
Web development
In previous articles, we have talked about the User Interface design or the UX design of websites. Now, we move on to the building blocks behind the scenes: web development. After the design team is finished with the front-end design and overall look of a website, it is now up to the web developers to take the finished designs and transform it into fully functioning interactive websites.
That’s right, it is not enough to create just a great UX design. Web development is the key to giving life to an otherwise static design. It is also the process that allows users to access the finished website through their browsers.
Web development is done by taking the design and translating them into codes using web coding languages. Programming and coding a website requires years of experience and expertise. This is why web developers are one of the highest-paid employees.
In this article, we will help you understand the process that goes into web developing, and how you can help your team when it comes to making key decisions about your website.
Three Key Decisions
When it comes to developing a website, there are three key decisions a leader has to make. Ask yourself the following questions. These will help outline the overall plan for you and your team:
- Should your website be static or should it have a content management
system (CMS)?
- Which server-side language should be used?
- Which front-end language should you use?
Static Websites or CMS
As the name implies, a static website is a website that does not change often. Naturally, there are occasional updates, but other than that, a static website stays the same over a long period of time.
On the other hand, a website with a Content Management System or CMS is the opposite. CMS is used for handling the content of a website. This means that the content of the website is constantly updated.
Today, there are more websites built on CMS. Great examples of these are blogs, shopping websites, and review websites that constantly update the content.
Three Types of CMS
There are also three types of CMS you need to know of. Check them out below:
Bespoke CMS
Bespoke CMS is built specifically for a certain website. This is usually done by web-development companies who tailor the website design based on their clients’ needs.
These types of websites are tailored and highly customised to match a specific brand or to match the brand’s audience needs. Usually, websites with bespoke CMS are more expensive.
Off the Shelf CMS
Next, we have off the shelf CMS. These are pre-built by an external company or a web developer. There are plenty of off the shelf CMS available on the market today. These are ready-made and more cost-effective.
Open Source CMS
Lastly, we have the Open Source CMS. These are also pre-built and more affordable. In fact, some open-source CMS is completely free. In an open-source CMS, anyone can see the code. It can also be personalized to your needs. Since it is an open-source CMS, anyone can manipulate or improve the code, too.
Some examples of open-source CMS solutions that are widely used are Joomla, WordPress, and Drupal.
Selecting A CMS
When it comes to selecting a CMS, you should always consider the goals and functions of the website in mind. Also, think long term, would you need to scale your website in the long run? If so, you must choose a CMS that is easy to scale. A CMS should always be able to scale along with the website and not the other way around.
The CMS you choose should always be search engine friendly. Otherwise, it will be difficult for you and your team to rank it on search engines.
Guidelines in Selecting a CMS
- Meta and title tag customisation — the CMS you choose should allow you and your team to customize and enter your own meta tags for each webpage. You should also be able to customize each webpage’s title tag.
- Clean URL paths: Additionally, the CMS you choose should also allow clean URLs by using server-side rewriting. There shouldn’t be any extra codes in the URLs, and it should allow you to create static, rewritable, and keyword-rich URLs for SEO purposes.
- Customisable navigation and flexibility: when it comes to creating your website, the CMS you choose should be flexible. You should be able to add more content without having to link it to the main navigation as well.
- Good support for managing SEO: your chosen CMS should also have good support for managing SEO considerations. This includes URL rewriting and avoiding duplicate content issues.
- Customisable image naming and alt tags for images
- Robots.txt management: upon choosing a CMS, you also need to make sure that it allows you to customise the robots.txt according to your website’s needs.
- Supports standards-compliant HTML and CSS: lastly, when it comes to choosing a CMS, be sure you are getting one that supports standards-compliant HTML and CSS. This last one is very crucial because there could be a lot of inconsistencies rendered across different browsers. A CMS with standards-compliant HTML and CSS also ensures faster loading time and reduced bandwidth. This means that your website will be easier to update and maintain in the long run. Additionally, it ensures that your audience will be able to see everything you have in the website no matter what browser they are using and no matter how fast their internet connection is.
Conclusion
Your website is one step closer to getting finished. We hope you learned a lot about the different types of CMS in this article, and how you can choose the right one for your website. Consider these tips mentioned above and you’ll be on the right path.
We will continue our discussion about Web Development in the next article. In the meantime, you can share your thoughts and suggestions in the comment section below!
