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Content Management Systems - what are they, and what is the difference between that and a flat HTML site?

If you are looking for a simple brochure style website, with few or no updates anticipated and little functionality, then your requirements are very different from a business who is looking to constantly update their eCommerce site from which they are going to conduct most of their business.

The two main categories of website are HTML/Flat brochure style, and content managed. The primary differentiator is that the owner/web editor/web manager can't update the former without prior website design/development experience and training. They are intended to be updated byt a professional web designer or developer who has to delve into code to make updates. This has a time and cost implication every time an update needs to be made. A flat HTML website will however be the cheaper option as they require less time and effort to set up. On the downside, they have limited capability for functionality.

A website with a content management system (CMS) on the other havnd however, costs more to build, but that cost will be offset by the fact that they are designed with the intention that the webmaster/owner/content manager will be making the updates, and in that case they are able to do it as and when they like, as often as they like, without a cost involved. CMS websites are typically suited to larger websites, that will be updated more frequently that their HTML counterparts.

A CMS site is built using a content management system framework (Wordpress for example), and is connected, via a programming language to a data source, such as an SQL database, where the large majority of the content is stored. CMS websites make use of language more complicated that HTML such as php or ASP.NET to allow for greater functionality and interaction.

What is Wordpress?

Wordpress is an open-source Content Management System built using php. It is probably the simplest to use, most widely-used and powerful CMS/blogging system there is available today, perfectly suited to developing websites.

There are many many websites on the web that make use of Wordpress; big corporates sites, news sites, music sites and famous people use it to manage their website (or have their 'people' manage their website). TechCrunch, The New York Times and CNN all use Wordpress.

Because of its open source nature, there are literally thousands of 'themes' (pre-built designs/layouts for websites) - some paid for and some free, and 'plug-ins' (which give your website added functionality once installed, or 'plugged-in'), again, some free and some paid for.

How do we go about building a website, and what web design is involved?

The process that ends up with a successful, beautifully designed, fully functional, well marketed and promoted usually begins with a great idea. Whether this idea is a product or service, or something to plug a gap in the market, a way of making money or something that entertains people - this idea is the key to making your project a success. You need to have a realistic expectation of what success looks like and a plan of how you're going to get there. You could have the best website in the world, and if your idea is a duffer, it's going to flop.

Once you have this idea and plan, an idea of how you're going to measure success, backed up with a good bit of market research you can think about how you're going to push your idea online. (The internet has become that significant that to not have a website in this day and age is not an option!). That's when Maddison Creative web design Newcastle comes in. We can help you with expert industry knowledge of what works and what doesn't. What can be achieved, and how we can achieve it. What you're going to need, how long it will take and how much it's all going to cost. We will generally then come up with a site structure, with a number of levels, and a flat design/visual/creative. Once these two key elements have been agreed then we set to work putting the two together and voila! You have a website. The hard work doesn't stop there though. Many people think that you build a website, and you can then sit back and watch it work its magic year after year. Unfortunately it's not like that - a website (and its search engine performance) are a living, breathing animal. You have to tend to it, update it, improve it, add to it and love it, otherwise it won't perform to it's maximum and you won't get most from it.

From a practical point of view, you need a domain (an address for your website so people can find it), you need a hosting company to provide you with space on one of their servers (a computer that you can access via the internet) and you need the files you create, nicely arranged into folders. Once you have all these, you attach your domain name to your server, and software that allows you to FTP (File transfer protocol) or upload your files onto your server. Once they're up there then the world can see your site and you're off!

Maddison Creative web design Newcastle can arrange all of this for you - we have great relationships with a number of hosting companies, and we use the latest FTP software, so it's not something you need to worry you - it's included in all new website packages. If you have an existing website and you like to keep the domain name and/or hosting provider, that's not a problem either, we can simply use your existing setup to upload the new site to.

With the increasing popularity of mobile devices, what are responsive websites and how is web design affected?

Two out of every three minutes spent online in the UK are users browsing on either a smartphone or a tablet. 13% of adults in the UK browse the internet exclusively using their smartphone, 2% more than browse exclusively on their desktop computer.

In the last two years tablet internet use grew by almost a third, and in the same two year period smartphone use grew by 78%, while desktop internet use has decreased.

The way people use smartphones to access the internet has revolutionized the way websites are built. Long gone are the days that companies were happy to have customers browse their full, desktop version of their site on their smartphone, causing users to zoom in and out of areas of the page that interested them, struggling to click on the tiny text links to navigate. If you're building a website for the modern internet user, the likelihood is that if they don't view your site exclusively on their mobile device, they'll at least check you out via their iPhone or Android phone before sitting down later at their computer to have a more in-depth look.

This is why most clients want a 'mobile-first' approach to their website, whereby you ensure that everything looks and behaves beautifully on a mobile device before considering a desktop version, and if something has to compromise, it certainly won't be the mobile site.

A 'responsive' website is one that adapts to the device it's being viewed on, whether that is a desktop computer, a mobile phone or a tablet. The content is then displayed in a way that is optimized for said device, improving user experience.

My content is the main reason people visit my site - why should I invest in getting my web design right?

The internet is so vast, and you more than likely have so much competition that potential customers can afford to be very selective, and will happily jump from site to site if they don't get instant gratification. The average time for an internet user spending on any page is just 11 seconds, so the opportunity for you to persuade them that your site is worth hanging around in is very limited. Eleven seconds isn'tsufficient time to convince them using copy alone that you're what they're looking for, especially since they're attempting to digest the entirety of your page in one go, and so you need to make the most of other devices at your disposal. This makes your design, and the visuals of your site absolutely vital to the sucess of your site.

Another study has shown that two thirds of internet users, when given their eleven seconds would much prefer to read content that is beautifully designed rather than content that is plain, hence the need to perfect your design along with your content, and another study suggests that around 40% of internet users will instantly navigate away from a page if the pictures are either broken or take too long to be revealed, highlighting the need for imagery to break up the monotony of your text. 38% of users also said that they will instantly disconnect from what a website is trying to communicate with them if the site is poorly designed.

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