Category: "Web Sites"

Technical Terminology Divide

Web sites are becoming exponentially more complex and more expensive, and the terms that describe the technology are becoming equally sophisticated and diverse.

At the same time, people purchasing web sites are seeking advanced features, and may be confused by the plethora of terms.

Web development firms should describe the services such that a potential client can understand the services offered, without concerning themselves with the underlying technology.

Equivalent terms

  • Content Management System (CMS) / Blog - means the client can edit the content on the site without special technical skills or tools
  • ecommerce - Web based sale of goods
  • Open Source Applications - Commercial code that can be customized or extended
  • Validator - Used to ensure the web site code complies with standards. Indicates an attempt to develop quality code

In addition, they should highlight sites that reflect their strongest market share.

Comments - Etiquette

Comments are added to code to assist the reader in understanding the code. The following guidelines should be observed:

  • Comments should not be written to editorialize or entertain. Sarcasm should not be in comments. Questions can be placed in comments, where necessary, to ensure issues are identified and resolved.
  • Proper grammar and spelling are required. It reduces the opportunties for misunderstanding.
  • Comments, especially in an interpretive environment such as PHP, should be brief. Utilities that strip comments for distribution can eliminate this requirement.
  • Careful coding, with meaningful function and variable names may reduce the need for comments. Overly complex statements should be avoided.
  • Comments should be considered a visible part of the deliverable product and should be of appropriate quality. If it is a professional product, comments should be professional.
  • Comments must be updated to remain current as the code changes.

RIA server filesystem architecture

The /opt directory can be used to store shared components, as follows:

  • /opt/os - All open source components

  • /opt/common - All common scripts, such as form validation for contact us forms, anti-spam code.

    • /antispam

      • /html - (html and javascript) - to assist the user
      • /php - to protect the server
    • /footer - Footer text, specifically the company name and copyright indicator. This ensures it can be changed in one place to update every page on the server.

New accounts could access these components like so:


ln -s /opt/os/dojo 
ln -s /opt/os/Smarty 
ln -s /opt/os/Zend
ln -s /opt/common/html 
ln -s /opt/common/php
ln -s /opt/common/footer

These links allow relative references to the common resources, while providing central sourcing.

SEO

SEO can be very important, but it is often a gamble. I have seen sites move drastically within the search engine rankings, without any changes to the site, content, meta tags, or links to it.

A site ranking is not necessarily important, and doesn’t indicate a site’s value to its visitors.

If you are relying exclusively on a web site to bring new business to your company, consider the following:

  • Understand your target customer and what they are looking for. The site should be designed for them. Most of the general population will not visit many sites, people frequent sites that serve specific needs or interest them.
  • Ensure your site meets the general guidelines described by most search engines. Be sure the site has enough quality pages.
  • Include interactive features on your site that allow visitors to explore and learn. They should be interesting enough to attract visitors, but short enough to allow completion before their attention is lost. If possible and practical, offer free utilities and tools such as calculators or estimate generators. Free demonstrations of your products or services are excellent, tutorials and informative videos are also good.
  • Review popular forums and sites related to your business area. Identify the type of people that frequent them, and choose a few that are similar to your demographic or target audience. Participate, without advertising. The objective is to demonstrate your knowledge and publicize your company. Put your company’s site in your signature.
  • Put the site’s URL everywhere. Be sure it is on all printed materials, stationery, business cards, receipts, motor vehicles, signs, magazine ads, in press releases, and on promotional materials.
  • Include any common, valuable applications, such as a support ticket system, contact mechanism, online account access (this may be costly and may present security risks.
  • Watch the site statistics to see how people use the site, and continue to develop and expand it accordingly. Extend the popular features, and enhance those that aren’t as successful.
  • Be aware of cost. There is no point developing expensive features that may not have a tangible benefit.
  • Consult with marketing professionals and diversify. Newspaper ads, magazine ads, television ads, press releases, sponsoring events, public relations, and professional networking will bring people to you, and your site.

Buy the site, not the hosting

Hosting is very inexpensive, for about $10/mo, I get a lot of value from http://hostforweb.com.

Granted, I am prepared to manage everything to do with the account, from setting up email accounts, installing applications, checking on them, managing content and the designs.

However, HostForWeb (and most other hosting companies) offer easy to use interfaces that allow you to administer the account without any special technical skills. Most of the companies have demos so you can see what you would work with. In addition, most companies have support staff that will help you, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

If you are interested in having your own site, you may want to consider separating the design and development services from the hosting. This way, after the project is done, the recurring cost of your web presence is $10/month. Should you decide to change web development firms, you have complete control of your site. Moving a site from one server to another can be disruptive, and risky, because no two servers are identical.

Another option is to host your site on your own server in your office, but then you need a strong technical team and enough bandwidth to support the site. I think using a hosting company is well worth it.