Web Designing - Basic and Professional Designing

Technology has given you a lot of chances. You don't really have to be a geek to create a website. In fact, the simpler you stay, the simpler your website will be. Most of them like their websites to be simple now-a-days due to the fact that complicated designs based on flash and such will extent the loading time and this will irritate the person who views your website.

Basic website designing:

Basic website designing are nothing but the personal websites or the websites that are created with pre-defined templates. These websites don't have much functionality and features and not very professional too. Of course, a professional touch can be given to the site but not the technology. Particularly, when you go for online website designing, you will be given a pre-defined template and this template is the ultimate. You may edit the text and the menu text. The layouts, designs etc. are previously designed and uploaded online. This puts a very high limitation and you can't literally do anything more than adding text to the site. But, these websites are very helpful to the people who don't even know the alphabets of website designing. These are helpful to many people who also need to create a website very quickly and those who don't wish to spare money for a website. Small companies, basic level entrepreneurs, family based people use these templates to create websites according to their wish. Of course, the sites are made up of minimalistic design.

Professional designing:

When it comes for professional designing, it depends on various technologies as to what we call as infusions. Many technologies like PHP, SQL, ASPX, .NET are used even in websites for quality websites. These websites are based on the fact that the website is the requisites of the Webster. Any professionally designed website may hold properties like forums, feedback forms, login and sign up data list etc. They commonly follow definite technologies for each and every aspect. These require a lot of coding to be done and are done by professionals. So if you feel you need a quality website involving diversified technologies, a professionally designed website will do its best.

Summing Up:

A website is like an exhibit. It pronounces the company and quality. A neat website attracts lot of customers to the company, seamlessly. One should be very careful in publishing information in the website since it is not only you but the whole world looking at it. Be it professional or personal, the layout, design, structure and idea should be very clear and only this will increase the website rating. Hiring professionals to design a website can be very useful, if you own an overseas business. Website is one of the strategies to promote your business.

To discover more about web design visit http://www.texaswebmaster.com

Are E-Commerce Platforms Secured?

Many League City web design companies create e-commerce platforms for the growing companies that wish to bring their businesses online. If you are a bit hesitant about this move, you may still be wondering whether e-commerce platforms or safe or not.

With the creation of Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) technology, e-commerce can now be considered a safe way to complete transactions. SSL is a protocol developed by Netscape for transmitting private documents via the Internet. SSL works by using a private key to encrypt data that is transferred over the SSL connection. Modern web browsers now support SSL, and many websites use this protocol to obtain confidential user information, such as credit card numbers. This technology secures your website by encrypting information and providing authentication.

Encryption turns all of your information into a unique code before it travels through the Internet. Every time you login to a SSL protected web site, your computer talks with its web servers and agrees on a key to decipher the code. All of your confidential information – your password, your financial data, and any transactions you conduct while you are online – is essentially 'locked' and without that key, cannot be deciphered by anyone.

By convention, URLs that require an SSL connection start with https: instead of http:. In most browsers, you will also see a small yellow lock icon appear on the bottom right of your screen to assure you that the page you're looking at has been received via a secure server.

Another element to look for before transacting with a retailer online is its security or privacy policy that clearly indicates that your confidential information will be encrypted on all servers connected to the Net and that security tools are in place to protect applications like the shopping cart. Avoid transacting with sites that don’t provide clear privacy and security policies or contact information, including a physical street address and working phone number.

Aside from the website you transact with, keep in mind that many e-commerce sites contract with other firms to process credit card information, and those third-party sites may be vulnerable to attack, too. For this reason, consider the pros and cons of shopping online and remember to do you research before transacting with an e-commerce website. For more tips from League City web design experts, visit http://www.texaswebmaster.com/league_city_web_design.php.

Understanding E-Commerce: Putting Your Business Online

Electronic Commerce, otherwise known as ecommerce or e-commerce, is one of the most important aspects of the Internet to emerge in recent years. It allows people to exchange goods and services immediately, with no barriers in terms of time or distance.

E-commerce is defined as the conduct of financial transactions by electronic means.  With the growth of commerce on the Information Superhighway, e-commerce often refers to purchases from online stores on the web, otherwise known as e-commerce websites. They are also referred to as virtual-stores or cyber stores. E-commerce can either be business to business (B2B) or business to consumer (B2C). Moreover, creating an e-commerce platform involves Houston custom website design services.

In other words, e-commerce is harnessing the power of the Internet to help you make money more effectively and efficiently.  It means using cost-effective tools for building your online store, and offering your clients a way of transacting with you and your company even without human intervention.

E-commerce involves much the same processes as selling goods elsewhere, but in a digital format. Concepts such as presentation, placement, display, stocking, selling and payment are also utilized in offline businesses as well as in e-commerce. The main difference is that these are all done on screen and as an automated process.

At the heart of e-commerce is the online store. To be effective, it must be attractive to potential customers, projects the right image, and is easy for customers to find what they want. Make sure your online store is easy to navigate and has a good search function. The site design should also reflect the image you’re trying to project: professional, trendy, up-scale, and reliable. As much as possible, try to accept credit cards and offer a good return policy for your customers. Remember to take precautions in order to prevent the customer’s confidential information from falling into the wrong hands.

For more important tips and information about setting up your e-commerce website using Houston custom website design services, consult with the experts at Texas Webmaster or visit their website at http://www.texaswebmaster.com/custom_website_design.php.

Image Source - http://www.417marketing.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/shopping-cart.jpg?c06624

5 Golden Rules of Web Design

Image from http://www.emzsquare.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/web-design-rules.jpg

The web is a highly visual medium. An effectively designed website must impress, tease, and compel your audience to step in and explore what you have to offer. To succeed in creating an effective web site, you must first understand the basic rules governing web design according to professional web development Houston agencies.

1. Your web site should be easy to read. The most important rule in web design is that the content of you website should be easy to read. Choose your text and background colors very carefully. As much as possible, use colors with the highest contrast from each other. Keep the alignment of your main text to the left. 
2. Your web site should be easy to navigate. Make sure your hyperlinks are clearly visible to your visitors. Graphic images, such as buttons or tabs, should be clearly labeled and easy to read. Opt for navigational buttons and tabs that are easy to read and understand rather than those with "flashy" effects.
3. Your web site should be easy to find. People will not just browse through your website unless you promote your site both online and offline. Websites can be promoted online via search engines, directories, award sites, banner advertising, electronic magazines, and links from other web sites. Once you have created a website, all of your company's printed marketing materials such as business cards, letterhead, envelopes, and invoices should have your URL printed on them. 
4. Your web page layout and design should be consistent throughout the site. Just like any document formatted on a word processor or like any brochure, newsletter, or newspaper formatted in a desktop publishing program, all graphic images and elements, typefaces, headings, and footers should remain consistent throughout your website. Consistency and coherence in any document, whether it is a report or a set of web pages, project a professional image.
5. Your website should be quick to load. Make sure web pages can be loaded quickly and that, once inside, visitors can navigate freely and easily around the site. Your audience may enter the website at many points so provide a way for them to access your home page from anywhere in the site. 

These are the basic and golden rules of web design. For more useful information from professional web development Houston agencies.

Online Design vs. Print Design

A basic understanding of search engine optimization (SEO) and copywriting is important for web designers. Although you can design a website without knowledge in these areas, it's difficult to design a good site without knowing at least something about SEO and copywriting. Designers have to realize their craft revolves around their ability to communicate a message – and that is dependent on the web site's copy and visibility. According to Houston web design companies, without any content or traffic, a designer's work doesn't do any good.

Take note that copywriting for online media is significantly different from writing for print media for several reasons. First, web surfers tend to be impatient and want fast access to information as opposed to print media readers who tend to read at leisure. Web users also have a tendency not to read full articles but prefer to read short chunks of the page in search of what they need. The average person will only read between 5 and 10 percent of your website. This is because most readers who don’t find what they're looking for within the first few pages will leave and move on to other sites. If you're trying to sell something, make sure your important benefits are listed upfront and get to the point quickly.

Secondly, consideration must be given not only to the human audience of a website but also the search robots who will periodically crawl the website. In order to be properly indexed in search engines, a web page needs a minimum of 500 to 750 words on it. In addition, the keywords or key phrase for a web page also needs to be repeated at least four to five times.

Thirdly, since the web is non-linear, we expect hyperlinks and jump frequently, both within pages and to other pages, reading what we need and then moving on, often very quickly. Good writing for the web should be clear, concise, relevant, consistent, and error free. Since the web is interactive, your writing style should be conversational; not necessarily familiar or casual, but direct and friendly.

Lastly, web pages should ideally have text and image complementation. The ratio of images to text should preferably be 50:50. Since web users tend to pass by websites rather quickly, it would help if their attentions are grabbed by compelling images and text. The liberal use of white space also makes a web page look less cluttered and allows the reader to find information more easily.

For more web design and copywriting tips from Houston web design companies, visit http://www.texaswebmaster.com/website_design.php.

Form and Function in a Website

How can you tell if a site has a good web design? As with beauty, web design is in the eye of the beholder, or to put it another way, it all depends on what you are trying to do. Form often accentuates function, just like icing accentuates a cake. A website that is visually pleasing often increases the usability by making it more attractive to use while using visual elements can often increase understanding. Creative design can also be used to make a task easier to perform and entice the visitor to take whatever action you want them to take.

If your design looks great but is hard to figure out, don’t expect your visitors to stay long. Web users have short attention spans and most of them are unwilling to struggle through your site just to satisfy their needs. Visitors don't come to your site to admire the looks; they come to use the site – tofind information or to accomplish a task.

Here are several things that you might want to accomplish with your website; otherwise known as the functions of a website, as suggested by a website design Houston company.

1. Provide a convenient means of informing visitors about what your business does.
2. Project a professional image to the public.
3. Attract new prospects to your business.
4. Sell directly to the public over the Internet.
5. Show people that you are a "modern" business by maintaining a website.
6. Establish a convenient means of distributing updated information to your clients.

Web design is now quite easy to manipulate with the use of WYSIWYG (What you see is what you get) software. If you design your site with a particular template today and decide that you want a different one tomorrow, it only takes a few mouse clicks to modify your entire site and publish the changes.

You can also easily add interactive features to your site with just a few mouse clicks. Interactive features such as custom feedback forms, user surveys, and contact forms can be added to your website for the convenience of your customers. Having an online discussion forum, guest book, and chat can also be useful in enticing your customers to visit your website more often. For more web design tips from website design Houston experts, visit http://www.texaswebmaster.com/website_design.php.