Dynamic Web Design

Dynamic web design is an excellent way for users to update their own information. More and more people want the capablility to be able to update their own data without having to depend on a webmaster to do it for them.

The whole entire website does not have to be dynamic. There can be a mixture of static and dynamic web pages within the same website. The deciding factor is how often the data must change, or whether the client would like to control his/her information.

Content Management Systems such as Joomla, Drupal, and WordPress give the same capabilities to the user. You download the free software, but you are responsible for the configuration. This may be the answer for you if you have a large website to set up that you want to control yourself. However, the user must be somewhat saavy in the use of open source software. Some people are not that technically oriented or patient enough to have to surf through forum after forum to get a simple question answered, or to have to put on a new release or apply a patch. Some people find that extremely complicated and time consuming, and I must say, I don’t blame them one bit. It’s not for everyone.

Many web hosts support PHP if you can write your own scripts, but you should make sure before setting up an account with them first, and also what kind of technical support they may offer. I often use HostGator for most of my web hosting needs. In the website I designed that is pictured above, I used PHP and MySql to create powerful queries, database updates, and it has proven to be the center of database design.

WordPress.org vs. WordPress.com

I surfed the web and discovered WordPress.org for myself. First, I didn’t like the idea of having to have to back up and put on new releases for a blog. I was intimated by the responsibility and thought it would be too time consuming, not to mention all the problems that can happen along the way with open-source software. However, I found that the positives outweigh the negatives. Plus, WordPress has come a long way as far as going beyond blogging. It can now be used as a full content management system. This gives your users the freedom to update their own information. Plus, there are so many wonderful themes that are very flexible to customize for your clients.

Even though WordPress.com, is also very user friendly, easier to use, plus you didn’t have the headache of maintaining it because it’s all done for you online without even having to sign up with a web host. However, there are limitations as far as the design flexiblility, but if you want a website fast, this may be for you.

The Right Web Host

As a freelance website designer, I normally do not provide the website hosting. Every client is different in regards to how confident they are in setting up an account with an appropriate web host. So far, I highly recommend HostGator web hosting because they provide technical support 24/7, and they are very patient over the phone with their customers, especially when it comes to opening up new accounts.

About totally free web hosting with totally free domain: Except for Tripod, I don’t see it anymore, but if anyone knows of a good one, leave me a comment below. Yahoo! Geocities used to provide this service, but it has been discontinued. The domain they give you is based on your username with their company name, eq. johndoe.tripod.com. The only thing about that was that you couldn’t have your own personal domain, but your hosting was free provided that you didn’t mind having advertisements running down the right side of your web pages. Also, it had limited capacity and did not support Flash media objects. The bottom line for free web hosting: you will most likely have to pay for a domain, or transfer your existing domain over to get the hosting part for free. I don’t see anything that’s totally free anymore. Chances are you will have to pay for something in your hosting package. I think the totally free thing was just for designers that were beginners trying to get their feet wet.

When shopping for a host, you should always check to see if it supports everything your website needs, like 24/7 technical support.

I also like to a have visitor traffic statisics analyzer if possible. Many host have this, but you may have to pay extra in your package. It is a nice thing to have if you want to monitor your site more closely.

I would say that the best host these days to use is HostGator. They have excellent technical support and a very easy to use control panel.

The good news is that you can always change hosts if you are not happy where you are, but always check to make sure that it supports everything you need on your website before you pay and do the file transfer over.

Why Simplicity is the Key

I believe that website design must be aimed at simplicity above all else, with as few distractions as possible, with very clear information and navigational tools. Website usability suffers dramatically as soon as the visitors move off the homepage and start navigating through the site. For example, most of the time, logo animations accompanied with sound files are unnecessary, and many designers now advise against it for many reasons: they slow down users trying to get to the homepage; they sometimes require plug-ins; they are often ignored by search engines; they can be annoying and frustrating to users; and they drive up the cost of the website.

In this busy world we’re in, the average visitor will only wait about 15-20 seconds for a webpage to load before impatiently moving on to another website that will load faster without all those bells and whistles to slow it down!

When I design a website, every image, text paragraph, and media object is there for a reason, not just to fill in space, or to show off a special effect.