Web Design & Development Blog - Practic WEB

How a website works? How to make a website work? Like a living thing, a website works well when all parts work well with one another. When one part of the website is not working, it negatively affects all other parts and the website fails to work at its full potential. 

A website is made up from web pages. All website pages are linked together. The website has a lot of files like images, graphics, texts, and more content. A web page is an HTML file coded by web programmers and viewed by a web browser. The web server is a computer dedicated specifically to host websites, so the website files are stored there. The website folder has an internet address (URL) and when you type in the website domain name, a browser finds the website on the server and displays the site on your screen. 

Knowing how websites work and how things are done is helpful for everyone looking to build a website. It expands your understanding of the web design and development process a lot clearer. Below, we shortly explain how website works and point out the fundamentals that make a website work. 

Domain name is an online identity of the website. A website’s domain is a website identification on the web, such as woweb.com, about.com, wikipedia.org, etc. The domain name is a unique alphanumeric name that consists of English letters, numbers 0-9, and hyphens (-). Every domain name has a suffix or extension that indicates which type of organization or country it belongs. You can buy a domain name and server space from different companies or from the same company. A domain is not the same as URL. The domain name is part of website url that provides much more information, including the specific page address, folder name, machine name, and protocol language. URL (Uniform Resource Locator) is a web address or a specific character string that constitutes a reference to a web resource. A domain name is actually a memorable "name" of the website, and it is not the same as IP Address. 

Web browser is a software program that retrieves and displays information resources on the web. A web browser translates the coding into a user-friendly form. Browsers access information provided by web servers and display the web page on the screen of your PC. The today’s most used web browsers are Google Chrome, Firefox, Opera, Safari. 

Web server is a remote computer developed to deliver web content that can be accessed through the Internet. When the user enters the domain in the browser, the Web server responds to a browser’s request for a web page. To host your website on the server you have to buy a server space. Domain Name Server (DNS) translates domain names into IP addresses. Every time you use a domain, the DNS translates the domain into the related IP. 

Web hosting stores the website files and makes the site accessible on the internet. Web hosts are companies providing internet connectivity and space on a server. When a user enters the domain name into the browser, the website is loaded from its web host. There are different types of web hosting services that offer domain names, e-mail, databases, SSL encryption, and automated website backup in the event of a server outage. 

PHP is a reliable web programming technology used in modern website development to write dynamic websites. Websites like Wikipedia, Yahoo!, Delicious, Facebook are powered by PHP. A style sheet language CSS is used to style web pages written in HTML and XHTML. An HTML file can be uploaded to a web server, where any computer with a web browser and an Internet connection can access it. Most modern websites use PHP and CSS. 

Web page content is any information you see and use on a web page and website, including graphics, images, texts, etc. The primary reason why people come to the website is the content. Web pages content should be unique, reliable, useful, well-organized, link-wise, keyword-smart, and fresh. Good website content builds user trust and boosts website prominence on search engines. 

Content Management System (CMS) is a software equipped with options for website content administration. CMS allows updating website content according to the website users’ needs and expectations. Having the right CMS gives an absolute control over the website content. Modern CMS are easy to manage and feature many add-ons for administration of various types of web page content. 

Now you know how websites work in general, what you need to make a website work and how your own future website will be working!

Web Development and Web Design is a huge mechanism with many professionals standing behind. If you have ever wondered who makes websites and who is responsible for your website performance, we will tell you who is who in website development industry. Website building involves many types of IT specialists with different technical and creative professional specializations.

Web programmers or web developers are web specialists who convert the website design into the high quality code. Professional website developers and web programmers deal with different web programming languages and advanced technologies like PHP Programming, CSS, JavaScript, etc. Depending on the size of the web development team or company, a particular web developer can specialize in one or more web development aspects like front-end developing, databases development, shopping carts, etc. In a few words, website developers are responsible for website technical performance and non-design aspects of the website building.

Web designers develop and design visual stuff that attracts the user. Website designers focus on the development of the look and feel of the website, including website header, sidebars, menus, illustrations, and other elements. To design website, professional web designers use specialized image editing software applications and then transfer the files to web programmers who turn the design into the code and the real website. A web designer’s jobs encompass web graphic design, interface design, layout design, template design, website logo design, and more technical and creative disciplines in website design development.

Website copywriters and web content developers create content for websites. Website copywriters work in various fields of web content development, including SEO content writing, article writing, advertising and sales writing, ghostwriting, blogging, etc. Website content developers create texts for all types of small and large websites. SEO copywriters specialize in developing the written content that appeals to the website target audience and contains certain keywords to attract search engines.

Website Design and Development Companies offer a range of professional web development services. It is often a small and medium sized organization with many web specialists under one roof. Today there are thousands of affordable web design and development companies providing web development and support services for clients around the world. With so many web development companies around, the most important thing is to make the right choice based on your web project goal and budget.

Web Hosting Companies or website hosting providers make websites publicly accessible online. They store websites’ files on their server, giving it a unique address. There are free and paid web hosting services. Some web hosting companies provide website ongoing technical support and maintenance services to increase the website traffic, fix technical errors, and improve website optimization.

Programming languages are the driving force behind the Web. Simply put, programming languages make things work on the World Wide Web. It’s difficult to determine programming languages which are utmost popular, because particular web languages are used for particular types of websites and web applications. The growth of web development industry gave birth to various web programming languages. The programming languages beginnings date back to 1950s, so there have been 100’s types developed. We look at the languages used in most popular websites and applied in modern web development.

The TIOBE Programming Community index is an indicator of the popularity of programming languages. The index is updated once a month. The ratings are based on the number of skilled engineers world-wide, courses and third party vendors. The popular search engines Google, Bing, Yahoo!, Wikipedia, Amazon, YouTube and Baidu are used to calculate the ratings. Observe that the TIOBE index is not about the best programming language or the language in which most lines of code have been written.

“Before the summer of 2009, Objective-C was a programming language that was hardly known and used. Thanks to the success of the iPhone and later on the iPad, Objective-C started at that date with an incredible rally to the top. This resulted in two consecutive "TIOBE language of the year" awards in 2011 and 2012. However recently the popularity of Objective-C is not rising any more. For the first time since 2009 it loses a position in the index.” [source].

For web developers, the index may give understanding whether their programming skills are up to date. For clients, being familiar with top programming languages can help to realize how modern websites work and which web development company or a particular web programmer to choose for their new web project development.

How popular and useful the programming languages are may also be determined by languages used in most successful and popular websites.

Source: Wikipedia

PHP Programming is developed in 1995. PHP is a widely used server-side general-purpose scripting language designed for web development. PHP is now installed on more than 244 million websites and 2.1 million web servers. PHP allows developing dynamic web applications. This is an open-source, interpretive, cross-platform web language that can be embedded into HTML pages. PHP is available for most operating systems including Unix and Windows, and is an excellent server-side programming language for professional web development.

C++ Programming started in 1983. It is a statically typed, free-form, multi-paradigm, compiled, object oriented, general-purpose programming language. It is regarded as an intermediate-level language, as it comprises a combination of both high-level and low-level language features. C++ is one of the most popular programming languages implemented on many hardware and operating system platforms. As an efficient compiler to native code, its application domains include systems software, application software, device drivers, embedded software, high-performance server and client applications, and entertainment software such as video games.

JavaScript (JS) was developed in 1995. JS is an interpreted computer programming language originally implemented as part of web browsers so that client-side scripts could interact with the user, control the browser, alter the document content that was displayed. JavaScript is a prototype-based scripting language that is dynamic, weakly typed, and has first-class functions. Its syntax was influenced by the language C. JavaScript copies many names and naming conventions from Java, but the two languages are otherwise unrelated and have very different semantics. Embedded into HTML, used in millions of dynamic web pages to validate forms, create cookies, detect browsers and improve the design. JavaScript that is implemented as a part of a web browser to provide enhanced user interfaces. JavaScript use in applications outside of web pages (PDF docs, desktop widgets, etc) also makes up its popularity.

C# Programming was developed in 2000. Multi-paradigm, structured, imperative, object-oriented, event-driven, functional, generic, reflective, concurrent programming language developed by Microsoft. C# is intended to be a simple, modern, general-purpose, object-oriented programming language. The most recent version of the language is 4.0 which was released in 2010. C# is suitable for writing applications for both hosted and embedded systems, ranging from the very large that use sophisticated operating systems, down to the very small having dedicated functions.

JAVA Programming was developed in 1995. JAVA is a general-purpose, concurrent, class-based, object-oriented computer programming language that is specifically designed to have as few implementation dependencies as possible. Object-oriented, structured, imperative, generic, reflective. This is a programming language and computing platform with the underlying technology that powers state-of-the-art programs including utilities, games, and business applications. Java has proved its usefulness for thousands of applications long before the rise of native mobile apps. It’s one of the most flexible programming languages, useful in most operating systems. If building desktop-based apps and/or Android mobile apps will be your niche, then Java the best programming language for that purpose.

As we are not the same as years ago, web design is not the same as it was years ago. Modern website design is different from the past-day website design and the future web design.

Web Design is a vast field covering many different aspects of website development. Our experience shows that it often becomes quite difficult for clients to figure out what is what in modern professional web design and what the designer is talking about. 

To ask professional website designers to design a website, the client should better understand what makes up modern professional website design. We outline some definitions in modern website design to help the clients on their way to understanding what web designers are talking when they discuss the given website design.

Get familiar with common modern web design technologies and web designer terms used regularly in modern professional website design and development. 

User interface design is one of the vital aspects in the website design development. Good interface design can give a significant boost to the website productivity and usability. Intuitive interface covers the creation of the navigation menus, option buttons, information architecture, and more technical tools and visual elements. The goal of professional user interface design is to be not only technically functional, but also adaptable to user needs and expectations.

Website templates are pre-designed websites that can be customized to individual needs of the client. One of the huge benefits of using website templates is an opportunity to start a website quickly and easily. Website templates allow you to preview the future website. There are hundreds of website templates available. Many come with logos, graphics, and standard usability features.

Website homepage is the main web page of a site, also called the "front page". When a user types in a browser a website domain, the browser downloads the website homepage that contains links to other website pages.

Search-engine friendly web design is a design that is optimized for search engines. Websites designed with search engine optimization attract target traffic much faster. SEO friendly design combines a variety of creative and technical principles including content architecture, navigation structure, images, link flow, and many other SEO design techniques. In modern professional website design, SEO counts.

Usability is one more aspect that counts in modern website design. Good website navigation and design aesthetics are one of the core features that make up website usability. User-friendly design is when a site is easy to browse around for the users. Users should access and find the information easily on the website. Website usability is to place website items in an appropriate area on a web page and present the information to the user in a clear and obvious way.

The ability of a website or a web application function well on all modern browsers and platforms is referred to as cross-browser compatibility. The cross-browser compatibility of a website is a an aspect that counts today very much. Modern professionally designed website should be accessible through as many browsers as possible. If a website pages does not work correctly or now viewable in the top modern browsers, it will drive the visitors away once and for all.

Infographics design is in demand today. Infographics are a popular tool for complex data visualization. The demand for infographics design is based on that people prefer websites with good visual presentations rather than web pages with boring content. Professional infographics should deliver the right message and engage the audience. Good infographics are always an eye candy and food brain. The successful infographic presents information in a creative, clear and compact way, in the form of chart, map, instruction, etc.

Designing a website is a complex task with many other terms and aspects involved. You should always feel free to ask us about any aspect of the modern professional website design.

PHP is one of the core technologies used in modern web development. PHP is the most popular web programming language designed to write dynamic web applications. Many huge websites on the net like Wikipedia, Yahoo!, Digg, Flickr, Delicious, Facebook and millions of other websites run on PHP technology. Since its creation in 1995, PHP has proven to be a trustworthy foundation for a modern-day website. PHP is currently ranked 6th on the TIOBE Programming Community Index of 2013.

PHP programming language was originally developed to add interactivity to dynamic webpages. Originally named Personal Home Page, this programming language has become the basis for many web applications. The first great improvement to the PHP technology came in 1997 with the release of PHP 3 version. The name was also changed to PHP Hypertext Preprocessor.

PHP is an open source general-purpose programming language that can be embedded into HTML. For years, PHP rules server-side scripting and remains a hugely popular for programming websites of any size. Main web development areas powered by PHP are server-side scripting, command line scripting, programming desktop applications. If used by professional web developers, PHP programming language can do lots of very good things for a website.

One of the PHP programming language strengths is its support for databases. PHP language interacts with databases like MySQL, Oracle, etc. PHP can be used on Linux, Microsoft Windows, Mac OS X, etc. PHP websites are based on WordPress, Joomla, Drupal; Zencart, Magento. 

Released in 2004 and powered by the Zend Engine II, PHP 5 is the latest PHP version. PHP 5 is equipped with new features dedicated for better productivity and security of web applications. PHP 5 improvements cover support for object-oriented coding, MySQL extension, XML extensions, and other web development benefits. 

Programming language PHP meets a wide range of modern web development needs. Since its beginnings, dynamic web development with PHP coding has won a significant popularity in professional website building. WOWEB is proud to have a team of seasoned PHP developers and web programmers skillful in PHP scripting and most advanced web development technologies. We deliver web development services that wow with good results, so you are always welcome to talk to us about your project !