Understanding Your Website Building and Design Options
One of the main decisions you will need to make is how to build your site. Even if you are having the site built for you by a designer/friend then it is important that you are aware of the different web building technologies and the pros and cons of each method before you start building your site.
There are several different ways of building a website. The main ones are:
- Online Site builder and Flash Websites
- Standard HTML template plus Webpage editor
- Content management system like WordPress, Joomla, Site build-it
You may want to learn the basics of several of the options and try out a test site before you proceed with your real site.
Online Site Builder and Flash Websites
Many hosting packages offer a free online sitebuilder which allows you to create a site by clicking a few menu options, selecting some images and typing in some text.
There is no doubt that they usually produce nice looking sites and are usually very easy to use.
The problem is that:
- They are probably proprietary and so moving host at a later date is incredibly difficult.
- They are usually very search engine unfriendly which means that it is very difficult to get ranked, and so you don't get traffic.
- Not flexible
You will also come across flash websites. These look terrific and is easy to see why people want them. Flash was designed for graphical type work and the web is predominantly text. They also have severe problems:
- Great difficulty getting ranked by the search engines.
- Difficulty creating them.
- Not flexible.
I would avoid both of the above if you are building a business site. They are ok for small personal sites that don't require to be found in the search engines.
Standard HTML or PHP Template Plus Webpage Editor
This is the original method, and probably the most popular for existing sites, it is suitable for sites of any size. However it probably isn't the first choice for new sites which tend to favour WordPress or other content management systems. (see below)
You start with a page template and simply add the content and save the file with a new page name.
All content changes are done on your PC and then when complete uploaded to the website using FTP.
The original template can be self built or you can use a professional template from the many template sites.
Although I use this method for this site it does have issues that you need to be aware of.
- Requires using a web page editor (free ones are available and are ok for small sites).
- Unless you are a web designer it is difficult to get a professional look by designing your own template
- If you use a pre-made template you need to be able to edit it. This in itself can mean that you require photo editing software and other tools.
- Need to upload the pages when complete. -Some people seem to have difficulty understanding this concept. See Using FTP to Upload web pages
- Changes on multiple pages can be difficult/time consuming .
- Can be difficult to add other functionality like forms, voting, comments etc unless you really understand what you are doing.
- If your site gets very large (>100 pages) you will need to start moving over to scripting like php to ease the management.
See One page and Mini websites.
Content Management Systems e.g. WordPress
Content management systems are designed to make it easy for non technical web authors to create content. They do this by separating the page/site layout completely from the content.
Adding content (i.e. pages) then becomes a simple matter of typing in the content to an online visual editor. It is as simple as typing into a word processor document.
This may sound ideal and it is but what you need to understand is that content management systems need to be managed/administered.
Early content management systems were designed to be administered by a dedicated technical administrator and the content would be added by an author.
With Personal Content Management systems like WordPress the roles are usually combined and so the content author is also the administrator.
However management is done via a web browser and involves (in the main) selecting options from onscreen menus and with a little practise is quite within the capabilities of most.
The advantages are :
- No design ability required- choose choose from existing professional templates
- Templates can be changed easily without affecting the content.
- Very flexible.
- No web page editor required.
- Large number of add-on feature available to extend site functionality.
- Easier than the template/page editor method to create good looking sites.
Disadvantages
- The WordPress software gets updated regularly and you will need to update your site accordingly. Upgrades are however very easy .
I believe that this will become the standard method for site building, and is being adopted by many new sites, and I would recommend this method for most sites that require new content to be added on a regular basis and or by the site owner.
The only question then becomes which Content Management System should you use.
For most small business and personal sites then I recommend WordPress .
Need Help?
If you would like to jump start your website I offer an affordable website setup service. Let me do the technical work and all you need to do is to add content.
Related Articles:
- Website Design Guide and Tips
- Running and Maintaining Your Website
- Website Hosting and Domain Names
- Website Setup -7 Checks For Business Website Owners
- Website Promotion -overview of the main methods.
- Building Websites with WordPress