Essential and marketable web development Skills

Like most of the other aspects of the internet, web development is a dynamic industry that is frequently being updated to match the ever increasing demand for sophistication. Designers and developers will tell you that the only way you can make it in the web development industry is by being up to date with the current technology and the technology being developed for the future. It therefore goes without saying that to improve your job prospects in the web development industry; you need to up your skills. Below are some of the skills that are imperative in enhancing your marketability as a developer.

C# or VB.Net are general purpose programming languages developed by Microsoft in their .Net initiative. They are used in projects with a lot of coding that cannot be handled by other simpler languages. In terms of usage, C# resembles Java and VB.Net Visual Basic. Conversancy in these languages will open for you doors to heavy back-end development and web developing software houses.

Java is another programming language used for client and server side scripting. It is very versatile and can be used in many development contexts for example; creating server side applications and producing dynamic server side content just like PHP and ASP. Learning Java does not tie you down to a single programming career and you can easily change in future.

There are other programming languages that are very vital in the marketability of a developer for example JavaScript together with Ajax, Perl, Python, SQL, PHP and Ruby on Rails. JavaScript is popular for client side scripting while AJAX combines Asynchronous JavaScript and XML. JavaScript is vital due to its popularity, wide browser support and compatibility with methodologies like DHTML and AJAX. Perl is a versatile scripting language with multiple functions but mostly used for server side scripting. PHP is the most popular and most frequently updated language hence its knowledge is imperative for any designer with their eyes on success. Python and Ruby on Rails are ideal for rapid web development, whereas SQL is vital for websites that use databases.

There are other skills that are necessary for the modern day designer whose target is success. Flash and ActionScript fall in this category and they allow you to create dynamic visual presentations and interactivity for a website. When combined with other design skills, these skills can upgrade your marketability a great deal. Agile web development technique is also an important skill for any developer who wishes to remain relevant and marketable in the current web development industry. This technique has taken the web development industry by storm and its focus on customer satisfaction makes it one of the most sought after development technique.

The other important skill that the modern day developer needs is knowledge of mobile development. Access to the internet has become more diversified with many people now using mobile phones to access the web. This means that the developed website needs to be compatible with mobile devices in order to benefit from the increasing number of people accessing the web through mobile devices.

Good hosting in web development

Website development cannot be complete without having a web hosting company. The hosting company is responsible to availing your site to potential clients and users. These companies provide different features at varying prices. You should definitely look for a host that provides good features at affordable prices. Several host companies like Hostagator charge little fee for hosting your site. A lot of good features and programs are also availed by this host making it one of the most popular.

A good host company should be reliable and be able to meet your requirements. Most people like their projects to be quality and be done within a stipulated period of time. It is important to ensure that the host company is able to meet these requirements before you contract them. The best way to find out whether a host is reliable or not is through customer reviews, feedbacks and comments. Most clients will always comment on how their projects were done and whether their objectives and goals were met according to their expectations. If you find that the host has many positive reviews, you can go ahead and contract them to host the site for you. If you do not find any reviews and comments about a host, do not contract them because you do not know anything about them. In fact, the best way to get a good host should be through recommendation. You can get good recommendations and information about different hosts on forums and discussion sites.

A good host should be able to provide support services 24 hour a day, seven day a week. This is because issues come up at times that require the help of the host company. You need to be careful when looking for a host with this feature. Most host companies provide support services only five days a week. They do not provide the services during weekends and during public holidays. This could be a challenge to you if you site needs support during the weekend. The host company should have contacts that they can be reached on at any time for example round the clock phone number, email address, Skype and any other efficient contacts. You can try out the contact information provided by the host company before you contract them. It is also important to ensure the contacts provided are valid. If you try reaching the host on contact but do not get through, do not contract that host because you cannot reach them at your convenience.

The host should provide enough security, updates and backup of your site at all times. The virtual world is uncertain with a lot of threats that could bring your site down. This can be avoided through sufficient security by the host and regular updates. However, some threats are very powerful and could easily get your site down. In such a case, the host should have the site back up within no time. It is also important for your host to provide backup for your site. Threats can come your way at any time and the importance of the backup cannot be emphasized at such a time.

How much should web development cost

With the current trend of internet marketing and selling and buying goods online, every person, business and company is looking forward to have their own websites. The first thing most people would like to know is how much the development process will cost them. If you are looking forward to owning a website, you do not have to worry because costs of owning one have reduced drastically. From 1995 to 1997, the cost of web development for a single site was between 7500 and 12000 dollars. The cost came down to between 6000 and 10000 dollars. In the following four years, the cost dropped to between 2500 and 4500 dollars while towards 2010, the costs dropped to between 1000 and 5000 dollars.

Web development has many processes and elements which vary in cost. Domain name costs vary depending on the providers. Most web host companies charge about nine dollars for a year; other hosts may charge higher or lower costs. The cost of web hosting varies depending on the features of the website and the number of updates you require. Some websites are very demanding as they require regular updates. It is not a wonder to find a website that requires to be updated every day or every few days. Such a site will cost much more compared to a site that does not require regular updates. Cost of maintenance depending on the updates ranges between five hundred and one thousand five hundred dollars.

Websites are different depending on the amount of graphics, images and media they have. Websites with a lot of graphics consume a lot of bandwidth compared to websites that do not have any graphics. Such sites will be charged higher by the web hosting company. The number of pages and amount of traffic to the site also determines the cost of development. Sites with many web pages and high traffic are also charged higher.

Another source of variation in the cost of web development is the purpose of the website. If you have a personal website that you use for forums, reviews and discussions, the cost should be much lower. Such sites are very simple with one or a few pages without graphics. The only thing that may inflate the cost of such a site is traffic because such sites usually have a lot of traffic.  Project of creating a personal site with basic features only should take between one and two months and the cost should not be more than six thousand dollars.

The cost of corporate and ecommerce websites is much higher compared to the personal sites. Corporate sites usually have between 25 and 75 pages, use heavy flash and require extra content like calendar, intranet and search options. Such a site would take almost three months to develop and would therefore costs between 10,000 and 25,000 dollars. On the other hand, ecommerce website depends on the number of products outlined in the website. A typical ecommerce website has between 100 and 1000 products listed with their descriptions. The site also has checkout and payment gateway integration as well as client’s control panel and shipping information. Such a site would take up to four months to develop and would therefore cost between 5,000 and 15,000 dollars.

Important web development guidelines

To guarantee good traffic and profits from your site, it is imperative that you follow the guidelines provided by experienced webmasters. The guidelines are in relation to the copyright laws, design, text, graphics, media and the maintenance of the site.

One of the most important guidelines is the law. Most people create websites and trademark or copyright them. Copying any content from such sites can get on the wrong side of the law. Be creative and craft original content on your own, do not use another developer’s elements unless you have permission from them. Governments also issue regulations and laws that have to be followed in relation to web development. Ensure that you access these laws and follow them accordingly.

Web development design must have a good layout that users can navigate through without any problems. The background of the site should be simple and if possible, a plain background should be used. Background dictates the color to be used on the text and the images another graphics used in the site. Whenever the background is dark, the color of the text should be bright. Colors used in the site should not be more than two. Use of many colors is said to be annoying to the eyes because the users are not able to view the contents of the site well.

The text on the content part should have standard font; one that is easily readable. Fonts that cannot be read comfortably for example calligraphic fonts should not be used. These fonts are used when targeting specific target audience for instance the youth. The number of hyperlinks within the text should be minimized as they may present challenges in readability. Some people use sitemap images which are not friendly to use. Instead, text versions of sitemap should be used. Whenever tables are used, mark-up should be used to associate the cells and the header cells together.

When creating websites, the main objective is the ability of the users to access the site without a problem. The loading speeds of the sites should be fast enough to allow users to access important content on time. To ensure this, you should minimize the number of images, tables and graphics used. These elements consume a lot of bandwidth and they can adversely affect the loading speeds of the site. If it is very necessary to use these elements, consider using revolutionary techniques like CSS which lowers the bandwidth significantly improving the loading speeds of the site. CSS can also be used to position some elements like images, headers and content box in the right positions.

Another factor that is related to accessibility is ability of the users to locate your site fast through the search engines. This is done by Search Engine Optimization (SEO) and HTML sitemap. Keywords are put throughout the text so that when users search a word available on your site, the site is listed in the search engine. SEO locates keywords available on the home page only while sitemap locates keywords in the entire site. When the two are used together, site optimization by the search engine is much faster.

Unique corporate website development

Internet has become so popular that almost everyone in the world is using it for different purposes. Corporate businesses and companies have not been left behind. They are having their own website to encourage people to visit them through the internet. If you would like to create a corporate website, you have to ensure that it meets some of the basic guidelines.

The first thing to do to end up with a unique corporate website is looking for a qualified web developer. You can browse through the internet to look for good web developers. There are many forums and discussion sites that talk about the different web developers. Previous clients always comment on their experience with the web developer and comment on whether their objectives and goals were met or not. If you get a web developer with many positive reviews and no negative reviews, try them out.

The site should be well organized and informative. It is important to ensure that you have a good site layout that will not confuse users.  Most clients are used to sites that have header on the top, footer on the bottom, a small navigation frame to the left and a relatively large content frame to the right of the navigation. Using any other layout may present challenges in accessing some of the site elements. The site should be appealing to the users from the beginning. Ensure that the contrast of the site is good by using complementary colors in the text and the background. When one has dark color, the other should have a bright color. The colors used should be readable by all people including those who may have eye problems. Users should be able to navigate through the site without a problem.

Content of the site should be well written with good spacing, paragraphs and page breaks. Use of images is also advocated. You can use images that are in line with your corporate products and services provided. However, images and other graphics should not be used excessively as they may increase the bandwidth of the site thus having slow loading speeds. If you need to use many graphics and media, you can use Cascading Styles Sheets to ensure that the bandwidth is reduced significantly in spite of using the graphics and clients are happy and content hence traffic increases considerably.

It is important to include contact information on your corporate site. Users may need to contact you to clarify on something. At the same time, they may want to get more information on the products and services you are selling. If they are unable to contact you, chances are that they will look for alternative sites offering the same goods and services. Whenever you change contacts, you should update them accordingly to ensure that clients can reach you at any time. Another important factor is updating the site. Ensure that you corporate site is updated regularly to enhance accessibility. You can use a Content Management System that automatically updates the site.

Webmaster Involvement in Website Security and Legality

The vastness of the internet cannot fully be described. Looking at it from one angle, this means that any site on the internet is at risk of getting a security breach from seasoned hackers. This is fact that is well appreciated, and one that has created the need for security establishments to be made. If a site has a financial inclination to it- as in it has enabled web transactions, then the importance of doing this is even greater. So who is responsible for guaranteeing the security of a website? That would be the webmaster, alternatively known as the web developer or simply the website administrator.

 

Most visitors leave their details in at least one website they frequent, even if it is simply their email address. These details are important for the aggressive marketers who think it is okay to take them and use them in their marketing and advertising efforts. Any site would want to protect any information entrusted to it, and this is why having a security protocol is necessary- to protect the information from being hijacked and used to contact the subscribers. When a site is a virtual marketplace, selling products that cost anything from a few cents to thousands of dollars, the security levels have to be heightened. A firewall has to be put in place, together with severely complex encryptions to secure any transactions made. With a world-class security system, credit card information can be preserved, and used for the good that it is meant for. For virtual banks, the encryptions are even more complicated, and the webmasters placed in charge of the sites work with different professionals who know more about securing a site.

 

Webmaster’s administrative duties stretch to the legal issues of a site. For instance, the webmaster may include statements at the end of some content created, when the accuracy of the information given is not complete, for instance, when it’s based on hypotheses and not actual events. This exonerates the website from blame, should the information be used in any way that it other than what it was intended. Creation of private policies, terms and conditions, disclaimers and user agreements also fall in the job description of a webmaster. It is not unusual for them to consult with professionals with a legal background, to ensure that the legalities are fully addressed. When a website is of great commercial importance, chances are it attracts heavy traffic. This gives the site greater legal importance, and a webmaster is placed in charge of ensuring that the site is in accordance with any legal expectations.

 

These duties stretch past those that are conventionally known, such as website maintenance of internet marketing. They are rarely, sometimes because they are entrusted to someone else. But if a webmaster is placed in charge, they are compelled to learn about them, in whatever way that they can. In any case, there are no technical aspects in the legal part, and website security falls under programming, and this is one area a webmaster is expected to be skilled in.

Common tags used in HTML

If you are a web designer you are no doubt familiar with Hyper Text Markup Language which is one of the most basic methods of coding websites and web pages. HTML is basically a language of tags which avail a number of options for formatting the design of a web page as well as the text and other content. The tags are enclosed in < and > symbols and there are both opening and closing tags. Opening tags are enclosed in the brackets < > while closing tags are enclosed in the same brackets but there is a slash just before the command as in </ >. There are tags that are very common in most websites and that can easily be found on a standard web page. This article details some of these tags.

The <HTML> tag is the most common tag seen in all web pages coded with HTML. This tag is responsible for identifying the file type of the document and hence would not miss in a HTML coded page. The other tag that ranks second in importance after the HTML tag is the body tag (<body>). The body tag encloses all the content of a web page and it signifies the beginning of the web page content as well as its end. In some cases, the title tag (<title>) is also evident and it denotes the title of a page. This is especially important in search engine optimization.

Organization of content in a web page is very important as it enhances the presentability of a site. It is vital to arrange information on a site in paragraphs to make it easier for the user to find what they are looking for. This makes the paragraph tag denoted as <P>, a very important tag found in almost all the pages which offer information. The paragraph tags mark where a paragraph will begin and where it will end facilitating the organization of information on a web page. Without this important tag, web page information would lack paragraphs.

The hyperlink tag is also found in most of the web pages keen on including a number of hyperlinks to either other websites or other pages of the same site. It is denoted as <a href> and it is usually located around the main text that makes up the hyperlink.  Images are common elements of modern day sites as such the image tag is also very common. It is denoted by <img src> at the location where an image is supposed to be. It is also one of the few tags with no closing tag.

Various elements on a web page usually need formatting and as such there are several tags that are used for formatting. The <font> tag indicates the formatting of the font of web content and can include the font type, size and even color for example <font face = “Ariel” font size = “12”>text</font>. Italic and bold tags are used to format text and are denoted as <i> and <b> respectively.

Basic HTML for blogs and emails

Hypertext Markup Language (HTML) is the code used for most of the content found on the internet. It is a command language used to alter different parts of the content on any given website. This coding is used by most bloggers and email providers. Although HTML cannot be used for some functions like embedding videos, graphics and tables, there are many simple functions that can be done effectively by the use of HTML codes including modifying texts, colors, fonts and links. These elements are important for enhancing readability of the blog content.

Text is one of the most important elements of the blog or email. It has to be such that the readers can be able to read the text comfortably. Headings and the normal text can be differentiated by bolding, italicizing and underlining the heading. These simple commands are done by the use of tags. Tags are used to select the part of a text to be formatted to a different style for example, in the sentence ‘this is a fruit stand!’, the changes the fruit part of the sentence to bold and the tag signifies the end of the bold effect.

To underline, the tags and would be used to underline and and for italics in the parts of the sentence enclosed by both tags. HTML can also be used to change color and the font of the content. To change the font, the tag font name to change the font. The font name depicts the name for instance Arial or Times New Roman which are usually in the lower case. The tag is used to turn on a certain font and to turn of the font selected. You may need to change the size of the font used depending on circumstances in order to ensure that the font can be read by all potential clients comfortably. To change the size of the font in such a case, the tag is used where x designates the number of the fonts you would like to use. The size of the font ranges from one which is the lowest to seven which is the highest. The tag is used to turn off the changes made to the font.

Another important element of the blog and email is the color. The color should be viewed by the users without a problem. To change the color, the tag is used where red can be any other preferred color. The color can be chosen using the six-digit hexadecimal code in which you end up with a tag such as where AB1943C can be any color of your choice. The tag turns off the changes made.

When including links in the blog or email, the tag text is used where ‘address’ is the URL of the site you are providing link for. Words can be used to represent the link and to redirect to the main site when clicked on.

Basic HTML colors and color codes

Colors are one of the ways used to create visual and aesthetic appeal in web design. It therefore comes as no surprise that HTML, the most popular web design language should support colors. In fact, use of HTML is one of the easiest ways of incorporating color in moderation on your site.

Generally, colors are displayed by the use of red, green and blue light. HTML colors are defined by the use of a hexadecimal code or notation which combines the red, green and blue (RGB) color values to give a total of 256 colors. The lowest values given to any one of the light source is 0 which translates into 00 in hexadecimal codes while the highest is 255 which translates to FF in hexadecimal codes. The hexadecimal code is usually a code of three pairs of two digit numbers, each digit pair representing the RGB (Red Green Blue) quantity of the color. The code is preceded by the # symbol. A good example is color black which does not have any RGB content and hence its RGB values are (0, 0, 0). The hexadecimal code will in turn be #000000. For color red, the RGB values will be (255, 0, 0) and the hexadecimal code #FF0000, color green RGB (0, 255, 0) and hexadecimal code #00FF00, and color blue RGB (0, 0, 255) and hexadecimal code #0000FF. Other colors are defined by the respective quantity of red, blue and green for example color purple which is a mixture of red and blue with no green content will have an RGB content of (255, 0, 255) and the hexadecimal code will be #FF00FF.

Due to the fact that the combination or concentration of the red blue and green content in each color can vary from 0 to 255, 16 million colors can thus result from the hexadecimal code as in (256 x 256 x 256). Gray color is a mixture of red blue and green in equal quantities. To create different shades of gray, you use the three colors in equal quantities but varying concentrations. For example RGB content of (8, 8, 8) will create a very dull gray color while high concentration such as RGB of (64, 64, 64) will create a much lighter gray.

Years back when the computer’s resolution was limited to 256 colors, a list of 216 colors had been created as labeled web safe colors which if one used, would appear undistorted in any computer. Modern day computers however have higher resolutions and the idea of web safe colors seems to have faded away.

There are 147 color names defined by HTML system of colors. 17 of these colors are standard while the rest are additional colors. The standard colors are aqua, teal, fuchsia, black, gray, maroon, grey, lime, white, navy, green, silver olive, purple, red, blue, and yellow and the rest 130 colors are different shades of this colors. All the colors are defined in the hexadecimal codes and their codes vary depending on the content of red blue and green colors.

A basic introduction of HTML

HTML (Hyper Text Markup Language), is a text markup or scripting language that is currently used in the World Wide Web to create web pages. Hypertext is a piece of text that works as a link while markup language is a mode of writing the layout information in a document. When a document is created in WordPerfect or Microsoft Word, markup language is used by the program to indicate the formatting structure of the document.

HTML document at its basic level is a plain text file that contains only text and nothing else. However, when the browser opens the HTML document, it looks for codes within the text and makes use of them to change the layout, insert links, insert images or carry out any other command detailed by the codes. Due to the simplicity of a HTML file, it can be used on any text editor. Many people will however choose to use a special HTML editor for example a WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get) editor that puts more focus on the visual appearance. Some HTML editors such as Dreamweaver and FrontPage allow you to create pages as you write your document in the text editor you are using. However, it may be important for you to create your pages or at the very least, parts of them by hand.

Perhaps it might interest you to know that you can create web pages even without prior knowledge of HTML besides the basic formatting on the page. This is all thanks to many excellent editors in the market that will do the HTML work. However, if you intend to make a mark in the web design world, it is important to be conversant with HTML tags. This is because the editor may not support every other function that tags will and also because you can be able to add or borrow some good effects from other people by the use of tags. The editor may also fail to give you exactly what you want leaving you with no other choice but to use tags.

HTML is easily written by hand on any text and all one needs to do is type the relevant code then save the document with .htm or .html extension. The codes are written in form of tags which are enclosed in the symbols < and >. There are opening and closing tags and what appears between the two tags is the instruction or command to be carried out for example for bold, the tag will be used while the whole code will appear as bold. is the opening tag in the code while is the closing tag. In addition to the opening and closing tags for commands, the whole document bears antag both at the beginning and at the end to instruct the browser on where the document starts and its end. Other tags that will appear in a document will be title tags denoting the title and also tags that denote the body of the document.