Archive for the ‘Uncategorized’ Category
Tuesday, March 16th, 2010
I need a new website, but I don’t know which kind to choose? The designer is telling me I can have either a completely custom one-of-a-kind website or a Content Management System, but I don’t really know what they mean?
So let’s discuss this . . .
A Custom one-of-a-kind website is just that. No one else will have the same design, layout, etc. The designer uses the HTML and CSS languages to bring your vision to life. There are no templates, no set structure or skeleton to work with, just a blank canvas and you & your designer’s imagination. If you want your website to resemble your desk, a blueprint, a spinning globe, or even a pizza box. . . you can do that. Of course it always depends on the level of expertise and knowledge your designer possesses, but truly the sky is the limit in the case of a custom website.
Yang to the Ying i.e. the negative to the positive. . . if you need to make changes, you better brush up on your foreign languages ’cause you’ll be doin’ a lot of corresponding. . . with your computer that is. You gotta know code, at the very least HTML and CSS in order to make changes and on top of that you’ll need to have a program such as dreamweaver installed on your local computer and know how to work the program or there will be no changes here. I hope you have LOTS of extra time on your hands.
Now if you don’t need to make changes very often, this is great, especially if you host your domain with the designer. At Y Desygn if you use our hosting, we make up to 2 hours of changes each month for free.
Or you can use a Content Management System (CMS) such as Joomla or Wordpress. These are theme driven or in other, less pc terms TEMPLATED. Now just because it is a template, doesn’t mean it can’t be custom. When you are looking at CMS themes, you want to look past the logos, colors, images, and text. These will all change or not depending on your preferences. What you want to focus your attention on is the structure. Kind of like when you are looking at a house. If someone else is living in the house, you look past their couch, paint on the walls (at least try), and sometimes even what’s on the floor. You envision how your stuff would look arranged in the room with the RIGHT paint color and flooring, the flow of the house. Do I like where the kitchen is situated? Do I like the open concept design? Or the bedrooms all on the second floor? This is how we need to look at the CMS, just look at the structure, will your information, pictures, colors, etc. look good in this “space”?
Yang to the Ying, in other words, the positive - If you need to make changes on a regular basis, there is an admin panel that you can login to to add or take away content, add or take away pictures, etc. etc. You can create blog posts, you can manage comments and basically your website. You don’t need the designer’s help, unless of course you royally screw up and delete your site or some other nightmarish scenario.
Another positive of the CMS is that your blog is directly connected to your website, people don’t have to go to a different domain or subdomain to get to it, nor does the brand change from page to page, it all stays very consistent.
This is a brief overview of the two styles of websites. Please let us know if you have any questions and we will be happy to help you figure out the right software for your next adventure!
Tags: Blog, CMS, Content Management System, CSS, Custom Website, HTML, Joomla, Wordpress
Posted in Uncategorized, Web Site Information | 3 Comments »
Thursday, February 11th, 2010
I know, I know I have been harping on content lately, but as the famous phrase, at least in the web world points out, content REALLY is king! An article I was reading recently looked at how people read differently on the web, as opposed to print, it was fascinating and I could see it in my own online habits.
Today I thought I would throw out some questions and some resources for more information on how to write good content, stats, and useful tidbits to make your website stand out!
The following is a list of questions to consider, they are certainly not exhaustive more to get your thinking going in the right direction~
1. What problem is your product/service solving for people?
2. What makes your product/service better than the competition?
3. Who is your target audience? Who are you talking to?
4. How do they like to get their information?
5. What is your goal in terms of when clients visit your site? Buy products? Sign up for a newsletter? Subscribe to your RSS feed?
6. What features do you want? How are you going to make your site interactive for your public?
7. What is your company story? And why are you the best at what you do?
8. Not everybody likes to connect the same way, what options do you want to give your clients/customers to connect with you?
Resources ( again not exhaustive or in any particular order, but good information that I hope you will find useful)~
Writing Web Copy That’s Easy to Scan
How Little Do Users Read?
Website Tips
Killer Web Content
Writing for the Web
Posted in Uncategorized | 1 Comment »
