Web Design
& UK Website Design

Website Design and Development
An Overview

So what, exactly, is the difference between web design and web development? A web designer is more concerned with how the site looks and how easy it is for the end-user to utilise, whereas a developer is more concerned with how the site is created and works. Websites are developed using a range of programming languages. These can create both flat pages (using HTML for instance) which simply publish information, and dynamic languages such as asp.net and PHP, which allow website content to change when either the user or the operator interacts with them. An example of this would be an online address book, where the user can select specific data. Modern web development allows user interactions with a database, server or any data not on the web page using AJAX. The innovative thing in this is the page doesn't need to reload to return new images or data from external files, giving a more rewarding user interaction.

Design Technologies

The web designer will bring your website to life using a number of technologies to create branding and a professional look. The main objective of any design is to convert your visitors to the goals of your business. A service company like a dentist would aim for the visitor to fill out the contact us form or call to make an appointment. Whereas an E-commerce store would have a primary objective of selling as many products as possible. A show or society may wish for the visitor to be tempted to visit and a blog would be trying to attract regular readers and interest in the articles. All of these goals will require a different type of site to better convert visitors and your business will need to adapt your site for your target market. If you have a target customer base of over 50 you may want to keep the site simple and less dynamic, with clearer calls to action.

Having a professional design and well structured website will stop new visitors bouncing from your site as soon as they arrive. However, there are a number of ways to keep customers on your website and interested in your products or services. Here are a few ways to improve your return on investment (ROI):

• Have clear calls to action e.g. if you would like the customer to fill in your contact us form have links to it on every page.
• Utilise web technologies to save time and contact your customers e.g. Have an autoresponder on your contact us form with a link back to your website.
• Use all the emails from your contact forms to market your services.
• Make sure your site is easy to navigate e.g. have a clear menu structure in the same place on every page.

Web designers utilise a number of software programmes, techniques and technologies to produce designs. Here are a few of the main tool used:

• Sketches: when first meeting clients initial concepts may be drawn by hand to help visualise ideas.
• Story boarding: create ideas quickly by outlining content, navigation and design elements.
• Site map: draw up a site map plan in the early stages of the web design.
• Adobe Photoshop: create graphics, buttons and manipulate photos ready for the web design.
• Adobe Fireworks: rapid prototyping - create the complete website in design view and then export to images for the client to view.
• CSS: style up the website using cascading style sheets. CSS allows the website to be quickly changed and saves on space, improves optimisation and is extremely powerful when used properly.

Development Technologies

Once the web design has been created, developers will make it all work. Here are a number of the technologies and methods we may employ in building your website:

• HTML: Hypertext Markup Language is the standard language used to display text and images on websites.
• XHTML: Extensible Hypertext Markup Language is an extension of HTML used in the application of XML.
• PHP: Hypertext Preprocessor is a widely used server side scripting language. Much of your web design will be brought to life with this code.
• ASP.NET: A very powerful microsoft scripting language that allows our programmers to build dynamic web sites and web applications.
• JAVASCRIPT: an object-oriented scripting language used to add interactive features to webpages.
• JQUERY: Lightweight JavaScript library used in the creation of animations, server requests and communications.

E-Commerce

E-Commerce is a term covering any financial transaction on the web from online banking to shopping to managing utility bills. The potential for abuse of any system involving personal data has led to the development of PayPal, which acts as a 3rd party payment gateway. PayPal allows transactions between buyer and vendor to take place whilst reducing the risk of exposing personal data such as your date of birth, maiden name and bank details (all of which are used in identity theft and fraud). The vendor site does not have to store or manage any client data and there is the added benefit of additional payment security should either side of the transaction not be satisfactorily fulfilled. Google Checkout works in a similar way with participating online stores, whilst also offering fraud protection and order tracking.

Many websites have made use of affiliate sites in order to raise their web profile. A potential buyer can either go directly to a specific website (assuming they know exactly what they want and where to get it) or, browsing more generally, can link to a site via a 3rd party. The link usually takes the form of a banner or pop-up and forwards the buyer to the affiliated site. The affiliate site is paid by the merchant site.