How To Choose Which Web Development Package Is Right For You

There are plenty of options when it comes to web site creation software and a wannabe web designer might have a hard time deciding which to choose. We will have a look at the most popular web creation programs: Front Page, Dreamweaver and Adobe GoLive. All three offer a user-friendly interface and plenty of beginner and advanced options that will allow you to create the website of your dreams. A large majority of website hosting companies accept the final outputs of the three programs, but you will still need to check your web page for compatibility with different web browsers.

Front Page
comes as a natural option to many web designers, partly because being part of the Microsoft Office family this software offers a familiar workspace. The interface is similar to the ones you find in Word or Excel, with many identical buttons, keyboard shortcuts and actions. Text formatting is piece of cake in Front Page as it almost feels like you are using Word to do it. The Insert/Picture command is also available here, allowing the user to easily integrate images into the web page. Although many experienced web designers see Front Page as a basic software, you can still tweak your page to higher standards by using the HTML view.

Dreamweaver
offers a lot more high-end features and is preferred by a large community of web designers. You have more freedom using HTML features and taking your web site closer to perfection. A very useful option is the design and code split view – you see the effects of the changes you make in the source code affect the design in real time. Macromedia Dreamweaver allows you to create from the simplest of web sites to very complex pages that integrate Java applications and Flash elements. You may also check the final result in different browsers, a very important step that allows you to calibrate the web site for maximum compatibility. It is also an excellent programme for beginners because of its WYSIWIG (what you see is what you get) interface, this allows the user to create web sites without having knowledge of HTML coding. Some HTML coding knowledge will, however, allow you to create better looking sites.

Adobe GoLive
is a favorite web creation software of designers that are used to working with other Adobe products such as Photoshop or Illustrator. The familiar Adobe workspace reduces the learning curve for this program and allows easy integration of cross-software elements. The graphic elements for the web site, which are usually created in Photoshop, are effortlessly placed into GoLive's workspace by a simple drag and drop move. The excellent compatibility with other graphic design Adobe products recommends GoLive as a great option when you want to create a great looking website.

About The Author

Andrew Smith is a co-webmaster of HowToAll, a site providing well researched information on accomplishing tasks on various topics. http://www.howtoall.com.

Web Application Development

Prototyping is one of the most important aspects of our development process. We consider the act of prototyping to be a risk mitigation strategy. If approached correctly, we believe that prototyping can reduce the risks in development. In addition, by reducing risks we are often able to reduce project costs.

Prototyping may be done in a number of ways and it may actually employ more than one method over the course of development.

We may begin with hand drawn diagrams and flowcharts to represent User Interface (UI) elements and business processes. These drawings are then converted into HTML-based prototypes of the UI that incorporate a minimal level of functionality.

Customer acceptance tests are then prepared to document the required functionality. These tests are then validated against the prototype, as well as the established business, user and system requirements to ensure that the final system meets the stated goals of the project.

We emphasize to clients that testing should begin early and should be carried out continuously. Testing begins during requirements analysis and prototyping when project managers work with the customer to develop high-level Customer Acceptance Tests that validate the business, user, and system requirements.

During development, unit tests ensure that individual, functional packages of code at the lowest levels do what they are designed to do. Integration testing ensures that all the parts (i.e. functional packages of code) that make up a system function together to meet the specified requirement.

Final Acceptance Testing validates the completed system against the requirements as defined during the requirements analysis and prototyping phase. When all of the final acceptance tests have passed, the system should be ready for production.

Small releases provide positive results to clients in a timely manner, adding value to their business processes as quickly as possible.

Small releases also prevent the project from straying too far from the intended goals before the direction can be corrected. In this regard smaller releases can be considered a risk mitigation strategy as well. The key to a small release approach is to identify the individual subsystems that make up the larger system and rank those subsystems by importance. The most important pieces are then delivered first to add value quickly.

Pair programming is the most difficult to implement of all the development processes identified in this article. While we do not advocate pair programming in all instances, we do feel that there is great value to be gained in many cases. Clients are generally concerned about the development costs of a system. And while the idea of having two developers working side-by-side on the same piece of code may seem counterintuitive, cost savings can be achieved due to shorter testing cycles and less rework as a result of pair programming.

At the same time, managers see the use of two people on one task to be a waste of valuable resources, which can be true if the task is not of sufficient complexity. However, in those situations where it fits, if quality is increased and testing and rework reduced, then we believe the trade-offs are warranted.

About The Author

The AVS Group is a marketing, training, and communications company. AVS is in La Crosse, Wisconsin. AVS helps clients communicate and market effectively. AVS can be found online at http://www.avsgroup.com.

avsinfo@avsgroup.com

Web Development – What Is SEO?

Search engine optimization, or SEO, is the act of altering or optimizing your website and it’s content in order that search engines deem it to be relevant and useful to certain topics. You are able to select the most appropriate topics through the use of certain keywords in your website.

When surfers conduct searches on search engines they are presented with a list of results for that search term. These results are called Search Engine Results Pages (SERPs) and generally speaking, the websites that appear at the top of the SERPs will receive plenty of traffic to their websites from searchers.

In order to determine your position on the SERPs, search engines use their own algorithms. While nobody knows for absolute certain what these algorithms are it is widely accepted that your website needs to be easy to navigate, popular and relevant.

Easy navigation means that your site should have text links to each of its pages. If you use a flash menu system then you should include a sitemap in order that search engines and visitors can quickly and easily find their way around the whole of your website.

In order to make your website appear popular you need to get links to your site. While search engines would rather these links were generated because visitors to your site genuinely found your content useful, it is commonplace to undertake a reciprocal link campaign or generate inbound links. Reciprocal links mean a website links to you in exchange for a link to their own site.

Relevance is judged by your content. By including the keywords you place in the metatags of your site throughout the body of your content and in certain places within your site you are indicating to the search engines that your website contains relevant information.

By combining these factors you can effectively convince search engines that you deserve to be near the top of their SERPs. However, this can take time and a lot of effort if you don’t fully understand what you are doing.

About The Author

Nati Roberts is the owner of Make Money In Minutes. Learn proven strategies that will help you generating an income online. http://www.makemoneyinminutes.info.