WebSite Design: Graphic Design for the Web
Web design is the process of conceiving, planning, modeling and executing electronic media content over the Internet as markup language suitable for interpretation by a web browser and for display by a GUI (Graphical User Interface).
Web design is performed in order to create a website which is a collection of files that reside on a web server and can present content and interactive features to visitors in the form of individual web pages. Web design elements that include text, bit-mapped images in GIF, PNG or JPEG format can be placed on the page with HTML, XHTML, and XML tags. To display media of greater complexity, such as vector graphics, videos, animations and sounds necessitates the use of plug-ins such as Java run-time environment, Quick Time of Flash. These plug-ins are also embedded in the pages by utilizing HTML/XHTML tags.
Web pages are either of static or dynamic web design
Static web pages never change content or layout without human instructions from a programmer to update the page.
Dynamic web pages can change their content or appearance as a function of a visitor’s input or interaction or through changes in the user, time, or database modifications of the computer hardware. Content may be changed on the end-user’s computer by utilizing client-side scripting languages such as JavaScript, Jscript, or Actionscript to change DOM elements (DHTML). Dynamic content is frequently compiled on the server with server-side scripting languages such as JSP, ASP, Perl, PHP, Python and others. Both of these approaches are often used for complex applications. What are the key concerns of web design?
There are four primary areas of concern in web design. These include:
Content-The website’s substance should be relevant to the site and directly relate to what the intended visitors are looking for.
Usability-The website must be as user-friendly as possible, have simple, easy-to-use navigation and be reliable in terms of content.
Appearance-Both the text and the graphics should have a common styling that features a smooth flow and consistency. This style should be appealing and relevant in good web design.
Visibility-The website should be as easy to locate as possible via all or at least most major search engines. This calls for attention to both the quality of the content and search engine optimization (SEO) techniques.
Every website consists of both text and some form of either static or dynamic graphic images. Each page within a given website is an HTML file that has its own URL. These URLs are linked together after each page is created using a simple navigation menu with hyperlinks. Once completed, a website must be published in order to viewable by the public via the Internet, and this is generally done by using an FTP client. Once the sight has been published, it behooves the owner or Webmaster to use a variety of proven techniques to develop increased visibility on search engines and thus increases traffic.
The Internet offers many job opportunities for web design specialists
The number of new websites coming online on the global Internet each day is almost mind-boggling. Some of these new site owners create and publish their own websites, but the majority needs help. This has given rise to a new community of websites dedicated to providing a working forum for both those who need help and those who have the expertise to sell. Many web design specialists are independent contractors or freelancers who log-on to the sites and place bids for the projects.
