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Web Design News

Recent web design developments:

Round Rock ad agency introduces ADA-compliant Web design

Review: Web Creation Made Easy

Interesting Articles:

A decade of good website design

LunaWebs.com Chosen as one of the Top 10 Web Design Firms of the West

A Sample of Companies Advertising on the Internet

Company Website Design

Who is the website aimed at?

Company websites should be consumer orientated and therefore be appropriately designed for the companies target market. For example Playstation games and accessories would be marketed to a customer base who want to see many bold screen shots/animations describing the games for sale. On the other hand someone wishing to use a search engine to look for a product would not particularly want unrelated pop up adverts etc on their screen, therefore a search engine such as google would be appropriate.

The following are some consumer orientated websites:

Sunseeker is a luxury product targeted at the wealthy, therefore the design of the website should take this into consideration. As yachts are very expensive, Sunseeker are providing an interactive website with many photos and details on the yachts for sale. The contact page is clear and easy to navigate which is essential in order to provide a good first customer service experience.

Marks and Spencer website also continues the same simple advertising in their website as they do in store. It provides a useful site to view products before going to buy in store and also an on-line ordering service for customers for example who do not have time to go into the store. Clothes, unlike books,cds etc are more likely to be returned therefore stores such as M&S allow you to return products to their stores even if they were bought on-line.

The Internet based website Primelocation is also a very well designed, clear website. It has no advertising unrelated to property and has links to all of the top estate agents in the UK and also includes International property. The website is also personalised allowing you to log in and keep record of past visits. It can also be customised by the user to request relevant e-mail alerts, also it is benefitial to those who do not want to register as they too can view the properties.

This website has a very colorful interface and has many activities making it interactive and user friendly. It is designed to be very easy to navigate through the site as it is aimed at the younger generation. The main page is sectioned into different services that Disney offer, each of the sections are accompanied with a cartoon image making it more visually easier to navigate. One of the services Disney offer is ‘Disney Mobile’. This is Disney’s marketing ploy as it will appeal to the children who are navigating through their site and will make the child want a special Disney mobile. Although it is mainly aimed at the younger generation it has a parental property to it. This property is a Disney credit card.

Best Websites 2006

Web Design Academic Journals

Your mission is to create a Website that works:
What to keep in mind during Website creation.

http://web.ebscohost.com/ehost/pdf?vid=4&hid=109&sid=67e2fee8-57b3-41a1-a6e3-9df9d990ad2a%40sessionmgr108

A retrospective look at website accessibility over time:
Looking at the effects that technological advances have brought to web design over some years.

http://web.ebscohost.com/ehost/pdf?vid=5&hid=7&sid=55c61f35-a99b-490f-8263-fd25082ca821%40sessionmgr7

Does Interface Matter? A Study Of Web Authoring And Editing By Inexperienced Web Writers: Looks at how easy computer software is to use for the new web programmers.

http://web.ebscohost.com/ehost/pdf?vid=7&hid=106&sid=b4adea40-181b-4fb8-8556-20c8d8608e35%40sessionmgr107

Simplify Your Website:

Offers website design tips from Four Mangos Inc

http://web.ebscohost.com/bsi/pdf?vid=13&hid=120&sid=99e821a8-d226-49b0-a738-e485eaecb162%40sessionmgr108

Impact of website information design factors on consumer ratings of web-based auction sites.

Do design factors on auction websites influence people to bid?

http://web.ebscohost.com/bsi/pdf?vid=13&hid=120&sid=99e821a8-d226-49b0-a738-e485eaecb162%40sessionmgr108

A Theoretical Approach to Web Design in E-Commerce: A Belief Reinforcement Model.

Effective website design is crucial in attracting and maintaining customers'. As Websites are the leading channel for communication in e-business, we need to understand how websites may influence online shoppers' attitudes and behaviors towards that site.

http://web.ebscohost.com/bsi/pdf?vid=15&hid=120&sid=99e821a8-d226-49b0-a738-e485eaecb162%40sessionmgr108

Conflicting Viewpoints on Web Design:

http://web.ebscohost.com/bsi/detail?vid=14&hid=120&sid=99e821a8-d226-49b0-a738-e485eaecb162%40sessionmgr108

Website design - Viewing the web as a cognitive landscape:

http://web.ebscohost.com/bsi/detail?vid=14&hid=120&sid=99e821a8-d226-49b0-a738-e485eaecb162%40sessionmgr108

Why do some Websites sell better than others?

Simple works

Web site designers can work wonders with graphics and colours and create some very professional looking websites. It is also important that they have some marketing knowledge too so that they include all key elements appear or not appear in some cases.

Features in successful web site design include:

- Background does not interrupt the text so that it is easy for the viewer to read
- Text is big enough to read, but not too big
- Navigation buttons and bars are easy to understand and use
- Pages download quickly
- First page and home page fit into 640 x 460 pixel space
- Light backgrounds with contrasting black or a dark colour font that is easy on the eye.

Stay clear from:

- Large graphics that take a long time to load
- Meaningless graphics
- Blinking text and animations that distract the user.
- Flashing Advertising banners
- Striking bold colours - a colour in one browser may look different/can be hard to read in another.

Below are some links to some well designed websites and also some contrasting poor websites and search engines:

Clear well designed websites:

http://www.google.co.uk/
http://www.habitat.net/

Poorly designed websites:

http://www.angelfire.com/super/badwebs/main.htm
http://jimjacobson.com/

Interesting and uniquely designed websites:

http://www.dzinenmotion.com/

http://www.7designers.com/index.cfm

http://www.amivitale.com/main.html

http://www.coca-cola.com/thank_you.htm?lang=en_GB

http://www.freddyfusion.com/thanks.html

http://www.thechemicalbrothers.com/

http://www.nunomartins.com/

http://www.afrobics.co.uk/

A Decade of Website Design

Evolution of Web Design



Here are Apple and Sony websites in 1996:

http://web.archive.org/web/19961022105458/http://www.apple.com/

http://web.archive.org/web/19961025123752/http://www.sony.com/

In 1998:

http://web.archive.org/web/19981212012608/http://apple.com/

http://web.archive.org/web/19981202100144/http://www2.sony.com/

Over a decade of website development, this is how the websites look today:

http://www.apple.com/

http://www.sony.com/index.php


To view other websites use the Way Back Machine to 'go back in time'.

Web Designers

Let someone else do the work for you

For those that do not even have time to create their own web pages using various development tools, there are now thousands of businesses that design them for you at affordable prices.

Please check out the following links:

www.mdkvisions.com
www.nunomartins.com
www.designprofessional.co.uk
www.effectivewebs.co.uk

The above links can help in starting up your own business as they provide many other services alongside creating your web page.

Web Development Tools

Quick, Easy and Cost Effective Way of Creating Web Pages

By now we hope you have grasped a simple understanding of what goes on behind a web page and what languages they are written and designed in and how they can interact with the user.

But to be able to design your own web page you would need to fully understand the basics of web programming and would need a through understanding of HTML, JavaScript or XML.

Luckily, for those who do not have the time to learn the complexity of programming there are development tools available. These web application development platforms allow the user to input the information they require, allow them to choose a layout or background and choose a URL for themselves or their chosen business. This development environment enables you to create complex web applications quickly, simply and cost effectively.

The following links gives an insight into what development tools are available:

www.zimki.co.uk
www.macromediadreamweaver.com
www.webspawner.com
www.build-website-uk.com
www.best-web-site-design.co.uk


It’s amazing what you can do with paint in web pages. Check this link out for some very interesting designs. www.adobe.com

Common Gateway Interface

CGI Scripts

Common Gateway Interface is a standard that allows information to be executed in real time, so it can output dynamic information. It allows information to be sent to the client (user) who has requested the relevant database (web page).

An example is when a user buys on-line through a shopping cart and goes to checkout, the information supplied from the user in the HTML web page is processed using JavaScript. The CGI Script allows this information to be sent to the supplier and allows an email to be sent to the user confirming their order.

These CGI Scripts can be written in the following languages: PERL, C, C++ or FORTRAN.

For more information follow this link: http://hoohoo.ncsa.uiuc.edu/cgi/overview.html

XML - Enhanced Programming Language

XML (eXtensive markup language) is very similar to HTML regarding the format (tags). The difference is that in XML the programmer can develop their own tags. i.e. 26 to represent things. This is a developing technology and is central to the World Wide Web. External stylesheets can be used to format the web page. This language can be extremley useful for handheld PDA's (Personal digital assistant), which has a web browser within the personal organiser.

For more info visit: www.w3.org/XML

Source: Deitel, H. M, Deitel, P. J & Nieto, T. R, (2004), Internet & the World Wide Web: How to program, 3rd Edition, Prentice-Hall.

JavaScript - Interactivity with Web Pages

JavaScript is an untyped interpreted programming language which was first introduced in 1995 with Netscape 2.0. It was designed by Brendan Eich to help control the web browsers content and allow executable content to be included into web pages.

Before JavaScript was developed, web pages were just static HTML which meant that there was a constant state text file that did not change. Information could not be extracted from the webpage so there was no interactivity between the user and the webpage. But JavaScript allowed the web page to take the users information when entered into the HTML form and process it. Basically JavaScript has helped control the browser, allowed the user to interact with the webpage and dynamically create HTML content.

JavaScript also works alongside DOM (document object model) which creates objects on the web page. JavaScript controls these objects. There is client side and server side JavaScript. This makes it easier to allow a programmer to write in one language rather than having to learn other languages.

JavaScript resembles other programming languages like C, C++, BASIC and Java. Many people think that JavaScript is an extension of Java but JavaScript was originally called LiveScript and was changed to JavaScript last minute as a marketing ploy to raise awareness. Java is in fact very different from JavaScript although they work very well together. JavaScript can control the browser and content but can not draw graphics. Java on the other-hand can draw graphics superbly but can not control the browser.

For a more detailed description, please visit:

http://www.webopedia.com/TERM/J/JavaScript.html


Source: Flanagan, D, JavaScript, The Definitive Guide, (2002) Fourth Edition, O’Reilly.

HTML The Language of the Web

HTML stands for Hyper Text Markup Language and is used to create web pages.

With HTML code and the World Wide Web it enables people to bring together text, pictures, sounds and links on a web page. HTML code files are in plain text and therefore can be composed and edited on any computer, Windows, Mac, UNIX etc.

A web browser reads an HTML page from a remote web server then displays a formatted page to the viewer.

The source HTML for any webpage can be viewed by clicking 'View' on the menu bar and then click on 'Source'. This then shows all of the HTML tags used to create the webpage. You could even try this on this webpage!

Below is a link to some HTML codes including some simple HTML excercises you can try:

http://www.w3schools.com/html/html_examples.asp

A webpage can be created using HTML by downloading the HTML KIT from the following website.

http://www.chami.com/html-kit/

How the World Wide Web started

History of the Web

The Web was born at CERN, the European Laboratory for Particle Physics in Geneva 1989 and was invented by Englishman
Tim Berners-Lee

He believed that there was "a need for a collaborative knowledge-sharing tool" to support scientific work in an international context.

Later in 1994 the Mosaic browser computer program transformed the Internet from an academic tool into a telecommunications revolution.

The World Wide Web is now part of the modern communications landscape with thousands of servers providing information to millions of users, grown under the guidance of the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C). The W3C is a volunteer organisation based at Massachusetts Institution of Technology (MIT) and has the responsibility for developing and maintaining common standards.

http://www.w3.org/

The next important development was the development of graphical browsers in the early 90s.

Beginning with NCSA'S Mosaic and onto Netscape's Navigator and Microsoft's Internet Explorer

These browsers provided a user friendly environment to surf the internet and marked the beginning of the true web revolution!

First web browser 1993:

http://www.madsci.org/posts/archives/2001-06/993087896.Cs.r.html

Web Design

Welcome to our Web Design blog

The web design blog will cover the history to the present of web design and include some useful and interesting links to websites.

We shall also be looking at some academic journals, future developments, updates on web design and showing you how websites are created..


Gurdeep, Louise, Andreas and George.