Thursday, November 13, 2008

Texas Web Designers 2.0

By Jordan FeRoss

The way we think of the World Wide Web is changing. Gone are the days where only the rich could afford PCs, Broadband and sleek software. New advances in technology have allowed us to improve the fundamentals of web design. Texas Web Designers are at the forefront of many of these exciting changes. Sites are increasingly user-friendly. They have a sleek "Web 2.0" appearance, but also load more quickly as a result of improvements in standard web programming languages.

To understand the changes that are taking place on the web, we first have to understand where it was. In the beginning, the web was archaic, dreary and even laughable. The earliest version operated on a system known as "Pine", a system using primarily text and hyperlinks. Then came the advent of tables and images. Even later came more advanced techniques such as DHTML and XML.

Web 2.0 is the newest standard in web design, in which all known techniques are combined to create an experience that the internet user has not yet seen. It utilizes the aforementioned techniques but also heavily relies on CSS (Cascading Style Sheets) for the entire layout of sites. Web designers are also giving more attention to the look and feel of images. Five years ago nobody hardly knew what a glossy button was. Now they're everywhere. All of this gives the user a more pleasing experience. Texas Web Designers have mastered Web 2.0 as one can clearly see by visiting the sites mentioned earlier. Texas is the new Silicon Valley of web design.

Texas Web Designers like are showing us that occasionally great things really do come in small packages. There are small boutique-type operations that flourish in the N. Dallas area, simply by providing one-on-one customer service and support on low to high end websites. According to one company, "being concerned with your customers sites and the results we endeavor to produce is what keeps us ahead of the competition." It's that fighting spirit of competitive practice that leads our industry to constantly improve year over year. Almost any Texas-based site is at least ten times better than its predecessor. How, you may ask? Quite simply, by using these Web 2.0 standards.

The key to beautiful and functional websites, according to many Texas Web Designers, is to minimize the use of advanced sites using complex scripts like Flash and Actionscript (i.e., not to go "overboard" with it). However, including some elements of Flash and DHTML go a long way in helping the user understand, appreciate and frequent a website. So the next time you're considering a site redesign, don't be afraid to use some of these more challenging elements, provided that the developers understand the advantages and disadvantages behind them.

In many white papers and articles, you will see time and time again how these small web design firms negotiate the various sharp corners of SEO (search engine optimization) by limiting the amount of FLASH and Javascript in their websites. Its use is limited, so that search engines do not overlook their clients' sites because they cannot read it. The key, it would seem, is moderation. There are many tools available to us now in web design. But it is up to us to use our discretion and use these advanced tools sparingly, so as not to "shoot ourselves in the foot.

About the Author:

No comments: