Webdesign

Webdesign

Web page design is the entire process of setting up electronic media for transmission via the Internet, from the initial stage of conceptualization to the final stage of execution.  Internet pages are generally designed to be displayed by a web browser or other graphical interface equivalent.  The history of Web page design is relatively short, but much has happened and changed in this time.  There are many different ways to design an Internet page and a lot of alternatives to choose from regarding programming environments and design tools.  The speed of the Internet today allows designers to include rich graphical elements and animation into their pages like never before.  Accessibility however is still the major concern and the best designers put a lot of thought into the form and function of the interfaces that they design.  Online marketing opportunities are also helping to fuel Internet development.

A web page is a complex creation, consisting of many independent elements which come together in a variety of ways to form the whole page.  Some of these elements include text, image files, databases and multi-media elements.  Some of the ways that these elements come together include the languages and protocols of HTML, XHTML, CSS and plug-ins such as Flash, Quick Time and Javascript.  All of these elements have not always been available though, and the first website made in August 1991 only used text together with a very basic form of the HTML language.  Over time HTML (hyper text markup language) became more complex and flexible and allowed the use of all the other elements we know and love today like images and videos.  One important expansion of the website development process was because of the advent of CSS, or cascading style sheets.

The use of CSS by designers has allowed for the creation of more liquid and flexible web page designs.  Whereas HTML is used to describe the structure of text based information, CSS is used to describe the style or presentation of the document.  Both of these elements work well together in allowing a web page to be split into its content and its style much more efficiently.  As well as these important aspects of content and appearance, there is also the all important element of a page’s usability and accessibility to its audience.  This is important to all developers, but especially to those involved with search engine marketing.

There are certain well known principles that a designer should try and stick to when making a web page.  As I mentioned, one important principle of modern design is to work in an object oriented fashion and to separate a page’s content from its presentation.  This is also known as semantic markup and if followed will increase the ability of a design to be accessed on multiple browsers and platforms successfully.  Not using frames and using CSS in the appropriate situations will also help a website to be appreciated in a number of circumstances.  An important element of web design today is the inclusion of plug-ins in order to have control over media elements.

When talking of web design you have to mention Adobe Flash, as this graphics animation and application development tool has become a very popular way to include sound, video and dynamic content into web pages everywhere.  Publishing applications like Wordpress and Joomla are also having a big impact on Internet page design as many people are choosing to publish their web pages with these powerful platforms.  Web design is sure to change as much in the next 17 years as it has in the last 17 years, and is one industry where you certainly do have to be one your toes to keep up with all the latest changes and developments.