Under the hood of your website

Website estimates have often been compared to mechanical repair quotes.

Chances are that it contained a lot of information you’ve heard of, but that didn’t mean a great deal to you.

And chances are too that the only bits you really took much notice of were the price and the examples of websites s/he had completed.

But these days, price and folio really aren’t enough to base your purchasing decision on.

There are many factors that determine good value when it comes to arranging a professional website.

For example, what integrated features does the website platform contain? Is the designer offering a “platform” at all, or instead do they just say “just call us” whenever you need an upgrade or improvement?

What about the appearance? Is it fully custom designed, or has the look been borrowed from a template library? And how important is that anyway?

To help answer these questions, let’s take a look under the hood and see what makes a website tick.

Before we do though, a quick caveat. While the terms we are exploring are generally understood in the web industry, some may have slightly different meanings depending on the size and culture of the organisation concerned.

1. Technology, or technical features?

What do you mean technology? Isn’t the whole website technology? You mean HTML right?

These are good and valid questions when it comes to websites. But like all things technological, there is good technology and ordinary technology.

At one level, there is the technology language that your website is constructed from. HTML, Javascript, Flash and others are all different languages used to create a website. I don’t want to get into a technical debate on the merits of software languages here, suffice to say that your resultant website should appear in search-engine friendly and standards compliant HTML – the fundamental language of the World Wide Web.

What’s equally important is the technology features that come with your website. Important tools like Content Management Systems, Shopping Carts, Customer Relationship Management systems, email marketing systems and so on – the various components that allow you to control the way your website communicates and interacts with your stakeholders.

Gone are the days when you would go to your web designer to look after every aspect of your online presence. These days you and/or your staff will need access to technology tools to be able to properly manage as many day-to-day aspects of your web presence as possible.

2. Graphic design

The notion of “web design” is really just a convenient term to describe the creation of your website. But web design really comprises three key components:

1. Graphic design – the look.
2. Site design – the layout and navigation.
3. Development – the technical “build” of the website (unless an existing “off the shelf” platform in which case your “build” is referred to as “content population”).

The graphic design refers to the overall appearance of your website – its aesthetics. It’s the first thing that hits you when a website appears on your browser (actually it’s the second, the first is the speed of the website to download).

It’s pretty easy to determine the quality of the graphic design of a website. Those that have a “look and feel” that make you feel it’s a pleasure to be visiting the website represent good design, while others that make you reel at the poor colour scheme, photography and other aesthetics represent the bad.

It’s a good idea to ensure your web professional is capable of the former.

3. Content

A website can have all the technology features and design appeal in the world, but fail to engage or inform you with great content.

“Content” refers to the words, pictures and other elements used to provide the information you wish to convey to your website visitors in much the same way they do in a brochure or video. They can comprise text, images, audio, video, animation and more. Sometimes they can be contained in a format separate to the website, like a PDF or slide presentation, in which case the website becomes a storage and distribution medium for these files.

Content is the third thing that hits you when visiting a website. Once your site has downloaded and you have been greeted by the design, you then look for content to satisfy your information, entertainment or purchasing requirements.

Your website content also contains a range of keywords, which when emphasised and arranged correctly, will help your website gain prominence on search engines. But the specifics of this are best left for another blog post.

4. Site design

Site design is often confused with the notion of “web design”. But what site design refers to is the layout of your content throughout the website. In other words, where it appears and how you get to it.

In fact, site design can occur in isolation of the graphic design. Before the graphic design is attempted, it’s a great idea to finalise the site design, usually by way of tools like “wireframes” (diagrams of the structural makeup of the website) and sitemaps.

This approach means that changes to the structure and navigation can be made quickly and easily, unlike later when the more complex (and expensive) graphic design and technology components have been added.

5. Usability

Rather than a separate website component as such, usability is more of an underlying quality standard that guides the entire website creation process.

As its name infers, usability fundamentally means the ability of the website to be “user friendly”. But what is not so commonly known is that it is a principle that guides pretty much any technology that involves an operational process. Even simple devices like paper bags or door handles are guided by principles of usability.

It many ways usability is like a sports referee. You only notice it if it’s bad. In the case of a website, you get lost in the website and/or can’t find the information you are after. Good usability is often described as “intuitive” – you make your way through the website without really thinking about it.

Some other important components

In addition to these main website components, there are a range of other factors that complement your website.

For example, a website specification provides a written description of the website before any actual work is undertaken on creating it. This may have been preceded by a digital strategy which outlines the aims, objectives and desired results of your online presence.

Once completed your website will require adequate hosting to ensure premium performance and availability. Your domain name is the dedicated web address where your website can be located and you will also need to access statistics to assess the success of your website in attracting and ideally converting website visitors.

A good estimate will also provide for ongoing help and support, which can vary greatly from provider to provider. What’s important is to understand how much is provided in your initial estimate and how much it costs to purchase more.

This is far from an exhaustive list of components that websites can contain. But for smaller businesses, it should at least help to understand what it is you are getting yourself into.

In addition to being a leading eBusiness educator to the smaller business sector, Craig Reardon is the founder and director of independent web services firm The E Team which was established to address the special website and web marketing needs of SMEs in Melbourne and beyond.