Web Design & Development

HTML, which stands for Hypertext Markup Language, is the basic language of the web. XHTML, which stands for Extensible Hypertext Markup Language is a stricter and cleaner version of HTML that conforms to XML. This website is valid XHTML:

• W3C Markup Validation Service — Check the markup of web documents

Translation: XHTML/HTML is the backbone of your website.

CSS, which stands for Cascading Style Sheets, is a language used to describe the presentation of a document written in HTML and XHTML. Separating the documents content from the presentation can improve accessibility. This website is valid CSS:

• W3C CSS Validation Service — Check Cascading Style Sheets

Translation: CSS makes your website look pretty.

JavaScript is a client-side scripting language used for the development of dynamic websites. There are many JavaScript libraries which are made-up of pre-written JavaScript controls that allow easier development:

• jQuery — The Write Less, Do More, JavaScript Library
• Prototype — Easy AJAX and DOM Manipulation for Dynamic Web Applications
• script.aculo.us — Web 2.0 JavaScript
• MooTools — A Compact JavaScript Framework

AJAX, which stands for Asynchronous JavaScript and XML, is more a group of interrelated web development technologies rather than a technology itself. It is used to create interactive web applications by retrieving data from the server asynchronously in the background without interfering with the display and behavior of the page — animation without reloading the page.

Translation: JavaScript gives your website cool effects and AJAX makes your website behave like an application on your computer.

WordPress is a free, open source content management system used primarily to publish blogs but can also be used as a strict CMS, a photo gallery, a portfolio website, a link directory, a magazine or news website, membership directory, e–commerce website, etc. It focuses on aesthetics, web standards, and usability. A hosted version can be found at WordPress.com.

Translation: WordPress lets you blog!

PHP is a general–purpose scripting language usually used for web development to produce dynamic web pages and originally meant Personal Home Page, but now is known as PHP: Hypertext Preprocessor. It can be embedded into HTML and runs on a web server that is configured to process PHP code into web page content. It is free of charge and there are many frameworks that have been developed to provide building blocks and a design structure for rapid development:

• CodeIgniter — Open Source PHP Web Application Framework
• CakePHP — The Rapid Development PHP Framework

MySQL, which stands for My Structured Query Language, is a relational database management system that runs as a server providing multi-user access to a number of databases. MySQL is usually combined with PHP and is often used by free software and web applications such as WordPress, phpBB, Facebook, Wikipedia, Flickr, YouTube and other software where it acts as the database component of the LAMP software stack.

Translation: PHP makes bigger, more complicated websites run smoothly and MySQL helps store all that information.

Adobe Flash is a multimedia platform that adds animation and interactivity to websites. It is used to create things like animations, advertisements, to integrate video and to develop rich internet applications. Functional Flash is a term I use to describe very little Flash integration into an otherwise semantically valid website — things like ads, video players and interactive games — that are already built using Adobe Flash and ready to be inserted into a web page.

Translation: I do not build Flash websites, but if you have Flash components, I'll incorporate and build around them.

Web standards is a general term for the specifications that define aspects of the World Wide Web by the W3C. These days the term is more associated with standardized best practices and a philosophy of web design and development that includes those practices. These include: valid XHTML/HTML code, semantically correct code, separation of content (XHTML/HTML), presentation (CSS) and interaction (JavaScript), accessibility, usability, and SEO. This website is both XHTML and CSS valid:

1. — Valid XHTML 1.0 Transitional
2. — Valid CSS

Translation: Web Standards will make sure your website works really, really well — for everyone — for a long time.

Web accessibility refers to the practice of making websites usable by people of all abilities and disabilities by designing and developing in such a way as to accommodate all users. This means coding with correct and semantically meaningful XHTML/HTML, creating the ability to enlarge text and images without breaking the page, creating links that are differentiated from normal text, etc. This will accommodate:

1. blind users using text-to-speech software.
2. users with poor sight.
3. color blind users.
4. users who cannot use a mouse or keyboard.

Translation: Web Accessibility makes sure everyone can use your website.

Web usability is an approach to make websites easy to use. The user should be able to intuitively perform actions on the web page without further instruction:

1. Present information in a clear and concise way.
2. Give correct, clear choices in a very obvious way.
3. Have the most important aspects be upfront and in the right place.

Translation: Web Usability makes sure even a toddler can navigate your website.

Search engine optimization, or SEO, is the process of improving the volume or quality of traffic to a website from search engines like Google and Bing — increasing your SERPs for specific keywords. Optimizing a website so that it is search engine friendly involves editing the content and coding to increase relevant keywords and to make it easier for the search engine spiders to crawl the content.

Translation: Search Engine Optimization allows your website to appear in the top results of any search engine.