WEBSITE DESIGN

Most businesses must have a good web site to function well, by describing, promoting and advertising the activities of their company. A good web-site presence gives a company credibility and can make a difference, when providing customer service or information about new products. Along with our engineering consulting, we are able to offer services to correct or improve the content of web sites, especially where technical writing and technical matter is involved. We are familiar with the design and development of web sites, including the coding, and have associates, who can provide assistance in areas such as developing a site for marketing.

The Internet depends on the use of the HTML (hypertext mark-up language). Although it started to be used in 1990, it was not until 1995 that the standard was adopted with the issue of HTML 2.0. Development continued and the W3C (World Wide Web Consortium) recommended the use of HTML 3.2 and then 4.01 in 1997. After HTML 4.01, because of the development of the XHTML language, there was no new version of HTML until HTML 5 was published in 2014. In the early days making a web page was arduous, but made easier with software such as Front Page, adopted and published by Microsoft in 1996 and available until 2003. This software was a WYSIWYG (what you see is what you get) editor, which made it easier to create a page without a lot of knowledge of HTML. Other software such as Dreamweaver was created by Macromedia in 1997 and later taken over by Adobe and developed along with HTML and other languages used in creating websites. It is still used by many to create websites today.

With the Internet offering so many possibilities, it is easy to find hosting for a website. Some hosting is offered free, with payments only required for the domain registration. Many have simplified the installation of websites and provide free, open-source CMS (content management system) software. Over the past decade many CMS platforms have emerged. If you Google this subject you will find details of them. One example is WordPress, which is used on more than 60 million sites. Apart from its use by larger companies, institutions and some government departments, the increasing number of computer-literate people has caused the development of these websites to grow rapidly. To take full advantage of all the types of graphics and the methods of presentation that can be displayed on a computer screen, a good knowledge of HTML, CSS, PHP and MySQL and other languages is required, but it is amazing what can be achieved by a relative novice in a short time. We offer some advice on hosting on our Web Servers and Hosting page

A simple one page website is now easily achievable with only modest skills, but the challenge is not only to have a site with some pictures, but to include videos and make the site responsive to viewports ranging from small smartphone screens to the larger desktop monitors. Using  WordPress, there are thousands of themes and templates, which provide layouts and frameworks that facilitate their construction. Additionally there are thousands of plug-ins, which add functions such as the display of galleries of pictures, playlists of music, and add various styling, without having to master a language such as CSS. The WordPress software and their official themes are free of charge. Many other themes and plug-ins are also free. In these days of rampant malware and website hacking, one very important issue with any website is its security. We have extensively tested various methods of securing WordPress web sites and have found a free plug-in, which is very effective.

May we help you with your existing website, or a new one? Our rates are very competitive.