WEB DEVELOPMENT BLOG

You might want to consider posting this on the Case Wiki somewhere. The information is really helpful and putting it on the wiki will help with increasing its search results ranking.

Heidi, I would like to explore the possibility of a web site for the purpose of distributing a copyrighted book I have written on "A History of the Role General Electric Played in the Development of Numerical Control for Machine Tools." It was requested by, and will be archived at, the Smithsonian in DC. It runs over 300 pgs and would be best copied to a CD for later printing. I have absolutely no knowledge or capability in this area; nor do I know the costs of such. Therefore,this is an exploratoy inquiry at the moment. Is such a possibility for an alumnus? -- Dick

Please do not set the color css property, and then not set the background-color css property. The w3c validator should catch this, but to see it for yourself, change the default text colors to white on black in your browser and then look at this page. Or login.case.edu.

Also, I noticed that your blog template is not as bad as the one that I used in the past, I.E. it is not table-based. Is this template the new default one for the university?

Thanks Chris,
I though I'd included that in the stylesheet, but apparently I'd left it out. I've since added it.

I've been tinkering with the tableless (mostly) templates for awhile, but we've not officially released them yet. I think what we might do is offer an updated version of the old ones, as well as this new version. http://www.case.edu/univrel/marcomm/ offers another example of the new version in use, but on a regular Web site. This will give users of different skill levels more of a choice.

Do you know where I can find examples of website blueprints? I'm doing a project and need to find a good one to model after. My project is a startup e-commerce web based e-business, any good blueprints for this sort of planning would be great,

Thanks,

Dave.

Thanks,
that tutorial is very usefull,
for more informatin about html,css.. look here:
www.w3schools.com/html

Great insight into why you want a website, enjoyable read.

Its really nice to read complete blog. and i found that information in this blog is good for who want to have basic site design.

I like your posts, Heidi, as they are always interesting and helpful. Thanks!

Heidi.its good help for new students

Very extensive article covering the basic planning aspects of a website

Great article outlining website planning but it could be updated to include basic SEO considerations such as keyword research and domain considerations

I wrote about raising your Web site rankings last February. When it comes to keywords I think it is most important to keep them in proper context. Search Engine Optimization is important, but quality content will still win out.

marketing is the the hard part of the game, though you have created a site but no one is watching it, then creating a site is useless. Marketing makes the site important

While marketing can be tricky, it is the content that makes the site important. If you provide informative content that serves the needs of your visitors, word will spread.

If your content is weak, then all of the marketing in the world won't help. You might get them to the site, but they won't stick around and they won't return.

Great post. However, the reality is different. Instead letting businesses to their product and sales, business development grants will be given to build a website? Are those Web Designers and SEO's really so out of work, that they have made deals to use public money? I wrote an article Website desing, business cards, SEO and stupidity about the topic. Meaningless stupidity.

Well, as we go on, we find that building websites are not as complicated as they were 3 years ago. And, more people build websites just for the sake of building one. Usually, plans change as time passes and we suddenly find that websites evolve, and sometimes leading to a whole concept and plan. A "why did I build this website? and how come I'm shifting topic after all the time I've put into building my website?" question. But, it still follow the basics of how anyone approaches building a website. You touched upon great points.

As an affiliate marketer, I don't build websites untill I have reasearched some products with high converson rates, then I build a website having these products in mind, and the most important factor when building a website is SEO. Because lets face it, without traffic there's no use of the website, and SEO brings traffic, mostly organic.

If you could please write something about SEO, specifically the SEO factors that determine ranking, and I know they are defferent from search engine to another, but most of them have got to be common. I know this topic is very broad and complicated, but I hope that you atleast shed some light on it to get your readers started :)

I have already touched upon link building in my blog: http://linkscampaign.com
I have only scratched the surface, and I'm hoping to go deeper and learn more during the process.

Great post Heidi keep coming.

Hi Heidi your post is really interesting and useful.Keep posting.

A couple of people have mentioned how to implement SEO on websites. I'd like to touch on the subject and hope i dont digress from teh main topic.

As far as my experience goes, SEO is not really a great mystery; if you get the basics right, your website will start ranking well. So what are the basics? I'll see if i can think of the most important, which are:

1.Good css based website, without tables or flash or java...
2. website code and css validated to w3c
3. Well written UNIQUE and fresh content on every page - DO NOT copy other sites
3. correct use of your keywords within your tags (header, meta, title..)
4. Having a site map for search engines to navigate through your website
5. Continuously adding new content
6. Getting incoming links to your website

If you can do teh above well, you will rank well. Its a method i tried and tested and got ranked above 200 million others just by using teh basics.

Good luck

Even as old as this article is, the information is very relevant, especially the part about WHY.

There are too many websites out there with no call to action, and educating site owners is a hard task.

And Joel? You're dead on correct...

Thanks for this quick tutorial I think it will help me and Reddinet!

thanks for this useful blog, i hope you will be doing more similar posts in the future?

the best way to start learning is to use dreamweaver and use the graphical interface to show you what the equivalent html is

Yes dreamweaver is the only way i think i learned a lot about html by using it although it does get it wrong sometimes but a good tool never-the-less

Dreamweaver is a great tool, but it really helps to learn HTML. If you rely too much on the WYSIWYG editor you may miss out on the nuances of the code as well as create bloated files that have extra code you don't need.

Yes dreamweaver is the only way i think i learned a lot about html by using it although it does get it wrong sometimes but a good tool never-the-less

for information my favorite html editor is dreamweaver but css editor is ms frontpage

I've used a number of different tools/programs in the past to enable me to build good quality websites, and they all have different strengths and weaknesses.

But I have to say that Dreamweaver cuts the mustard above anything I've ever used. To me, it is the industry standard, and always will be.

I'm also keeping my eye on a new product called Site Rubix. Apparently, it enables you to construct a website from within a drag and drop enviroment, without any html knowledge.

Possibly not suitable for those that have advanced HTML knowledge, but it's interesting to see how things evolve online, if it proves to be as promising as it suggests, it should be very interesting.

The basic principles enumerated here are timeless. But the advent of Web 2.0 (and related ideas) dictate that a web designer consider elements of interactivity and participation. This is no longer about comments and forums.

I think the above are useful comments when considering building a site it is important to ask your self why and the goals of the website, both long and short term. By not doin this I have got myself trapped in a situation where over time I have has to redesign my own website at lest four times! Had I taken the time to plan everything from day one I would have saved a lot of time

I agree that it's important to think carefully about what the underlying reason is for a website, the dogs example fits the bill perfectly :)
Nice article

I teach web design at a University here in Minneapolis and this is very good information!

I have a webdesign firm in Livepool this is great info

So, 3 years later, people still keep finding all these principles alive. Is technology progressing at all? :)

I like your post. The Web is filled with junk info and if people in general put a little more thought into why they should even have a site in the first place things would probably be alot different.

As someone who has built plenty of sites through the years, however, I actually think the most important part of the formula for creating a useful site is passion. A lot of hard work goes into building a site worthwhile of other peoples attention - to keep plugging at it you need to be motivated in a way that only passion can produce.

I like your posts very much! They are always helpful. Thanks!

Great post Heidi ! bookmarked :)

Excellent post. All people starting out in Web design should read and re-read this and let it soak in.

This should probably be renamed the ever eternal truths about web site building or something that has a religious connotation to it :) just kidding. But it is good to see a sensible list that is evergreen

nice site and very nice read. thanks for the interesting 30 minutes it took to scan and read.

How about updating this info to include the much-hyped web 2.0 style?

I think the above are useful comments when considering building a site it is important to ask your self why and the goals of the website, both long and short term. By not doin this I have got myself trapped in a situation where over time I have has to redesign my own website at lest four times! Had I taken the time to plan everything from day one I would have saved a lot of time

great post.thanks for informations.

I agree that social networks are going to play a huge role in business development
strategies moving forward. There are new technologies and marketing media already
associated with these sites, especially facebook, that marketers are finding useful.
I don’t think we can really fully grasp the scope of how these website communities
will adapt in the future, but it is clear that the business world needs to pay attention
to the trends. It is important not to get left behind when it comes to online marketing...

Really nice post, thanks.

Great article thanks for sharing. I must agree to a comment reality is different ;-)

nice site and very nice read. thanks for the interesting 30 minutes it took to scan and read.

I teach web design at a University here in Minneapolis and this is very good information!

the best way to start learning is to use dreamweaver and use the graphical interface to show you what the equivalent html is

I am an assistant professor in multimedia, web design in India. Really it is a very great discussion.

The plans necessary in building a website can be quite complex depending upon what the site is about, this a great resource that can help anyone who is building or thinking about building a site, there are so many factors to consider today when designing sites that it can take quite a while before a good design is decided upon.

This is excellent info, I am web designer, I always suggest to plan carefully and you get what you want.

Great post

Its amazing this blog started in 2005 and its 2008. Unless I missed a post I dont see mention of Blogs as the new SEO and Design platform of our modern times its SEO and Design in its best most usuable form web 2.0 any one go figure. Web Design has taken a back seat to value and for a good reason.

Hi Mark A Briody from Sydney Australia,

After reading the information here I realised that some of your readers might not know how to build a website if they have limited funds. I myself was in that situation only two short years ago.

By searching on Google I found some really simple and relatively cheap software that allowed me to build websites.

After learning how to build a website I realised very quickly I also needed two other important necessities… I needed to implement compelling copy to my web sites along with a call to action and not to forget a one kick butt heading that captivated the reader.

The next thing was learning how to get targeted traffic to my sites. The three things – building a website, compelling copy and targeted traffic are like an all in one machine for anyone looking to build a website (in my opinion)

These days I build websites for small business owners and have some of these sites ranking very well in Google’s organic search results.

I hope this short piece has helped in some way.

Thank you kindly,

Mark A Briody
Internet Marketing Entrepreneur

I think under marketing, you should also add, "To make money" as a reason under marketing. Donating is nice for some people. Others would prefer to make money before they can donate it.

Quite interesting actually, i'll have to bookmark your site now to check out what other things you might say. ;)

"What are your real reasons for building the site?" This is a good question indeed. I know many people who ask for a website and they do not know why they need one. And they expect that once they have a website, they will have more clients which is not true. It's important to view your website as part as your marketing plan.

Yes I totally agree with you. The biggest struggle I have when I chat to a new client is regarding what they want their website for, what they want it to do and what content goes on the website.

As I don't design sites to look pretty I focus more on a site that Google will like and implementing compelling copy to sell what ever the customer is trying to sell.

Seems to really please the few customers I've done work for.

Yes a marketing plan is important to the all round design of a website too...I couldn't agree more.

It's unfortunate most business owners will never realise this.

Much appreciate your comments.

All my best.

I've build some really simple sites recently (one for a friend) and given these people some marketing stratagies for their websites resulting in much larger profits. And yes I agree that if there is no money in it for them

Great article! I know someone mentioned something about the article being old but I think the "why" never changes. Regardless of whether you were building a website 5 years ago or you'll be building one 5 years from now, it's important to keep your goals in mind. I took a class in high school called "computer literacy" and I also took "computer fluency" in college. They both taught us about HTML and creating sites and stuff but it was tough stuff. A bit more complicated than I thought. There are definitely some websites and software out there that help out with that. I've had the opportunity to work with Homestead lately and they're quite helpful. They have website building software which can oftentimes be easier than creating your own website from scratch. I guess it depends how knowledgeable you are about HTML and stuff. Anyway, definitely a great post. I'll be sure to bookmark your page and watch out for other posts from you.

Hi,
Pressure Canner is a great way to lower your food bill and feed your family, because of that pressure canner is use in the home were extensively. Pressure canner is needed if you want to can low-acid foods such as red meats, sea food, poultry, milk, and all fresh vegetables with the exception of most tomatoes and you definitely need a pressure canner for anything containing any meat. Home canning of meats is even recommended, even with a pressure canner. So, i have some info and products about pressure canner, pressure canning, pressure canner cooker and more that i could be able to share with you if you have it :D

Pressure Canner

Planning a website means deciding on the core elements and purpose, choosing the technology that best suits the needs and outlining the structure. In non educational websites choosing a domain is equally important.

Everything is defined by the purpose as the some technologies or platforms better at one thing but worse (or less suited) than others. For example creating a blog is better suited by a bloggin platform than a CMS like Joomla. But with Joomla you can have a blog and a forum and dynamic content among others.

Today someone can create a website without learning HTML or PHP but doing so will boost the result and customization options.

Very useful pieces of advice. Choosing the right domain name for your new website will help very much promotion and fast indexing. Keyword rich domain names rank better in search engines.

Having the best designed website in the world wont help if no one sees it. When developing any website start with what the visitor wants, that means do your keyword research first then build a site that people will want to visit. As always content is king.

After that its accessability and look and feel,

Since you have some materials to start with the project, you need to set up your goals. There are lots of thing you can do with those materials. First you can talk about pets and have a dog as an example, or you can be specific in this case Rottweilers. You can also talk about pet care, and other dog or pet stuffs. After setting your goals, its time to gather some good information on your selected niche. but you need to remember that you need to include your audience. You have to provide them information that they will be interested and not what interests you.

The best way to start a website is start it with its audience's needs in sight. Identify those needs and build a site around them.