• About Me
• The Process
• Client List
• Contact Me

Various Types of Websites You Might Choose

Consider the number of different websites you visit each week and why you visit each of them individually. Some offer the simple delivery of the information you need about the business, while some allow you to make purchases online. Some are blogs where you read what the blogger has to say and some are social networks that allow you to have two-way interaction with other members, friends or fans.

 

Yes, it's positively overwhelming...so here is a brief summary to put some things into perspective:

 

Static Websites

With a static website, the client hires a web designer to design and build the website in what is called "HTML", then populate it with the information provided by the client. Of course, there can be variety of interactive features on the website that add interest for the visitor - but the distinguishing feature of static website design is that the web designer is the one who maintains the information on the website over time, not the client. Simply said - the client can't go in and make changes to the website unless he/she knows the HTML programming language (in which case, the web designer wasn't necessary to begin with)!

 

Content Management Websites (CMS)

A content management website is as its name suggests...the client manages the content themselves once the web design and web programming have been done. This is done via an administration panel that allows the client to log in with their username and password to update their own website content (but limits their abillity to do much damage to the design or functionality of the website - lest they break something).

 

Think about a blog you might read - that blogger had the website designed and built, but doesn't give content to their web designer on a daily basis - they have the ability to log in and enter it themselves, hit a 'submit' button and voila - their website is updated with new content. A store will do the same thing with products.

 

If you think about it, Facebook is one giant CMS...you log in with your email and password and can enter information how and when you wish. Of course, Facebook is also a membership site, a social network and a million other things all wrapped into one -- but anytime you are using a login and a password to edit or manage your own content on a website (yours or someone else's), you are using a CMS.

 

eCommerce, Blogs and Photo Gallery Websites

Because the client is managing their own data on eCommerce, Blogs and Photo Galleries, they're all Content Management Systems as described above, right? Right. It's simply that they each have special features...on eCommerce sites, products can be viewed, added to a shopping cart and then purchased through a payment gateway.

 

A blog is a website designed so that the blogger can log in, write content and publish it to the web and a photo gallery is the exact same thing -- it's just that the design of the website is centered more on showcasing photographs than text content.

 

Of course, I could go on forever with other types of websites, but the above are the broad strokes, so now that we've covered the "what", let's tackle the "how long" & "how much"...