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Web Design and
Development
Web page design is a process of conceptualization, planning, modeling,
and execution of electronic media content delivery via Internet in the form
of technologies (such as markup languages) suitable for interpretation and
display by a web browser or other web-based graphical user interfaces
(GUIs).
The intent of web design is to create a web site (a collection of electronic
files residing on one or more web servers) that presents content (including
interactive features or interfaces) to the end user in the form of web pages
once requested. Such elements as text, forms, and bit-mapped images (GIFs,
JPEGs, PNGs) can be placed on the page using HTML, XHTML, or XML tags.
Displaying more complex media (vector graphics, animations, videos, sounds)
usually requires plug-ins such as Flash, QuickTime, Java run-time
environment, etc. Plug-ins are also embedded into web pages by using HTML or
XHTML tags.
Improvements in the various browsers' compliance with W3C standards prompted
a widespread acceptance of XHTML and XML in conjunction with Cascading Style
Sheets (CSS) to position and manipulate web page elements. The latest
standards and proposals aim at leading to the various browsers' ability to
deliver a wide variety of media and accessibility options to the client
possibly without employing plug-ins.
Typically web pages are classified as static or dynamic.
- Static pages don’t change content and
layout with every request unless a human (web master or programmer)
manually updates the page.
- Dynamic pages adapt their content and/or
appearance depending on the end-user’s input or interaction or changes in
the computing environment (user, time, database modifications, etc.)
Content can be changed on the client side (end-user's computer) by using
client-side scripting languages (JavaScript, JScript, Actionscript, media
players and PDF reader plug-ins, etc.) to alter DOM elements (DHTML).
Dynamic content is often compiled on the server utilizing server-side
scripting languages (PHP, ASP, Perl, Coldfusion, JSP, Python, etc.). Both
approaches are usually used in complex applications.
With growing specialization within communication design and information
technology fields, there is a strong tendency to draw a clear line between
web design specifically for web pages and web development for the overall
logistics of all web-based services.
Web development is a broad term for
any activity related to developing a web site for the World Wide Web or an
intranet. This can include e-commerce business development, web design, web
content development, client-side/server-side scripting, and web server
configuration. However, among web professionals, "web development" usually
refers only to the non-design aspects of building web sites, e.g. writing
markup and coding. Web development can range from developing the simplest
static single page of plain text to the most complex web-based internet
applications, electronic businesses, or social network services.
For larger businesses and organizations,
web development teams
can consist of hundreds of people (web developers). Smaller organizations
may only require a single permanent or contracting webmaster, or secondary
assignment to related job positions such as a graphic designer and/or
Information systems technician. Web development may be a collaborative
effort between departments rather than the domain of a designated
department. |
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