The success of a site depends largely on its web design.
Web design is the work carried out when planning, programming and launching a website . The concept refers to the activities that are carried out from the moment a virtual publication begins to be projected until the content is already available on the Internet.
Design should be considered to involve outlining, projecting or configuring something. The term web , meanwhile, refers to a computer network : it generally refers specifically to the World Wide Web ( WWW ), the network that operates through the Internet and that allows the transmission of data via the Hypertext Transfer Protocol ( HTTP ).
Without going into technical issues, web design is what is done to create, organize and publish a site on the Internet . These actions can be developed with different resources and using different types of tools and software .
Features of web design
To understand what web design is, it is essential to be clear about several notions. As a starting point, you should know that a website is a set of interrelated web pages that are available on a subdomain or Internet domain . This means that the website has a specific address on the WWW, which allows access to the main web page or cover (also called home page ). The documents, in this context, must be hosted on a server.
Web design consists of the creation of all the pages that make up a site . This requires the preparation of documents that are linked through links and that may include text, images and sounds.
Web design tasks can be carried out with a text editor to write the HTML code (the hypertext markup language) or with WYSIWYG type software (which allows you to create and modify documents without the need to write the source code in HTML, since the program does it automatically). Among WYSIWYG editors there are programs such as Adobe Dreamweaver and content managers such as WordPress and Wix .
The goal of web design, ultimately, is to create a website and make it available to visitors. This requires compliance with certain criteria linked to usability and accessibility . In recent years, the idea of responsive design has become popular, which refers to a design that can be displayed correctly on different devices (computers, phones, etc.).
Knowing the basic concepts and principles of web design is essential to offer a good UX (user experience).
Programming languages and technologies
Web design requires working with various programming languages and technologies. HTML is elementary since it is used to structure the text and the rest of the elements, making the content visible from a browser.
To define the visual appearance and the UI (User Interface) created in HTML, CSS is usually used: Cascading Style Sheets . It is a graphic design language that indicates how a document written in a markup language (such as HTML ) should be presented.
With JavaScript you also work on the UI and can produce interactive content and animations, for example. Another language that is frequently used in web design is PHP .
It should be taken into account that web design has a double perspective: the visualization of the Internet user ( front-end ) and the website administrator ( back-end ). Design methods and techniques must take into account both types of needs.
The person in charge of web design has to study SEO and analytics to know the performance of the site.
Web design and dissemination of content
In the field of web design, it is not enough to meet technical requirements and take care of aesthetics . It is essential that from the beginning of a website project we examine how the content will have an impact ; That is, the website is visited by users.
It is key, in this sense, that the web design is developed according to SEO (Search Engine Optimization) parameters. This means that the design must respond to search engine guidelines to be well positioned.
When a user enters a term or phrase into a search engine, they get a page with the search results. This page is a list that shows the websites related to what you are looking for, which are displayed in a certain order. The Internet user is much more likely to enter the websites that appear in the first places than those that appear further down or even on another results page.
Therefore, the web designer has to follow SEO techniques if he wants his site to have a good positioning. Including keywords and backlinks in the texts is essential.
Another important concept is SEM (Search Engine Marketing) . In this case, the possibility of paying to appear in the first search results is supported. Whoever is in charge of web design, then, can consider this option to guarantee greater visibility.
Among the tools that help measure the popularity of a website, Google Analytics stands out. Their reports help you understand how web design and content are working to attract visitors.
The importance of security
Web security is another aspect that must be considered from the design. It is necessary to implement the necessary measures to prevent attacks and to minimize the damage if an attack or violation occurs.
Experts recommend using Hypertext Transfer Protocol Secure ( HTTPS ), which uses SSL/TLS encryption for protection. With the encryption of communications and authentication and authorization mechanisms, website publications are less vulnerable.
Another necessary action is to create backup copies of the contents. Thus, a website that has been attacked or infected can be restored to its original version.