Fremus.co.za

Writing simple programming instructions is an easy task, but taking those simple tasks and putting them to work in a complete framework requires a lot of thinking and problem solving. Its also way easier to define solutions on a conceptual level than it is to take those concepts and implement them on a technology platform. That being said a solution is nothing without a plan, you cannot jump into writing programs without understanding what the end solution will be. I guess its all about commitment in the end, both from the concept and solution perspective.

Silverlight uses a pretty intense Java Script programming model, and I initially thought that with Silverlight 2.0 you could get away not having to deal with JavaScript, but I guess thats not entirely true. A lot of functionality is still accessible through JavaScript, and C#. On Friday I found a WordPress blog with a few great Silverlight tutorials. I managed to create my own skinned media player.

So do they? Do businesses in South Africa still need a website? Is there a need for a business to create a new website, or create one from scratch?

1. Firstly determine the purpose and aim of the website. What do you want to achieve with the website?
2. Determine the type of content you want to put on your website.Once you have determined the aim and purpose of your website you need to determine what the nature of the content on your website will be.
3. Look at design galleries I do spend time looking at other designs, not with the intent to directly copy them, but for inspiration. Sometimes you can’t get your head around a certain look-and-feel and you might get an idea from somewhere. I personally love Smashing Magazine. The designs they showcase are some of the best and most creative around.
4. Use a CSS-based layout. Avoid the use of tables for layout. Rather focus on a CSS-based layout that looks the most consistent between browsers. I found The Perfect 3 Column Liquid Layout to be useful as well as a Simple 2 column CSS layout
5. Don’t use pirated software. If you are not willing to pay the price for a piece of software, then you may have to spend time learning how to code web pages.

One of the issues that has been plaguing me for the last couple of years is the issue of bringing the design of a website closer to the functional requirements of a website. Web development, in my opinion, involves the creation of frameworks that allow a business requirement to be effectively represented in a web-based environment. Often this involves the analysis of a business requirement and translating that business requirement into a functional business resource. At the end of the day a web-based resource for any business should be a functional one that speaks directly to your business need. The process of developing a website should ideally start off by looking at your business and specifically looking at the way your business is structured. It helps, but is not necessary, if your business has a strategic model by which it defines itself. A strategic model, however, is not necessary to build a great and effective web-based resource. What is needed, though, is a good understanding of what your business does. By understanding what your business does and by defining what it does in a formal manner, you can develop a web-based resource. Formal definitions may need to be captured, and I think that it makes sense to develop a strategy that allows you to capture the way your business works in a way that is easy to access and edit at any given time. The key to capturing information about your business is to actively keep it up-to-date, because effectively you are developing your business even more by defining it. One way to capture business-related information is to use a wiki. Wikipedias are great for sharing information in a structured way, and allowing others to contribute to that information in a collaborative and sharing manner. A wiki can be created within a business environment with a minimal amount of effort, and it should ideally be used to store definitions that are unique within your business. I have found that if I compile information in a narrative fashion before I build a solution, I tend to develop a better understanding of the solution I am building. The most popular wiki software available has to be MediaWiki. It requires Apache, PHP and MySQL to work and takes less than 30 minutes to install and configure. Popular websites such as Facebook use a wiki to store information relating to their API’s, Markup Language (FBML), Query Language (FBQL) and JavaScript (FBJS). I have seen or heard people compare Wiki’s to Blogs, but I do believe and strongly feel that they are not the same. Blogs have a chronological nature, whereas wiki’s have a more static nature. Wiki’s also differ because a wiki works on a search-and-if-not-found-create basis. It means that if you do not find an item that you search for, you can create that item.

I spoke to a friend earlier today and we got talking about websites and after I showed her this blog she started asking me what she would need to start a website for her dad and that got me thinking. Could I offer a free web development checklist to potential customers as a value-add? So in essence what I can do is create a basic check list and implement that check list as a PHP form or something and allow potential customers to use it.

So what are the basic questions you need to ask yourself before you start developing a website? Would it be possible to develop a web development checklist of to-do things for yourself and tick them off as you go along?

My opinion is that the web development process can be divided into three distinct stages or phases

1. Identify the context within which you are developing the website and in so-doing identify a concept for your website. The context within which you develop the website will determine what the nature of your website will be and the nature of your website will determine its complexity. So basically put you need to ask yourself “In what context am I developing this website?” What is the purpose of the website? To identify the context and purpose of the website you might want to write a narrative piece that encapsulates the purpose you have in mind. Write as much as you can, because you will end up using this narrative to derive the website concept, i.e. conceptualise the way it will look. After you have identified the context within which you want to develop the website and you have identified its purpose through the writing of a narrative piece you can start thinking about the website conceptually. Defining the style of the content on your website is quite important because it will reflect the way you want a target audience to interpret the information on your website and will give it it’s feel. If for example you want your website to facilitate discussions between many people then you may want to implement a forum-style website, but on the other hand if you want to create a website where you write a lot of narrative content on a regular basis then a blog might be best suited. A website that advertises a set of products may require a different way of presenting information.
2. The second phase of the web development process will be to take the conceptual idea and convert that into a design. The design process might use a graphics package to create the look and feel, and create any images that go with that look and feel. In this process you will also define the colour scheme for example.
3. The third phase in the website development process involves the actual programming and development needed to achieve the design defined in point no 2. This phase will involve all the technical aspects and there are a few basic technical aspects you need to consider when developing your website:
   1. A web hosting package from a web hosting service provider. The hosting package must include enough storage space for the content you want to put onto your website. Web hosts will typically be divided into two groups, Windows-based hosting and Linux/Unix-based hosting. Windows-based hosting is generally more expensive because the web pages are hosted on proprietary server software, i.e. Windows Server 2003, whereas Linux/Unix-based hosting is cheaper because the server software is open source, i.e. ‘free’. Both hosting types offer a different set of technologies that will achieve the same result. The decision to use either Windows-based hosting or Linux/Unix based hosting will be determined by your financial constraints.
   2. A program or set of programs that allow you to edit the web pages mentioned in 1 above.
   3. A program or a set of programs that allow you to connect to the server software mentioned above. You will be connecting to that software with an active Internet Connection.

How do you formulate a concept? Where do you start searching for ideas and more importantly where do you get your direction from? Direction is reasonably important when defining a concept or searching for a concept. A concept needs a context within which it can be defined. Companies who specialise in the development of training material, for instance, have to understand or find a context for the training material that they create and from the context they develop a concept and from the concept they develop the training material. The concept will work within the boundaries of that context. So basically any concept needs a context…

What can help you find a context for developing a concept? Developing one or more websites is an example of a context, and the method you use to go about constructing a website could be considered the concept within that context. Creating or developing websites means that you adhere to some strict rules and guidelines, e.g. developing standards-based websites is an example of the rules that you must adhere too, and those guidelines shape your concept. Another guideline that needs to be considered when developing a concept is time and money, something that can be forgotten sometimes.

Why is it important to define the way you get to a concept? I guess you have to learn somehow.

Web development as a context relies on a few important things, but most of all it relies on a clear understanding of what it is you are developing and also how that understanding will be presented (Web design). I sometimes struggle to differentiate between web development and web design. Do people differentiate between the two because design-minded people and system-minded people think? Are those design-minded individuals simply Photoshop jockeys who will ignore web standards as long as their design looks right? Do system-minded people have a superiority complex? I wonder.