A language known as HTML by Richard McLaughlin

 

Since 1995 or so websites have become one of the most popular means for companies and people to reach their customers and share information.

A language known as HTML (Hyper Text Markup Language) is used to make web sites. HTML is a set of instructions to the web browser that are inside these guys, < > and you seldom get to see them. When you’re done with an instruction, you end it with < / >. Inside those brackets, you need a command, like HR ��" to make a horizontal rule (also known as a line across the page).

When I go to begin a web page, I type commands like these WITHOUT the spaces.

< HTML > < HEAD > < TITLE >Ya Gotta have a title </TITLE> < /HEAD> < BODY> You can also control the size of your text ( < font size=2 >), underlined words, bolding and italics (even all 3 together). There are headline and a buncha sub-headlines. There are different ways to end a paragraph. Since the time that Tim Berners-Lee invented web sites, more ways have been developed to make website development faster and easier. What separates one website from another is design.

< CENTER> oh, yeah, you can center things. < /CENTER>

When designing a website consider the following key elements: the purpose of the site, the possible audience, content structure, and the design compatibility. Is this site needed at all?

Anyone about to create a web site should take the time to right a statement that says what the site is used for and what visitors can get from it. This will help the designer to plan a proper outline of how the website can be broken down and modified over time should (when) the need arises ��" having a long-term objective is a pretty good idea.

Who will be visiting your site? Women 16 ��" 26 from France and Belgium? Japanese men? In terms of audience, what is the target market. When you are doing this you should be able to narrow it down to one person who is your sample visitor. Killian Chad will be our sample person. He has an age, sex, marital status, he has (or doesn’t have) pets and so many other details that you can point out.

Sure, there is only one Killian, but you have to have a target in mind and saying Killian is easier than “Women 16 ��" 26 from France and Belgium”. Site visitors will be viewing the site for different reasons, a designer should know what those reasons are so she can try to make the site hit that customers ideas, and if the designer is good enough you may get return visits.

Content is the most important aspect of a web site. It is also the most time-consuming section of the website. Try to guess how long it took me to write this 850-word article. A good site needs hundreds (thousands?) of pages to be worthwhile and to give customers reason to return. If they don’t come back, they don’t spend money. Very important note here so I will < EM> emphasize < /EM> it. Your average visitor will not spend money. Your return visitors are those that have the greatest chance of forking over money for you.

A lot of planning is required because this will be the most dynamic part of the site. This means that the information will keep changing every now and then. This is especially true if the website deals with articles changing every day like newspaper websites. Content may also mean the way a product is advertised or presented to the user. The more attractive the graphics are and the catchier the copy is, the more it will help get more customers to a website. Copy is the text content that is included on the website.

Another tricky part about web design is making it compatible for all kinds of web browsers. A web browser is what a person will use to access the website, and probably how you are reading this. Some browsers change a web site’s look. The designer has to keep in mind that programming is still essential in page layout.

It is tricky but not very difficult since not only a lot of tweaking of measurements will be made to adjust the website dimensions. Only test on Microsoft Internet Explorer and Firefox (75% MS and 13% FF) ��" the other browsers only count about 5% of all users Online statistic I found at TheCounter http://www.thecounter.com/stats/2007/October/browser.php

The Web has changed the way businesses are run. People (like me) actually think to buy online before going to a store. I went 2 years without going into a bookstore. To get people to part from their hard-earned cash and buy items online (at your online store) is reason enough to have a good-looking site with interesting and accurate content. A professional looking site may help you generate more transactions and lead to more sales and higher more moo-lah in your pocket.

I am about to end this article< /BODY> < /HTML> There, it’s all over.

About the Author

Born and raised in the US Richard joined the Marine Corps in 1982 and left the States in 84, planning on returning one day. 23 years later, he has lived for a year or more in Japan, Chad, Ireland and France. He has also visited 74 other countries for business and pleasure. He is a dual national, French and American, living south of Paris. He is bi-lingual English and French and has over 20 years international IT experience.