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Chicago Website Development FAQs
Walton Street Web Design wants to make sure all our visitors and clients get all the information they need and want about the creative website design and development services we provide in Chicago. This is what this page is dedicated to. See a question below that you’ve been wanting to ask? Just click on it and it will take you straight to the answer. Our passion for and experience in creative website design and development in Chicago has taught us a few things and we’d like to share them with you.
1. What is HTML?
2. What is a static web site?
3. Why should my web site be consistent?
4. I want to use an image as my background – is this recommended?
5. What are the suggestions for navigating my web site?
6. What do I need to know about my web site and browsers?
7. What is resolution?
8. What is bandwidth?
9. How important is having good statistics on my site usage?
10. What is Search Engine Optimization (SEO)?
11. I want my web site to be Search Engine Optimization (SEO) “Ready”, but I also want elements that can only be achieved with frames, JavaScript, or Flash. What do I do?
12. What is JavaScript?
13. What is Java?
14. What is Flash?
15. What are frames?
16. What is PHP, ASP, Ruby on Rails, etc?
17. What is SQL?
18. What are tables?
19. What is CSS?
20. What is a dynamic web site?
21. Why are dynamic web sites priced significantly higher than static web sites?
22. Should I get a dynamic or static web site?
23. What are the advantages/disadvantages of using a Web Site Template/Builder Program?
24. My site currently uses a Web Site Template/Builder Program. Can my site be modified to parameters outside the template?
25. What are the predominant picture formats on the web?
26. What are the predominant audio formats on the web?
27. What are the predominant video formats on the web?
28. What is a Content Management System (CMS)?
29. What is RSS?
30. What is a Cookie?
31. What is a plugin?
32. What is hosting?
33. What is a domain?
1. What is HTML?
HTML stands for HyperText Markup Language and is the glue that holds web pages together. It contains the display text, images links, and formatting settings of web pages. Every web page built contains HTML. It is the building block of website development.
2. What is a static web site?
A static web site is a site that is not user interactive, meaning that user input cannot change the site. A slight exception to this rule is JavaScript, which can add certain features such as fancy menus or rollover images. Static is just one way to go in terms of website development.
3. Why should my web site be consistent?
Have you ever gone to a web site where you saw the home page and then went to another page and it looked like a completely different site? Unless there is a specific purpose for it, having a non-consistent site is not professional, offensive to users, and can turn away business. For that reason, it is important that your site have a common “feel” to all of its pages. If you use a 3-column layout on your home page, use it on all your pages. If you have a navigation bar on the top of your home page, keep it on the top of all your other pages. Also, keep your color scheme consistent. All of these elements help to contribute to a professional web site. This is not only good in terms of website development but for website design as well, as the site attracts more visitors and has a better change of turning visits into conversions or sales.
4. I want to use an image as my background – is this recommended?
For the most part, no. Text over an image will most likely only be partly readable, depending on the color of the image behind each letter. Unless the image is light-colored doing so will most likely make your text difficult to read. Judicious web developers understand that website design and development must be reader- and visitor-centered.
5. What are the suggestions for navigating my web site?
For the most part, you want to make sure that your site adheres to the “3 click rule”. This means that a user should be able to navigate to any page in your site with no more than 3 clicks. Unless there is a specific purpose to do so otherwise, you want your visitors to get at their desired content on your site as easily and quickly as possible. Once again, creative website design and development must target the visitors to your site who are not likely to stay long if they can’t immediately find what they want.
6. What do I need to know about my web site and browsers?
A well built web site should work with any modern browser, namely being either Internet Explorer 7, Firefox 3, or Safari 3. Most web surfers these days use one of these browsers. However, if a user is using an outdated or uncommon browser some of your web pages may not load properly in that user's browser. If you are going to have a site where you know many people will be using older or uncommon browsers then additional design limitations and costs could arise. It is best to have this information at the outset so that any concerns can be taken care of at the outset of your website design and development project.
7. What is resolution?
Resolution pertaining to website development is commonly the quality of the images and videos on your site. Resolution is measured by pixels. These days two very common screen resolutions for users are 1024x768 or 1280x1024. For example, a user with a screen resolution of 1024x768 would have 1024 pixels horizontally on their monitor and 768 pixels vertically. For a picture to look good on a web site, the resolution of that picture has to be at least the original resolution of the picture. For example, if you take a picture with your digital camera and the size of the picture is 400x300 pixels that picture will look good at that size. However, if the picture were to be blown up to 800x600 pixels, it would look fuzzy and pixilated. Pictures can always be made smaller and still look great, but not bigger. When supplying the pictures for your site it is important that they are of a sufficient resolution to be displayed professionally. The same goes for video.
8. What is bandwidth?
Bandwidth is a measure of data transfer. Think of it as download speed. If something downloads at 100 KB/s (100 Kilobytes a second) that’s pretty fast. Conversely, 5 KB/s is pretty slow. In the days of dial up, 5 KB/s was about the best you could get, and as a result web sites had to be small so that the end user wouldn’t have to wait forever for the web site to load. This severely limited the number of pictures and other multimedia elements that could be put on a page. These days, with the predominance of high-speed internet connections, this is no longer as large of an issue. However, good website development still dictates that site size be optimized.
9. How important is having good statistics on my site usage?
Good statistics are extremely important to running a successful business web site. With statistics, you can identify key business factors such as number of visitors, number of returning visitors, days of the week your web site is most often visited, visitor browser usage, popular web pages, visitor length, visitor geographic location, entry and exit pages, visitor page paths, and keyword and search engine usage in relation to your web site. This data will help you to make better informed business decisions. Effective website development always considers these factors.
10. What is Search Engine Optimization (SEO)?
Simply put, Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is your ranking in the search results with engines such as Google.com or MSN.com. SEO is a complex and on-going process to make sure that your site stays on top of the search results. While SEO is a complete process of its own, SEO should definitely be kept in mind during yourinitial website development including your website design plan, too. This is because it can be a big help when done well but a great harm when done poorly. While two web sites may look virtually identical on the outside, they could be completely different animals on the inside. When search engines look at a web site, they look for things such as HTML, titles, headings, and text, and mostly avoid things such as frames, JavaScript, Flash, and image content. A site could be designed with HTML, titles, headings, and text and this site could be very well indexed by search engines, or a same-looking site could be designed with frames, JavaScript, Flash, and content in images and be mostly ignored by search engines. If SEO is important to you now or ever will be down the road, it’s important that your site be designed SEO “Ready”.
11. I want my web site to be Search Engine Optimization (SEO) “Ready”, but I also want elements that can only be achieved with frames, JavaScript, or Flash. What do I do?
While search engines are poor at reading frames, JavaScript, and Flash, these elements still can be successfully incorporated into your site. The key will also be to incorporate an alternative that search engines will like. For example, you may want a JavaScript navigation bar with drop down menus. Most users will like your fancy navigation bar. However, you could also have a “site map” page with plain old HTML links to all of your pages to make sure that search engines get to them. Additionally, dynamic pages with advanced code such as PHP or ASP may have limited readability by search engines.A very important part of the Chicago creative website design and development that we do is SEO because we know how much this helps your visibility.
12. What is JavaScript?
JavaScript is a scripting language, meaning that it can be used to add nifty features that are more complex than basic HTML. Some common JavaScript features included pop-up windows, pictures that change when you mouse over them, and validation of form input. Note that JavaScript is different than Java. Walton Street Web Design’s website development staff is adept at programming JavaScript features. See the JavaScript Gallery for examples.
13. What is Java?
Java is a full-blown programming language that can be used to make executable programs. The advantage that Java has over programs written in other languages such as C++ is that Java is cross-platform (works with any operating system) and Java programs can work embedded into a web page. Note that Java is different than JavaScript.
14. What is Flash?
Flash is a multimedia technology that can be used for almost anything ranging from playing movies, creating neat animations, making online games, or creating whole web sites. Flash is owned by Adobe Systems, Inc., the makers of popular products such as Photoshop and Illustrator. See the Flash Gallery for examples. Our website development team is also versatile when it comes to Flash designs and programming.
15. What are frames?
A typical web page consists of one .html file. A page using frames consists of multiple .html files. To the end user, it looks as if it’s only one file as the browser displays the two files next to each other (typically split left-right or top-down) but in essence the page still consists of multiple .html files. While frames do have some legitimate uses, they are typically frowned upon in the world of web design. This is due to the fact that they are poor for search engine optimization and the fact that most layouts using frames can be designed simpler and better using CSS, preferable website development design and layout format.
16. What is PHP, ASP, Ruby on Rails, etc?
Each of these are server side programming languages. They would be utilized in building a dynamic web site, and are commonly used for things such as forums, user logins, inventory display, credit card processing, and other e-Commerce applications.
17. What is SQL?
SQL stands for Server Query Language and is a type of database that dynamic web sites use to store data. Examples would be inventory systems, lists of users, and credit card numbers.
18. What are tables?
Tables are the old way of website development formatting. When web pages first came about, they were used in a primarily academic environment where the emphasis was on content and not on layout or design. As such, there was an option called a table which was meant to display tabular data, or the type of data that you would find on a spreadsheet. However, with the spread of the web to the general public it was found that tables could also be used to create complex web page layouts with videos, pictures, and various text formatting. The downside to this is that designing a site with tables is very time consuming, tiresome, and expensive when modifications are required. Tables still are the best option for displaying tabular data. CSS is the newer and better method for web site layout.
19. What is CSS?
CSS stands for Cascading Style Sheets, and is the modern way to design and lay out web pages. Using CSS to design in website development is efficient. The pages load quickly, and are easily modified. CSS was developed to replace tables as the primary layout method for web pages.
20. What is a dynamic web site?
Dynamic is a broad term encompassing any web site that the users can interact with, versus a static web site where a user could simply view information. Website development planned with user interactive features commonly include things such as searchable inventories, web site design tools, forums, and user specific site customization. Examples of dynamic web sites are sites such as Amazon.com, BarnesandNoble.com, your online banking site, or any site with forums.
21. Why are dynamic web sites priced significantly higher than static web sites?
From a development standpoint, building a dynamic site is a few orders more complicated than building a static site. A static site is mostly HTML (with perhaps some JavaScript). A static site is relatively easy to build and if a mistake is made it can be seen visually. A dynamic site, on the other hand, requires server-side programming and extensive debugging to ensure proper operation. This programming and debugging in turn requires much more specialized knowledge than HTML and is much more complicated and takes longer to do.
22. Should I get a dynamic or static web site?
The answer to this depends on your cost and goals. If your web site is very large and has enormous volumes of content a dynamic site would probably be more cost effective. However, if you have a smaller web site the price of a dynamic web site could be prohibitive. For example, if you have a site with only 30 products a static web site would probably make more sense. The fee for a web designer to manually design the pages with your 30 products would be less than the fee to have a dynamic site designed where you could post the products yourself. However, if you have 3,000 products, a dynamic site is definitely the way to go.
23. What are the advantages/disadvantages of using a Web Site Template/Builder Program?
The obvious advantage of using a template/builder program is cost savings. Many templates/builder programs are do-it-yourself deals where you can build a pretty decent web site. The main disadvantage of templates/builder programs is flexibility. Most web site templates/builder programs are in themselves dynamic web sites running either PHP or ASP that automatically produce the HTML code for templated pages based on user input. They can only produce HTML code that they have been programmed for and there is no template that includes all of HTML in it. If you have a non-business web site where it’s not essential to have precise control over all design elements, a template/builder program is probably fine for you. However, if you need everything to line up perfectly and for your site to have your own distinct design and feel the fee for having a custom built web site is probably worth it.
24. My site currently uses a Web Site Template/Builder Program. Can my site be modified to parameters outside the template?
The strict answer is yes. However in most cases modifying the site created with a template/builder program is not your best option. Custom modifying a page created by a template/builder program will most likely disrupt your ability to use the template to further modify the page. Additionally, the myriads of web page building programs out there use dozens of different methods of building pages, and in many cases a custom redesign from scratch would be more cost effective and professional than a modification of a templated page.
25. What are the predominant picture formats on the web?
While many picture formats exist, web browsers primarily support 3 formats: Joint Photographic Experts Group (.jpg), Graphics Interchange Format (.gif), and Portable Network Graphics (.png). Support for other formats within a browser is very limited.
26. What are the predominant audio formats on the web?
Waveform Audio Format (.wav) files were once pretty popular, as they offered excellent sound quality. Their downside, however, was their large file size. As the MP3 codec became available, .mp3 files quickly became the most popular audio format on the web due to their good sound quality and small file size.
27. What are the predominant video formats on the web?
Windows Media (.wmv), Quicktime (.mp4 or .mov) and Flash Video (.flv) are currently the most popular video formats on the web. Of these, Flash Video is quickly gaining prominence due to the wide adaptation of the Adobe Flash Player.
28. What is a Content Management System (CMS)?
A Content Management System is a templated dynamic web site. Whereas a standard Web Template/Builder Program typically creates a static web site, a CMS can create a site with text, pictures, video, blogs, forums, newsletters, picture galleries, file uploads/downloads, collaborative authoring environments, and more. With a CMS, any user would be able to utilize these features and thus make changes to the site. The capabilities of a CMS differ widely depending on the vendor.
29. What is RSS?
RSS stands for Really Simple Syndication. In short, it is designed to be a feed mechanism to keep up with information from one or a variety of sources in an automated manner with one feed. RSS is currently most commonly used for news feeds, however new applications are being developed every day. RSS feeds are read by either a reader or an aggregator, and are created using XML.
30. What is a Cookie?
A Cookie is simply a piece of data that your web browser stores on your hard drive to keep track of certain information. Examples could be the length of an online banking session and user preferences. Some cookies expire automatically after a certain amount of time and others are designed to last virtually forever, depending on the application.
31. What is a plugin?
A plugin is a piece of 3rd party software that plugs into your browser to give it additional capabilities. Three common plugins are Quicktime (Video Format), Java, and Flash. Without these plugins, you would not be able to view associated content.
32. What is hosting?
Web pages and their associated content (graphics, audio, video, etc.) are all files. When a user requests a web page, that page has to come from a server somewhere. Having files on a server is known as hosting.
33. What is a domain?
A domain is a .com, .org, .net, etc. name. All domain names are ultimately managed by ICANN. They must be renewed on an annual basis and fees are involved.