Have Geek Brain

What are the best practices and conventions for website design and implementation?

I will soon be working on a personal website that will include static and dynamic content (starting with static content, with dynamic content added over time, using both custom components and open source solutions) m brand new to the web -design and development, so any advice on things like directory structure, file names, document structure ... whatever. Thanks.

+1


a source to share


5 answers


Make sure you try to separate scripts (javascript) and styling (css) from content.

It is very easy to get carried away and leave the styling embedded across your content pages, whether simple static or dynamically generated pages. And it's much more difficult to come back and get out later.

Also, try to stay away from the table layout as much as possible from the start. Use divs instead . They can be tricky to work with if you're not familiar with web design, but divs are much more flexible in a magazine run.



Consider using a javascript framework: either Prototype.js or jQuery will do just fine and save a lot of time using browser inconsistencies.

And the list goes on and on .. These were just a few things that I was thinking about my head right now.

PS Use source control . As with any software project, source control will be extremely useful if you ever want to rollback or just decide to experiment with a new feature on a branch.

+6


a source


Don't reinvent the wheel.

Why not use a content management system like Drupal or Wordpress that can be customized and extended with modules.



Both of these solutions are based on LAMP (Linux, Apache, MySQL and PHP).

+2


a source


Not sure if this is what you think is best practice or convention, but I would start with your website map. What pages are you going to put there, how you organize them and how you will build your navigation.

I always start with questions like "What do I want to do on this website?" and "Who will be watching this site?" and go from there.

Also consider how important this site is. Do you plan to focus on it until completion, or is it something you do just for fun or when time permits? If the latter think they start small. I often see people start building personal websites and never complete it (myself included). Worse when I see people putting up a page or two and then having 10 pages "coming soon."

+1


a source


Usability is your friend. Steve Krug Don't make me think! pretty good, giving examples of conventions etc.

0


a source


Develop / design it in Firefox *, check it later in IE. If you try it differently, you will sit down for yourself.

* (replace any non-IE browser at will)

0


a source






More articles:


All Articles