considering.
If you are buying a domain name, it is worth buying both the .com and .uk versions of the name. This is because people often forget which ending to use when typing in an address, and if you have both, it doesn’t matter which they use – they will still be able to access your site.
Also, if you have a .co.uk name, but not the .com name, there is a risk that the .com name might be bought by a competitor. Therefore people looking for your site might accidentally finish up on one of your competitor’s sites.
Hosting
You will need a host to store your web pages. If we develop your site for you, we will use our host.
What web pages do I need?
You can have as many pages as you like on your website. If you are not sure what you need, here are some suggestions:
A small business website
Home
About
Products or Services
Costs
Contact
An artist’s website
Home
About
Inspiration
Gallery 1
Gallery 2
Gallery 3
Workshops
Contact
A photographer’s website
Home
About
Gallery 1
Gallery 2
Gallery 3
Costs
Contact
A theatre website
Home
Latest news
What we do
Performances
Diary
Performers
Gallery
Contact
Links
An actor’s website
Home
CV/Biography
Photo gallery
Contact
Links
An author or writer website
Home
Latest news
About the author
Latest books/publications
Other books/publications
Diary
Contact
Links
A craft website
Home
About
Gallery 1
Gallery 2
Gallery 3
Buy online
Contact
Links
Please contact us for a friendly, no obligation discussion about your website needs.
Tel: +44 (0)1903 879362
Email: info@thewebsitedesignstudio.co.uk
Return to article list
|
|
Glossary
Animation
Any graphic that moves on your website. Animations are often created in a programming language called Flash – hence the term Flash animations.
Below the fold
Content of a web page that is not seen by the visitor unless the visitor scrolls down the page.
Blog
Blog is short for web log. It’s a web page were the owner can easily add short updates (known as posting). It is particularly useful for online diaries.
Blogger
The author of a blog.
Blogging
Blogging is the act of posting on a blog.
Bookmark
A link to a specific web page, stored by your browser in your favorites section.
Brochure website
A simple website designed to give information about the owner’s products or services.
Browser
A program on your computer that allows you to look at web pages. Examples include Internet Explorer, Fire Fox and Netscape. There are others.
Comment
A piece of feedback left by a reader on a blog.
Compression
A way of packing data in order to save storage space or for faster download time. It is commonly used when preparing photographs for presentation on the web. Photos that have not been compressed take a long time to download.
Content
Anything that is included on a web page including artwork, text and photographs.
Discussion board
A discussion board is a general term for any online "bulletin board" where you can leave and expect to see responses to messages you have left. Or you can just read the board.
Domain name
The address of your website. (e.g. www.thewebsitedesignstudio.co.uk)
Domain registrar
A domain registrar is a company or organization involved in registering domain names on the Internet.
Email
Typed messages that can be sent to other users of the internet (providing both the sender and the receiver have email addresses.)
Email address
An address that can be used to send and receive emails.
Email forwarding
A way of forwarding emails to another email address.
Flash
Software made by Macromedia that created animated sequences for inclusion on a website.
Forms
A way for website visitors to communicate with the website or other people instead of sending an e-mail. Typically forms may ask for a visitor’s name, address, email address and details of any enquiry.
GIF
A GIF is a type of image file. It stands for Graphic Interchange Format. It is best used for artwork with flat colours.
Hits
The number of times a web page has been viewed on the internet.
Home page
The first page you see when you view a website.
Host
A computer connected to the internet that stores website pages.
HTML
Stands for Hypertext Markup Language. This is the language that web pages are created using.
Hyperlink
A link on a website that points to another web page (sometimes known as hotlinks)
Images
Artwork or photographs displayed on a web page.
JPEG/JPG
Stands for Joint Photographic Experts Group ( the name of the committee that created this file format). JPEG is best used for photographs for the web.
Keyword
Keywords are words that are key or important words. Users type in a keyword in the search engine to find the relevant websites associated with that keyword.
Link
See hyperlink
Link building
Is a technique where you create reciprocal links with websites with the intention of increasing the popularity of a web page, thus helping increase a web page's position in the search engines. The more inward links a web page has, the more likely it is to be noticed by a search engine.
Link popularity
How popular a web page is based on the number of back links it has.
Mail box
A sort of letter box where your email are stored before you view them.
Masthead
An image placed at the top of a web page to tell the visitor what page they are on.
Mailing list
A method of using one email to sent do multiple email addresses.
Mouse over
A change on a website (e.g. a photographic changing) when the curse is passed over it.
Navigation
The way a visitor moves from page to page on your website.
Navigation links
Highlighted word or phrase that by clicking, allows you to jump to another web page or website. Typically navigation links that move you around the pages of a website are found at the top and bottom of a web page.
Navigation structure
A map or flowchart of the relationship between pages on your website.
Online shop
A website with the facility for visitors to pay for goods bought from the site.
PDF files
Stands for Portable Document File. PDF files are a good way of displaying documents on your website.
Reciprocal link
A link between two websites.
Rollover
A feedback cue that is activated when the mouse cursor is moved over a particular element or button on a web page.
Search engine
A tool for search the web using keywords. Google, Yahoo and MSN are examples of popular search engines.
Search Engine Optimisation (SEO)
Making you website as attractive as possible to search engines, thus increasing your chances of being on the first page, or, better still, first position on the search results list. A number of factors are important when optimising a website, including the content and structure of the website's copy and page layout, the HTML meta-tags and the submission process.
Shopping cart
A virtual shopping cart where visitors can store goods to buy before payment on a shop website.
Splash page
A website's introduction page, usually using flashy of Flash graphics.
Statistics
Information on how many visitors a website receives, where they come from, which pages they look at, how long they stay on the site for etc.
Submission
The process of submitting a new site to search engines for inclusion in its database, so that the site appears in listings.
TIF or TIFF
A file format for graphics used on a website.
Templates
Ready made websites or web pages that can be adapted to meet specific needs of a new website owner.
Traffic
The number of visitors that view a website.
URL
Stands for "Uniform Resource Locator". It is the address of a web page. URLs begin with http://. For example the URL of this website is http://www.thewebsitedesignstudio.co.uk.
W3
World Wide Web
W3C
World Wide Web Consortium
Web design
Web design describes the process of designing a web page or website.
Web designer
A person who designs websites.
Web performance
The time it takes for a page to load. |
|
|
