Understanding the words
Many web design companies confuse their clients with their terminology. This web glossary contains plain English explanations of some common terms that are used on the web, hopefully this will demystify any confusing aspects of getting your business set up with a web site.
Blog : Short for Weblog. This is site that contains frequently updated information, like a website diary. These sites are very popular with Google.
Browser : The software which is used to browse the internet. Popular examples include Internet Explorer, Firefox and Netscape.
Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) : A language to specify the style of a web page. Using this language it is possible to quickly change the look of a site with very little effort.
Domain Registration : The process of buying a web address. This is usually done for a period of 1 or 2 years and must be renewed if you are to keep using it.
GIF : A file format used to store images. GIF files are suited to plain images that are not too complex.
Host : This is the name for the computer that stores your web page. Whenever somebody wants to look at you business' web page, their computer contacts the host where you page is stored and the files are downloaded.
HTML : Hyper Text Markup Language, the name of the main language used to create web pages.
Javascript : A Scripting (or programming) language which runs on the users machine
JPG (or JPEG) : A file format used to store images. JPG files are suited to detailed images such as photos.
Keyword : the name for a piece of text that a search engine such as Google uses to reference your web site.
Link : this name is given to a piece of text on a web site that takes you to another web page once clicked.
PHP : A Scripting (or programming) language which runs on the host machine. Using this language it is possible to dynamically change what a page contains. For example the content of a page can be changed depending on a users input or location (Useful to display prices in £ for UK visitors and $ for US visitors).
Search Engine : A web site that allows you to search the internet for a specific web pages. Like a modern version of a phone book.
URL : Another name for a web address.
The User Friendly Website
It is very important that the information on a web site is clearly presented and easily navitgatable. The most popular web sites are usually highly user friendly with a minimal look but very functional in design. Good example sites include the BBC web site and that of the search engine Google.
While designing your website many issues are considered to ensure that both you and your customers will be happy with your site. These include:
Fast loading : If a web site does not load quickly then users look elsewhere. Your site has about 3 seconds to make an impression. At Jargon Free Web Design, we ensure sites load quickly by minimising the use of graphics (compressing those that we do use) and not using any animations.
Scrolling : Users do not like to use the scroll bars. While some degree of vertical scrolling is acceptable, horizontal scrolling is a big taboo. We limit the width of our pages so that users never have to scroll horizontally (even those with 15 inch monitors) and limit the number of words to 500 per page to minimise the amount of vertical scrolling.
White Space : The use of white space on a page is very important as the page appears less cluttered, the user doesn't feel like they are being overloaded with information. www.chakradhar.net, uses this technique to good effect and many people comment on the sites clean appearance.
Uniformity : To project a professional image it is important to keep the same style throughout the whole site.
Background Colour : A white background colour should be used as this is easiest on the eye. If a colour must be used then it should be a light pastel shade.
Line Width : If the lines are too long then the reader can have difficulty in finding the start of the following line.
Pictures : These should be framed (even if by a very thin border) so as to give the effect of it being fixed to the canvas. In design terms, if they are not framed then they to 'float' and don't appear to be part of the page.
Navigation : It is important that the information on your site is easy to access. It should be split up into small, easy to digest topics. Before presenting us with the content for your site, you should have a clear idea of how you want it to be split up.
Web Site Hosting
You may have seen the term "hosting" used in this and other web design companies sites. A "Host" is simply a computer where your web site will reside. When people type in yourURL to their web browser, it simply downloads the file for he requested page from the "host" computer.
Web Hosting is often priced on "Bandwidth", this bandwidth relates to a maximum amount of data that users can download per month. Each time a user views your site, they will use a small portion of your monthly allowance and so the more popular a site is, the more bandwidth it requires. I recommend that for most small companies, a bandwidth of around one gigabyte (1 Gb) should be more than sufficient.
Many web designers do not host web sites , they simply design the site and leave the user to find their own hosting. www.chakradhar.net, will take care of this so that my customer can concentrate on using their web site to generate income.
Please Contact me if you have any queries regarding my web hosting options.
