Chicago Web Design

Knowing what you need to build a website is the first step in being able to work from home on your computer.

Even though there are already-built sites available online, learning how to build a website yourself gives you an advantage over other website owners because once you have this knowledge, no one can take it away from you. You will be able to design new sites any time you want and expand your business ventures at will.

Assuming you already have a computer with Internet connection, here are the 3 basic elements you need to build a website:

1. A Domain Name

The domain name is the name of your website. For example, "http://www.my-domain-name.com".

You will need to buy your domain name from a domain registration company where you pay an annual fee for the right to use that name. Fortunately, this is very inexpensive --average cost -/year.

This does not get you a website, just the name. The name should be relevant to the product/s you will be selling or promoting -- and easy to remember.

There are oodles of companies that register domain names. Doing a Google search of 'domain names' will yield plenty of reputable choices.

2. A Web Hosting Company

Basically, a web hosting company connects your website to the World Wide Web.

Every website needs a web host.

More often than not, when you purchase your domain name, your domain registrar you will also offer you the option of purchasing hosting with them. You do NOT have to do this, but, for the beginner, it often makes things easier.

For a good hosting company, don't expect to pay much more than -/month, although hosting packages do vary in cost. You can always do a Google search for 'hosting companies' if you want to shop around for rates.

Creating a hosting account is very easy. You can literally have your own hosting package within minutes.

Once you have a domain name and web hosting set up, you are ready to create your own website. So now you will need:

3. A Web Editor

In order to design and create a web page on your computer at home, you will need to use what is known as a web editor.

A web editor is the software that converts the text and content --that you will write on your computer-- into 'computer language' for your web hosting company to understand.

With a web editor you will be able to:

* Create multiple web pages
* Use different fonts and colors
* Add images and tables
* Resize pages to make them look more professional
* Publish your pages so they show up on the Internet
* Create links to other pages within your site and to other websites

You can pay a lot of money for a web editor, but this is NOT necessary. There are plenty of perfectly good web editors available for free.

You now know the 3 basic components of what you need to build a website.

The foundation of any successful online business is knowing how to create, design, and publish a website.

Just by reading this article you are already ahead of most people who say they want to work on their computer from home. 90% will never even bother to investigate what the 3 fundamentals of building a website are, much less use that information to start a web based business.

It is important to remember, however, that in order to build a website, you actually have to DO it. Creating a website is a hands-on experience.

Web Design

Your web design is the face of your website and business to the Internet world. Millions of websites abound in the crowded World Wide Web and if you want your website to stand out, it should be impressive and unique, both in form and function. As a beginner, it is advisable to ask the help of a web developer or trusted colleagues in the industry.

Whether you are creating your own design or having a web agency do it for you, it is necessary to prepare and plan for it by remembering the following basic tips:

Try several design outlines.

When creating your design, try to sketch or draw on paper a rough draft or model of the web design you have in mind instead of directly coding it. This way, you give yourself the chance to improve or change it entirely if need be. Ask your friends or experts to give suggestions and inputs on current trends and tools for easy web designing. After making several drafts, make a wise choice for final coding.

Make your content readable and pleasing to users.

Remember that you are designing your website not for yourself but for your users. Knowing what your users want and what will please them should inspire you to put content into your web design that is readable as well as attractive. This includes a good color scheme, ideal font sizes, catchy animation, pleasing sound effects and quality text.

Use as much CSS as needed.

Cascading Style Sheets or CSS offers many techniques that are not available in table layouts. One good feature is the complete separation between design or layout of a page and the information on the same page. Thus, when corrections or updates need to be made on the layout for instance, all you need to do is replace the CSS file for the information with the design or layout remaining intact.

Apply the right formats.

Before exporting graphics from graphics design tools to be imported to your website editor, make sure that your design has the right format. JPEG and GIF file formats are ideal for images and photos while PNG and GIF are great for screenshots, logos and other graphical features. The PNG offers 'alpha transparency' which the GIF format does not. Alpha Transparency allows you to use the PNG format over the top of any background image, colour or gradient, without 'jagged edges' showing.

There are many tools that beginners can find on the Internet to help them create their own web design, like graphics design tools and web design software. Making your own niche web design can be fun with these tools plus your own creativity and resourcefulness.

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Web Design

A larger number of companies are choosing to launch dynamic websites when promoting their companies. This can be a great move, since these sites usually have more to offer the people who visit them, and are often much better at generating revenue than a static website would be able to do. However, they are not always right for your company. If you are not sure that you like the idea of going with a fully dynamic website, you may want to consider incorporating a few dynamic pages into your static website framework. Here is how you can accomplish this.

Can a website be both dynamic and static?

While it may seem as though you need to construct a site that is fully dynamic or fully static, the fact is that there can be a middle ground as well. There are an increasing number of sites that are considered to be "static-dynamic". That is, the majority of the pages do use a static HTML framework in their construction. While they do use a static framework, the content changes each time it is viewed.

This is because the website uses tools that pull content from a database and loads it into the static framework each time a page is viewed. This means that while the site is built along the same lines as a static site, it gives the end user a very dynamic experience.

Elements that you may want to ensure are dynamic

There are some pages that you definitely want to ensure are dynamic in nature. These include forums, where customers or other individuals can discuss topics which either relate to your company or are more general in nature. You also want to ensure that if you are utilizing a shopping cart so that users can purchase items directly from your site that the shopping cart remains a dynamic element even if other parts of your site are static.

Why do you want to change the content on your site?

It is important to make sure that you ensure that the content changes on a regular basis. There are tools that can be utilized that will determine the frequency with which that information changes. You need to consider which sections will be changing their content and why you want the information to change. For example, you may want to alter the items that are being offered on

How often do you want to change content?

If you are going with a static-dynamic site, you may want to consider how frequently the information needs to be changed out. Remember that even if your site is dynamic, if it only offers a limited amount of information then your site can rapidly begin to feel stale and may cause potential customers to look elsewhere. How often you change your information is something that your website design team can help you determine and it may take some time for you to figure out the optimum frequency with which to change your site's content.

By ensuring that you are working with an experienced and capable website design company you can be sure that your website will combine the best advantages of static and dynamic construction and promote your company as effectively as possible.

Chicago Web Design

A few years ago, webmasters only needed to make sure that their websites worked on a couple of browsers, like Internet Explorer and Firefox, with maybe the only issue usually occurring with making the site work on previous versions of the above mentioned.

Now the game has changed and all webmasters need to make sure their site not only works on a vast array of browsers, including new additions like Chrome, Opera and Safari, but it's also crucial to now make sure that the website not only displays correctly but also has functionality on the many new smart phones and mobile devices on the market.

These include:

* iPhone
* iPad
* iPod
* Blackberry
* Android
* HTC

And many, many more devices that continue to emerge on a weekly basis across the world.

People are often surprised that users do actually use these devices to look at their site, as it is easy to get stuck into the mindset that only people with computers or laptops will use your site because this is what you are traditionally used to, but this is not the case.

With the new version of Google Analytics, the reporting of mobile device usage has never been better, with improved tracking and identifying information more accurately than we have ever had access to before. This means that webmasters can now look at these stats and make sure that their website does indeed work on the most popular of them. In this day and age, there really is no excuse as to why you cannot make your website work in the majority of browsers and devices, because if your website is built with this in mind you can achieve cross platform usability and performance.

To view the devices that have been used on your website is really easy if you have Google Analytics installed.

Simply log in to your account and on the left hand menu click onto Visitors, then click on Technology and finally you just need to click onto Mobile to start seeing the type of device that people have used to access your website.

You can then start to add secondary dimensions to make far more use of this data, including adding Bounce rate to see how effective the site has been for each device. If the bounce rate is massively high on an iPad for example, you might want to check your site works OK because a high bounce rate can indicate performance issues for that user.

This information is the type you simply have to keep an eye on over the next few years, because if you decide to simply ignore these devices and just concentrate on computers and laptops, you are heading for a drastic fall, with figures suggesting that the usage of these devices will just continue to grow rapidly over the next few years.

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Chicago Web Design

You may have heard that using a dynamic website to promote your company is likely to lead to many problems. However, in truth, it can be much easier for you to keep a dynamic website updated and current. There are many different advantages to using a dynamic website as opposed to a static website design. Here are a few advantages that you need to consider when deciding whether or not a dynamic website is the right kind of website for your company.

It is easier for you to update your data feed

Many websites rely heavily on data feeds. The information on a data feed needs to be populated fairly regularly in order to make sure that it is up to date. While you can overcome data feed issues that plague static websites by using specific software programs, it may be much more simple to update a data feed if you are using a dynamic website design. The reason for this is that the information that populates a dynamic website is actually stored in a database and can be pulled out and utilized on an as-needed basis.

It is easier to update a larger website if that site is dynamic in structure

Updating a dynamic website is much easier than updating a static website can be. Again, this is because the information is stored on a database and is used to automatically populate the website's pages. Instead of you needing to expend time and energy to populate your pages, a server-wide script such as PERL, ASP or PHP will perform this task for you instead.

This goes for the layout as well as the content of your website. Instead of changing the content, the template will need to be altered in order to change the layout but this can be done quite easily by a competent and experienced website design company.

You can keep the attention of potential customers much more easily with a dynamic website

Because the content (and, in some cases, layout) of the site is changing from visit to visit, both potential and existing customers are not bored by your website. Depending on the content, it may be much easier for you to attract, and keep, their attention on your site. Each second or minute that you can keep a person looking at your page, the better chance you will have of interesting them in what your company has to offer.

Are there any drawbacks to dynamic website design?

While it easier for you to use a dynamic structure for your website, the fact is that this kind of hosting can cause you some problems. One issue is that some hosting services are unable to support the programming language that the site uses. Another is that they do take longer to develop than a static website would be. However, the many benefits that they offer you can.

Web Design

A website builder has many advantages for your personal or commercial needs. It allows you to create a professional looking website without need for knowledge of scripts or HTML. It also allows you to have all of the add ons you need for your site without paying high prices. It will save you money and hassle to build your site on your own with a site builder. However, if you do not use the right website builder you will find that you may have problems with your site, or not be able to do everything you want with your site.

There are several things you need to look for in a website builder. First, you need to look at the ease of use. The site builder should be extremely user friendly. You should not need to know very much HTML at all to use it. It should be primarily a point and click system, with plenty of options for layout. Most website makers come with templates that you can choose from in order to have a professional layout for your site. However, you should have several options available to you in order to personalize the template and make it unique from other sites using the same builder.

Personalization of the template can take on many forms. You should be able to change colors, font sizes and types, and button styles. You should also be able to make other small changes in the layout, such as adding or taking away graphics based on your needs and desires. The goal is to use the template to your advantage while making a site that does not look like it was created from a template.

Another thing you need to look for in a website maker is the add ons available for your site. You should be able to add a guestbook or comments section. There may be message boards available for your site, or an RSS feed if you have a blog. If you are creating an ecommerce website, you will need to be able to add a shopping cart. Some website builders also offer options for payment on your site, such as a formatted PayPal button. Whatever add ons you need, you want to be sure you can get them from your site builder and not have to scour the net for them.

Of course, you have to also consider price when looking at various website makers. Many site builders are free to use, but do not offer the add ons or personalization that you need to make your site functional and professional. However, there are some free and low cost website builders that offer everything you need at a reasonable rate. Compare prices and features together to make sure that you are getting everything you need at a price you can afford.

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Chicago Web Design

There are plenty of scammers out there. As a new business, you would need to get a new logo design created for your company and will most probably need the help of professional designers to get that done for you. Here are a few things to watch out for that will help you along the way.

Company Credibility

Running a business will take up a lot of your time. Whether you are running a new or existing business, your time needs to be focused on more important issues. That's why many business owners prefer to use the logo design services of reputable companies. Now remember that it is important to choose a company that has good credibility. One that offers a fair deal to you as their customer and will not run away with your money leaving you stranded with ugly designs that you would not want to use for your business. If you are looking for a logo designer, you will need to make sure that they have a money back guarantee so that in the event you do not like the final outcome of the design, you can still get all your money back. This in turn will also force the designers to come up with proper designs that meet your taste.

Unlimited Revisions

We all know that designing logos and websites are easy for those that are gifted in artistic work. But for the rest of us who only love to look at beautiful designs, we should also have the option to let the designers know on what we would like to see. Designers normally come up with initial sketch designs to whether we like their work or not. If at first glance you don't like the initial sketch, you may request for changes to be made to it and this should be unlimited changes until you are satisfied with their work. Do not allow them to limit you to only a few revisions as you may end up with a logo design that you still do not like. Only finalize the design once you are completely happy with it.

Professional And Prompt

And whichever logo design company that you choose to use, check to make sure that they are able to offer you prompt and professional work. No point taking ages to come up with something that you will end up not liking. Standard time frame would be 48 hours to come up with a completely new design. Some people just want to take your money and completely disappear. Don't simply sign up for all their services yet unless you are happy with their initial logo design services.

Summary

You know what they say. You pay for what you get. Choose a professional logo design company that is able to understand and meet your business needs. Don't be easily cheated by those that offer dirt cheap rates as you could end up getting conned.

Web Design

Images play a big part in advertising because they are a means of communication that is absorbed much faster by the eye and comprehended more quickly than text by all ages and demographics. The images featured on your website are therefore one of the most important elements of your web design in terms of building initial impressions of your company and sparking the interest of potential clients and customers. First impressions are always important and you never get a second chance at them, so the power of high quality photography in website design cannot be underestimated. If you think you can get by on free downloads, stock images and quick snaps from your own basic, single lens camera, here are some more reasons to think again:

* Although your happy snaps and holiday shots might have always turned out all right, it's a whole different ball game when it comes to photography for web design. Without expert training and a professional standard of photography equipment, your images are likely to have the wrong level of exposure and incorrect aspect ratio for use in website design. A specialist photographer will have had years of training in the techniques of lighting and composition that will help to present your business website in a stylish way.

* As well as ensuring that the appearance of your website design is an attractive and professional one, specialist photographic services can make your web design an exciting and interactive experience. New technologies provide the opportunity for offering 360-degree rotation of images and the animation of still image galleries, which means that your customers have the advantage of receiving a detailed view and experience of your products or business environment.

* A specialist photographer familiar with web design will immediately know the kinds of shots that work best online and will know where they should appear on the page in order to attract the attention of site visitors. Poor quality or simply irrelevant photographs won't do your website design any favours and risk misleading or distracting customers, causing frustration and, at the end of the day, reduced site visits and sales.

* Your web design is one of the key tools that can be used to present your company as a unique entity and one that stands apart from its competitors in professionalism. Photos can play an important role in this aspect of web page design and if you are drawing your images from stock image sites, it's likely that the same widely available images are already being used across a huge amount of sites, including those of your competitors.

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Web Design

Being a web designer can mean you have multiple projects to work on at the same time. You've got files cluttered everywhere, loads of designs opened in different applications and 5 clients talking to you at once about their problems or needs for a project. Here's how to get yourself organised and make your business work in an efficient way.

Sort Yourself Out

First of all, get files organised if you don't have already, it not only slows your system down but your way of approaching tasks as well. Have a separate folder for each project and have subfolders too so you know where everything is and you can easily get to what you're looking for whether it's a logo, PHP file or something else.

Secondly, and this is quite important, managed your time effectively! What I do sometimes is have 25 minute shots at particular things I need to get done, have a 5 minute break and have another 25 minute shot at something focusing one that one task only. If you work using an hourly rate, use a good timing program that helps you manage every second and every minute which have notes attached explaining what should have been done.

Distractions

I don't know how many designers will agree with me on this, but I think it can be very easy for someone to get distracted from what they're doing. I'm not going to lie I do myself, so clear your mind and take note of what distracts you from your work. Deactivate your Facebook if you use that because I know people who go onto the website, scroll down to the bottom of the news and two minutes later they're doing the same thing again! Think about it, it's like jail; all you do is write on walls, do nothing and get poked by people you don't know am I not right? Which is why I don't bother using the site unless I'm updating my business Pages.

What else do you get distracted by, we all love music don't we? Well I usually get distracted by listening to songs whereas some people don't. I don't know if you've heard of something called binaural beats, but this is something I've come across quite a while ago and I now use them on a regular base. I do get tempted to listen to my personal favourites but binaural beats is a different issue. These are specially produced sounds of certain frequencies on the left and right speakers which alter your mind state in so many different ways and this why it's convenient to use headphones when listening to them otherwise they don't usually work. Most of them help calm you down and clear your mind and there are binaural beats for just about everything including creativity, focus, energy, sleep, the list goes on and they really do work! Something you should definitely do some research on.

One Problem at a Time

If you're not a woman, don't bother multi-tasking, because as a man I can genuinely say it does not work for me, there's been times where I've had to work on 5 different projects at the same time with all the clients asking me on the updates, it's crazy and it just makes things harder. Prioritise what needs to be done so you can get one thing done at a time. Don't lie to your clients, work on one task first for a certain period of time, update that client and do some work on the next one. Usually it's not good having to do more than around 2 projects at the same time because things can get really complicated, which is why I prefer working on one large project rather than a good couple of smaller ones. I can put more effort and dedication into one then having to switch projects every couple of hours.

Just like I am doing now, I have to write this article and focus on this only without being distracted, I will then set some time to have a break, check my emails and updating my Twitter etc... Then I will move onto my next task, and it can be very easy to forget what I'm trying to explain as well so it takes a little time to get used to it then you'll be working more efficiently without even realising. I'm always looking at new ways to improve the way I work, the quality of work and the tools that help me work. Don't over-complicate situations, take a look at how you're running you're business at the moment, see what you can do to make everything more efficient and work better. Better work means a bigger cash flow and you should be taking every step to take your services to the next level.

Chicago Web Design

When developing a web design for your site it is crucial to use experts who are fully aware of the dos and don'ts of web design. In the case where you handle this job on your own, it is important for you to make sure that you do enough research which will help you get the necessary information to create a professional looking and interactive website. This is the only through which your online business can flourish since it is the way through which you can advertise your business online.

Some of the things one has to ensure they do away with when it comes to designing of a website would include the use of PDF files. It has been noted that PDF files are not amongst the popular list of browsers. This is mainly due to the fact that is interrupts with their continuity. In most cases such files more often than not require printouts or having to save the document before once can open to see the contents. Once you open it, you will come across another challenge of the font size which is usually quite tiny. This is because the page layout is normally set on standard and does not correspond with that particular browsing window.

After all your efforts of opening up the PDF file, you will still have to struggle in comprehending the information presented. This is because in most cases the layout used to present the information makes it quite difficult to easily comprehend the content which in most cases is usually too much. This completely discourages the user from staying on this page since they have to sift through a lot of material before finally getting what they need. PDF usually comes handy and should be used when dealing with manuals and various other large files that may need to be printed out. But when it comes to browsing it is more advisable to present your information on web pages.

It is also highly important to give your website an interesting and attractive background that will attract and keep users coming back to your site. One of the designs you should completely keep away from is to give your website a texted wall background. This is a complete no since it kills any form of interaction and is quite boring making it difficult for users browsing your site to gain any interest in your website. This will reduce the traffic to your website making it more difficult to make any sales.

The best way to make your site more interactive and interesting is by making use of subheadings, bullet lists as well as keywords. The latter will help to place your website high on any search list, more visitors which will then be easily converted into sales and profits. Avoiding these key points when creating your website will prove to be useful to you and creates a clear line in whether you succeed or fail in your online business. As earlier stated it is advisable to use the services of professionals.

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Web Design

It is very important that you hire the best website design company in order to obtain the best services possible. Not all website design companies are easily able to provide you with what you need, and you need to spend some time looking around at the different companies in your area in order to find the one that will meet your needs the best.

The first thing you need to establish is the purpose of your website, and you need to come up with the purpose before you ever go out to hire a web designer company in your area. Does your website need to inform, educate, promote, or sell? Do you want to sell many items, or just one? Do you want to promote many things, or are you just going to provide simple information on your services? Whatever the purpose of creating a website, it is important that the owner of the site have that purpose well-established in his mind in order to truly be able to communicate that purpose to the chosen web design company.

You can go with freelance web designers, or you can use a website design company. Each has their benefits:
- Freelancers are often cheaper than a web design company
- Companies usually provide better services than freelancers, and can be more reliable in the long-run.

Whichever you decide to go with, the next step is to take a look at their portfolio. All website design companies should have a portfolio of some of the website designs they have created, and you can look through those designs to get ideas for your own website design.

Do research on the website design company you are considering hiring. Feedback from others will help you to get an idea of how good they are. You need a company that has a experts in the following areas:

• Copywriters, the people who write the text that will go on your website

• Graphic designers, those who will handle your sites' visual aspect

• Web programmers, those who handle the administrative aspect of the website

• SEO experts, the people who ensure that your website is ranked highly on search engines (if you are opting for this service with your site design)

If you can find a couple of website design companies that have passed your selection criteria, then the only left to help you decide which to speak to them and work out what packages they offer, and at what cost. You need to make sure your website design is optimized for mobile devices such as mobile phones, so don't choose on price alone, as you need to future-proof your website as much as possible.

Creating a quality website is an important part of marketing any business, and it is important that you, as the business owner, take all of these criteria into consideration when looking for the best website design company to hire.

Chicago Web Design

Most web designers spend too much time trying to figure out what to do to keep visitors on their websites that they forget what not to do to keep them from running off to another website.

What NOT to do is just as important, maybe an even more significant aspect of web designer, than what to do. The moment a visitor views your website, it's up to you, the web designer, to make sure you designed your website in such a way as to hook his or her attention as long as possible.

Here are some tips on what not to do when designing a website:

1. Sound and animation overload
It's so easy to fall into the trap of, "Hey, I'm a badass web designer, I can design my website with sounds and flying animations!"

Many amateur designers think flashy graphics is all it takes to attract a huge following. NO! In fact, too much sounds and animation tend to distract visitors from viewing what they came to your site for - the content. So please, easy on the background music and flying colors, please?

2. Annoying pop up windows
If there is a list of 10 commandments on what not to do when designing a website, this should be put up as the first commandment of all time. Pop ups has got to be one of the most annoying inventions this side of the internet. Have you ever clicked on a link in a website and suddenly 50 different windows bombard your screen?

As a designer, forget pop up windows as a way of generating income on your website. They are unethical, and eventually you'll lose more visitors than you gain from them.

3. Image backgrounds
Image backgrounds speak of one thing - amateur. But having an image for a background also does something else other than distract the visitor from viewing the site's content: they also slow down the page's loading times, which is a big blow to your credibility as a web designer.

Successful websites have extremely fast loading times, like Google, Facebook, Yahoo, etc. So take a lesson from these big guys, don't use image backgrounds and make sure your pages load fast.

Follow these simple tips and you should have a decent, fairly successful website in no time. Sometimes it isn't about what you do, it's what you don't do that keeps visitors glued to your website and that they keep coming back.

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In the field of web development, CMS (Content Management System) plays a major role in making the task easier for the developers. Although website customization is by no means a smooth cakewalk, various Open Source tools have made the task quite comfortable for software and web professionals. WordPress web design service has been a driving force behind successful professional websites. This leading open source publishing platform has been registering tremendous growth since its release way back in 2003.

The use of Internet has been witnessing a phenomenal rise. Common people are becoming net-savvy. In recent years, the popularity of blogs has touched even the non-technical people. Professional blogs are being extensively used to promote business. Here lies the importance of a customized blogging site with user-friendly features. Moreover, people want innovative technologies so that even laymen can reap the benefits of latest inventions. In this regard WordPress plays its major role. Thousands of WordPress custom themes and templates are available on the web to customize a site with personal touch, making it one of the widely used CMS to integrate on websites. Moreover, WordPress website offers online guidance to work on this blogging tool. It tremendously helps newcomers in the IT field.

WordPress comes with a web template processor. The easy-to-use features and WordPress custom themes enable even the laymen to rearrange widgets without any knowledge of PHP, HTML or CSS code. However, in the era of e-learning one can easily learn the basic tricks of these web publishing tools through different websites at free of cost. Editing PHP and HTML codes will no doubt ensure a memorable experience for the users. The extensive feature list of WordPress includes integrated link management with an eye on search engine optimization for the websites and permalink structure to enable assigning nested and multiple categories to articles.

This Open Source blogging tool also includes auto-filters and rich text formatting options to edit articles with professional touch. Its text formatting features offer several benefits and help to convert regular quotes to smart quotes. Among other benefits of WordPress, one can easily mention about its support for Trackback and Pingback standards that enable to show links to other websites, which have been linked to an article or post. However, one key feature that separates it from other customizable CMS is its rich plugin architecture that allows millions of technical contributors to enhance its functionality beyond its basic and original offerings.

Web Design

The internet has provided a big market for all sorts of businesses which have managed to flourish due to the wide variety of clients all looking for various goods and services. However, due to the high levels of competition one has to come up with innovative ways to ensure that they stay on top of the competition and make profitable returns. As an entrepreneur the importance of presenting yourself to your potential clients should never be undermined. This will create a clear line between success and failure.

As earlier stated coming up a unique and professional looking website is the key to online success. In order to achieve this, hire the services of a professional web designer who has the necessary expertise to execute all your ideas and suggestions and implement that into your website. You will come across entrepreneurs who try to create their own websites, this can be very tricky as they do not possess all the necessary information needed to execute such as task in the best way possible.

When looking for a wed design, it is important to carefully look through different web design organization available. This research is done best online due to the fact that you will be able to browse through numerous web design companies with minimal hassles as you get to see what they offer and what makes one stand out more than another in terms of what they can offer and what they can deliver.

The only way of advertising and sell your goods and services is through your website. You should therefore view this as your online store where people get in and go through your store and look at what you offer. Take it just like an ordinary store where you take enough time to come up with an attractive display which will attract more customers into your shop. Therefore make your website as inviting as possible.

It is also important to look at the portfolio of a particular web design firm before you make up your mind about using their services. What they have previously done will help you know to an extent what to expect when it comes to the kind of website they create for you. You as their client should inform them on what kind of business you will be running and all the essential information you need on the website. From this point a good web designer should be able to effectively use their expertise and develop a website which will be able to attract visitors and grow your business. You can also make use of these professionals in the management of your website as well in order to always keep it up to date in terms of the information presented as well as any upgrades when it comes to the website.

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Good Web design features:

Text: Background does not interrupt the text, Text is big enough to read, but not too big, the hierarchy of information is perfectly clear Columns of text are narrower than in a book to make reading easier on the screen.

Navigation: Navigation buttons and bars are easy to understand and use, Navigation is consistent throughout web site, Navigation buttons and bars provide the visitor with a clue as to where they are, what page of the site they are currently on Frames, if used are not obtrusive, A large site has an index or sitemap.

Links: Link colors coordinate with page colors, Links are underlined so they are instantly clear to the visitor

Graphics: Buttons are not big and dorky, every graphic has an alt label, every graphic link has a matching text link, Graphics and backgrounds use browser-safe colors, and animated graphics turn off by themselves

General Design: Pages download quickly, First page and home page fit into 800 x 600 pixel space, Good use of graphic elements (photos, subheads, pull quotes) to break up large areas of text, Every web page in the site looks like it belongs to the same site; there are repetitive elements that carry throughout the pages
Bad Web Design features:

Backgrounds: Default gray color, Color combinations of text and background that make the text hard to read Busy, distracting backgrounds that make the text hard to read.

Text: Text that is too small to read, Text crowding against the left edge, Text that stretches all the way across the page, Centered type over flush left body copy, Paragraphs of type in all caps, Paragraphs of type in bold, Paragraphs of type in italic, Paragraphs of type in all caps, bold, and italic all at once Underlined text that is not a link.

Graphics: Large graphic files that take forever to load, Meaningless or useless graphics, Thumbnail images that are nearly as large as the full-sized images they link to Graphics with no alt labels, Missing graphics, especially missing graphics with no alt labels, Graphics that don't fit on the screen.

Tables: Borders turned on in tables, Tables used as design elements, especially with extra large (dorky) borders.

Junk: Counters on pages -- which cares, Junky advertising, having to scroll sideways (800 x 600 pixels) too many little pictures of meaningless awards on the first page, Frame scroll bars in the middle of a page multiple frame scroll bars in the middle of a page.

Navigation: Unclear navigation; over complex navigation, Complicated frames, too many frames, unnecessary scroll bars in frames, Orphan pages (no links back to where they came from, no identification), Useless page titles that don't explain what the page is about.

Web Design

When it comes to designing an engaging website, there are obviously certain limitations to what you can and cannot do, and to what will and won't work for your brand. Having said that, if your business has a target audience clearly identified, it becomes a lot easier to structure a website to reflect this.

A web designer is concerned with the visual appearance, structure, and layout of a website. The design of the web page is essentially what captures attention and determines whether someone will stay on your site or move on. Generally, users don't read things thoroughly; they scan. So if there is a huge block of text, they will more than likely skip over it or exit the site completely. They also don't scan in a linear fashion; viewers tend to satisfice. If they think an option is close to what they are looking for, they will click it rather than considering which of the options might be more beneficial to them; which means that even if your website has the most to offer, if it's bulky and verbose, your potential customers are more likely to overlook you. Functionality is important because people pretty much want to get in and get out.

Your website's design should be structured in an aesthetically striking way and communicate only the most important information. Pages should be obvious and self-explanatory. It should have an instant impact and give a positive impression while still representing your business accurately.

It is very important to use visual elements to guide users. A strong sense of direction assists users in their website navigation. The more clear and cohesive a page is, the greater the sense of orientation and therefore, heightened trust between the user and the company. A hierarchical structure within the content reduces complexity and assists in the website's navigability. A website can be a dynamic addition to your business growth and the more comfortable visitors feel using it, the more inclined they are to continue to interact with you.

Keep in mind however that there is a distinction between a web designer and an online marketing firm that designs websites; the latter has both the expertise and the ability to ensure that the website is not only attractive, but also makes a profit. A successful website will have its business' goals and its target market in mind. A clean, simple, and consistent design that shows clear relationships between the content and graphics is the most effective way to communicate to your business' audience.

Just a final note: a memorable design engages users more because it heightens their excitement level. The key idea is to surprise visitors and give them something that they will enjoy and remember. It is absolutely essential that your website is not only aesthetically attractive, but also consistent when viewed on different browsers. Interactivity is a business' most valuable tool when designing a website. If a visitor can interact and feel engaged, then a trust relationship is already starting to take shape. And most importantly, keep updating your website and its design. Technology changes so swiftly that if you don't keep track of it, you - and consequently, your business - might get left behind.

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ECommerce websites have their own unique character that is designed to lead the visitor to one simple task – make an online purchase. A web designer needs to consider a variety of online selling principles while designing an eCommerce website. In this article we will try to take a look at some of the major design aspects that you must have in an eCommerce website.

Many of you are probably already asking why eCommerce website design is different from any other website design. They all need to be attractive, well organized and use the right colors that fits the website spirit and so on. Your instincts are good. However a close look at some successful eCommerce websites will reveal the conceptual differences that are typical in a successful eCommerce website.

An eCommerce website needs to follow certain selling principles:

1. Give the user a pleasant experience during his online shopping.
2. Make certain you provide sufficient information on who owns the website and why they should be trusted.
3. The website must be easy to use. If it isn’t, the visitor will go to your competitor.

Those principles are not new. We all know those basics from our day to day experiences in the mall, shopping center and every other market place that is waiting for us to open up our wallets. The big challenge for a web designer is how to translate those conventional marketing techniques to the virtual world of the internet. I’m sure you’ve all noticed that in most supermarkets the bread stand is placed at the far end of the building, yet you can smell the fresh bread at the entrance (sometimes they even use a special air duct to carry the smells). That has been done deliberately. Marketers use our sense of smell to draw us through the store where we are exposed to all sorts of tempting goodies as we go to get our loaf of bread.

How do you draw an imaginarily path in a web page? A path designed to lead the visitor to do what you want him to do…make an online purchase. Unlike the supermarket our website has no smell. In a website the distance from one point to the other is pretty much the same, so the exit is always right there. In a website you can try to order the “shelf” in the way you think will best expose the visitor to many of your products, but there is always a chance that he will find a short cut to another page that can also be the way off your site.

As can be see, although putting your products on the web is much easier then renting space and opening a supermarket. However, selling your products on the web can be difficult.

Web Design

Web designers need to study the psychology of the visitor prior to designing the websites. The designers need to understand that at the end of the day it is the client/customers that generate business by buying products or services offered through the websites. This means that when designing any website the designer needs to consider the psychological principles.

Most of the designers think that the psychological concepts are too complicated to be understood and applied to the process of web designing. In fact, it is quite simple and can be easily applied to web designing.

• Visitor's Psychology
If the web design is based on the visitor's psychology, the web site can be designed in such a way that it appeals to the visitor to buy products or services that the website offers. When the web site is based on the visitor's psychology, the visitor is going to feel more comfortable at sharing his/her data like the name and email address.

• Trust
A website can neither speak nor do presentations as any business representative. This means that making the visitor trust on the quality and financial transactions is not very easy. On the other hand if the behavior of the visitor is studied and then the product or service is presented on the website, building trust becomes quite easy. Design and language should be such that the visitor starts trusting the website.

• Consistency
At times consistency matter much for the visitors, because it links directly to building the trust and indirectly their conversion to being buyers. The color scheme and logo play a crucial role in maintaining the consistency. If consistency is not maintained there are chances that the element of doubt can set in the mind of the visitor and he/she may not be convinced to buy the offerings made through the website.

• Purpose of visit
The visitors of any website visit it for some particular purpose. They would like to see the things for which they have logged on to that website. The purpose of the all those who surf the internet vary because all of them do not search for the same thing. The eyes of the visitors always search for things that are of their interest. One can know what interests the visitor and what not only through the study of their psychology. If the products or services are mentioned on home page it can make a big difference in most of the situations, especially when the website is offering FMCG goods.

• Images
The psychological effect of the images is more than that of the text content of the website. Different types of customers or clients like different kind of images.

• Triggers
There are two types of trigger; emotional trigger and psychological triggers. These two types of triggers depend on the language and the graphics that you use in the web design. The triggers differ for different product or service range. If this can be dealt with effectively, the website can generate a lot of business.

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Web Design

They say, 'God is in the details'. I don't know about God, but years of web designing experience has certainly taught me this: details can make a world of difference in how users perceive and react to a website's design.

When web users visit a website, they are hoping to find something valuable, either in information, or the product or service it offers. Thus, a web designer's creative effort should be focused on making a website useful to its users. Of course, web users are a mixed bunch of easily impressionable and discriminative people. Hence, there is no direct correlation between what web designers create and what impact it has on the user.

Still, good designs have better chances of winning than average, run-of-the-mill artwork. What sets attractiveness apart from average appeal are the 'details' that improve the overall quality of designs.

Details and beyond...

The type of details web designers should focus on is those that will improve their work beyond aesthetics. Visual tweaks can remarkably impact how visitors perceive a site's message or theme, or how they navigate. The average visitor is blind to the nuances that enhance their experience, but if those details are removed, there will be a noticeable difference in users' onsite behavior.

A web designer must have a good understanding of how color, shape, contrast and space affect user experience.

What are these 'details'?

• Pixels - Pixels make a big difference in how your site looks. Because they determine your overall design quality, they have the ability to make your site look crisp and professional or blurry and amateurish.

• Shadows - Drop shadows are nothing new to web designs. Shadows give your design depth, and improve the way your site is experienced. Use of CSS3 paves way for grand design tweaks in your website. Example: text shadows, when used subtly, yet effectively, can make your fonts appear more legible. Also, shadows give flat, 2-dimensional images depth so they appear to lift off the page or embed, making images appear more attractive.

Of course, the scope of CSS3 does not end with shadows. CSS3 animation can help add motion to your site without needing JavaScript or Flash. Needless to say, cross-browser compatibility issues and loading time is drastically reduced.

• Navigation Nuance - Any user must be able to easily navigate his way through your website. Links are crucial; there are several ways you can make your link texts or link buttons stand out on your site. Color change, shadows and pop-outs are effects you can experiment with.

Chicago Web Design

Web design is one of the fastest growing fields of industry presently and it is only going to continue to grow. If you are just diving into this industry after graduating, or if you are self taught, you are going to want to choose the best web design software to fit your design style and the types of websites you will be building. Here are some reviews of some of the most popular web design software currently available to help make the decision a little easier for you.

Adobe Dreamweaver

Dreamweaver has certainly increased in popularity over the years due to its versatility and ease of use for the professional web designer. Dreamweaver was originally developed by Macromedia and was acquired by Adobe in 2005. It is available for use by both Mac users and PC users. Dreamweaver continues to be improved and updated with the most recent version being Dreamweaver CS5.5. Adobe's website lists the following features for this software:

Multiscreen preview panel

jQuery mobile integration

CSS3/HTML5 support

Live view rendering

Build Android and iOS apps with PhoneGap

Integrated CMS support

FTPS and FTPeS support

Site-specific code hinting

Integration with Adobe Creative Suite

W3C validation

Subversion support

Adobe Browser Lab integration

CSS inspection

Intgelligent coding assistance

PHP custom class code hinting

Simple site set up

CSS starter pages

CSS support

Integrated FLV content

Microsoft Expression Web (Quartz)

This software replaced Microsoft's Front Page. It is an HTML editor and web design product and is part of the Microsoft Expression Studio suite. The original version, Microsoft Expression 1, was released in May of 2006. Since then three more versions have been released, each one offering more and better features than the last, with the most recent version being Microsoft Expression Web 4. MicrosoftStore.com advertises Expression 4 as offering the following features:

Supporting both standard and HD video encoding

Professional code editing

Graphic design and illustration creation

Vector artwork and bitmap image integration

Direct import of Photoshop images

Support of PHP, HTML/XHTML, XML/XSLT, CSS, JavaScript, ASP.Net, ASP.Net AJAX, Silverlight, Flash, Windows Media, and Photoshop

Built-In accessibility checker

Import and export of a wide variety of file formats

SuperPreview feature which allows multiple browser debugging

Easy addition of Silverlight, Flash, Deep Zoom, and Windows Media File with drag and drop

Generate and edit modern CSS layouts

WMV, VC-1, and H.264 Silverlight video encoding and insertion

You can choose the FTP method for publishing your site: FTP, SFTP, or FTPS

NetObjects Fusion

Fusion is a product of NetObjects, Inc. and has been around since 1996. Between 1996 and 2010 twelve versions have been released of Fusion. It is a truly easy to use program, and offers some very nice tools that are very user friendly. NetObjects.Com lists the following features included with this software:

NetObjects Cloud Burst technology

Website management

New image processing engine

Form components

Mobile templates and SiteStyles

Photo galleries

CSS controls

SEO improvements

Image bank

Database components

Site Wizard (features templates, SiteStyles, page and mobile layouts)

Modern templates with Ajax elements

Improved code generation methods

Site Safe (back up)

Drag and drop for text, images, photos and other media

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