Components of a Website - Professional Web Development & Design

HP105- INTRO TO BUSINESS APPLICATION & TOOLS (PMS)

Components of a Website

A website can be divided into pieces a lot of different ways. You can divide up the
process of development into stages, or you can look at the individual parts. But a
website is not like a car. The pieces don’t screw together or came apart in the same
way. What makes a website work is the interaction between components that are
separated in space and, possibly, time. Some of the pieces are more theoretical, such
as the layout and the navigation structure. It’s like the frame of the car, except that
you can’t actually see the frame. Just the things hanging on it.

Here are some of the components that hold a website together:

Front End Elements. People often describe the website as having a front end
and back end. In this analogy, front end is what you see, back end is what you
don’t. Simple enough, except that you can’t really see the navigation structure,
not all at once. But it’s a place to start. Good front-end components include the
following:

The navigation structure. This is not the same as the sitemap, though that
might represent it. The navigation structure is the order of the pages, the
collection of what links to what. Usually it is held together by at least one
navigation menu.

The page layout. This is the way things appear on the page. Is the navigation
menu on the top or along the side? Are there images above the text area? Tables?
Good layout is as important as any other element of design. Bad layout makes a
website look crowded and slapdash. Good layout allows the eye to find what it
seeks easily.

Logo. A good website has a unifying graphic around which it is built. The graphic
represents your company, your organization. It often sets up the color scheme
and the style elements used throughout. The logo ties the website to everything
else your company does, though the printed materials, signs, whatever.

Images. Photos, graphics, navigation bars, lines and flourishes, animations can
all be placed on a website to bring it to life. Or, in some cases, bury it.

Contents. Few websites exist just to be looked at. The internet began as a method
of sharing information. As it evolved into the World Wide Web, it became rich in
all kind of media. But it still exists primarily to communicate. Well written
internet-ready text is a special kind of text. Usually the information is broken into
readable chunks. It is formatted to be easily scanned, and it is often optimized
for search engines as well as human eyes.

Graphic Design. Many of the elements described, such as the logo, the
navigation menus, the layout, images, etc., fall under the general category of
graphic design. But graphic design is more than the sum of these parts. It is the
overall look and feel the website will have as a result of proper use and integration
of all these elements. A website with bad graphic design is usually obvious to
everyone except the person who put it together. But doing graphic design well
takes a special combination of talent, skill, and education.

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Components of a Website - Professional Web Development & Design

Back End elements. Some websites are entirely static. They are the same every
time you visit. You never give them information, there are no polls, bulletin
boards, or referral forms. If you want to find something on the website, there is
no search box, you just look around until you find it. But such sites are growing
more rare as the internet becomes an ever greater part of people’s lives. Modern
sites are searchable. They offer new images on each visit. They allow the user to
request more information, or to post their own thoughts. Many can be updated
directly from a simple panel or word-processing program. A lot of websites are
datadriven, meaning that web pages are actually created on the fly, in response
to the specific needs of the user. All of these functional elements are called back-
end elements. In some cases there are many different ways to do the same thing.
So the line between elements is often blurry.

Content Management System. This is the ability to update your website without
having to directly edit the html. A robust content management system allows for
documents to be prepared, edited, approved, and tracked prior to publication.
Simple systems create areas on a web page that can be easily changed on a
regular basis.

E-Commerce. Purchasing items from the internet has begun more and more
common. The internet allows small merchants to reach a world-wide audience,
while other retailers are able to maintain huge inventories of immense variety.
New levels of convenience are possible, such as mail-order rentals of DVDs and
games. The simple ability to safely process credit-card transactions over the
internet is where this process begins.

Shopping Cart. If you have one or two products, it’s fine if visitors click a couple
times, fill out information, and purchase the product. If you have a lot of different
things for sale, you need a shopping cart. This is just a way for visitors to pick
out different items and make a single purchase at the end of the process.

Site Search. Among all the information on the Web, somebody found yours with
a simple search and a couple clicks. Do you want them to slow down and plow
through pages and pages of text to find that thing they are looking for? Only if
you want to lose nine out of ten visitors.

Blog feature. Blogs are much in the news these days. Blogs can be done
independently, or as part of your website. Some content management systems
have blog modules. Specialized blogging software can be installed on your server,
or you can use blogging services.

Image-rotation. Presenting new images each time someone visits your page
gives it a sense of life. Photos can be rotated, as can pieces of text, such as
quotes or service descriptions.

Chatroom. There are a number of ways to allow people to interact online. A

bulletin board allows people to post up messages on a topic. Chatroom allows
users to comment back and forth in real time.

Contact forms. Most websites need some kind of contact form. Even if you are
just giving information away, you still might want people to thank you for it. More
likely you want some ongoing relationship to spring from visits to the website.
Whether the goal is commerce or political organizing, contact forms are a starting
point for interaction.

Referral forms. Viral marketing takes many forms. If someone likes your site,
and has an easy, one-push way to notify her friends, you’ve turned your visitors
into salespeople.

Newsletter registration. If you have the kind of content that is updated

periodically, there are few better ways to build a regular readership than
newsletters. Newsletters keep you in front of potential clients, as well as keeping
your current clients in the loop about your new products, services, or campaigns.
The fastest way to build a legitimate newsletter mailing list is to allow people to
opt in at your website.

Online databases. Databases allow us to store, sort, search through, and display
large amounts of information. Online databases bring this technology seamlessly
to the Web.

Password protected sections. The public area of your website is a great way
to serve a variety of audiences. But what if you have a membership that deserves
better, more comprehensive content? Or what if you want certain registered

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Components of a Website - Professional Web Development & Design

visitors to be able to perform online actions? You may have a section of your
website set aside for your own internal processes. This is easily done by creating
password protected sections.

Downloadable files. From simple flyers to hundred page documents, e-books,

music files, and even movie clips can be downloaded from websites. This is an
easy way to distribute files all over the world.

Multi-media. Some websites call for more than just text and images. Phototours,
video-clips, sound-clips all can add to the experience if they are well matched to
the type of site and profile of the target audience.

Security. All kinds of information can be found hidden on websites. Trade secrets,
proprietary programming, client credit card numbers, and every imaginable piece
of personal data. Press releases have been uncovered early, strictly internal
memos have been leaked, all because the internet has many ways of exposing
data. If you are passing information online that is not meant for everyone, then
you want to ensure you have the right level of security.

Other components. Some elements that are essential to a website aren’t properly
described as either front-end or back-end components. Still, a website doesn’t work
right without them.

Hosting. Hosting is where your website is physically located. On a server,

somewhere, are a set of files that are transmitted to user computers when they
call your name.

Domain Name. This is the address. When someone asks to see your website,
they put this address into the internet, and your site is served up to them.

Online Promotion. Not exactly part of the website, but often part of the design
as well as the activity surrounding its launch is the online promotion. A site with
no visitors is like a huge monument built in an uninhabited desert.

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