Customer Street and UFindUs Web Design

I’m currently in charge of the general design and functionality of the six Customer Street Blogs.  The blogs are

• CSS
• Improvements
• SEO
• Support
• Training
• Web Design

I have now added a JavaScript open and close function on the components in the right column of all blogs.  So now when you click on the heading ‘Latest Articles’ a smooth drop down appears with the latest articles.  This is also the same for Directories, Department Blogs and More Resources.

This just means that the pages of all the blogs are not cluttered and easier to read.

Future plans include having a JavaScript glider for the trade directories.  Watch this space…..

As an employee of Customer Street I need to keep up to date with all the latest design techniques. The best way I have found to do this is to regularly read web design articles and look at some of the best web designs on CSS Galleries.

One common mistake a handful of ‘wanna be’ web designer have is to blatently copy someone elses work. This is where they take a copy of someone elses website, change the logo and content, and then try to pass it off as their own. I’ve seen some really extreme copies where they don’t even change the logo !

Have a look at these screen shots

I can understand using certain ideas from other websites as I do it myself, but I only ever use ideas from other websites if I can rebuild them and call them my own.

Remember: There is INSPIRATION and there is just COPYING. Don’t fall in the trap !

Do you know the difference between web design and web development ?

What is Web Design

The term web design typically refers to the designing of a webpage / website. This would include designing the website graphics and the layout of all the elemennts of the page. Photoshop is probably the most popular program for creating the look and feel of the website.

The end result may not even contain any coding either. Just a graphical representaion of the page.

Some designers refer to webdesign as the whole process from creating the look and feel right through to the coding to turn the image in to a fully functional website.

It’s important to check this with your designer to ensure you are getting what you expect.

So what is Web Development

Web Development is more advanced than webdesign. Web development is generally considered to include advanced scripts like

• Javascript
• ASP / ASP.NET
• PHP
• Coldfusion

Mainly all the database driven and dynamic languages. Web development covers design and development of the databases and can even include CMS (Content Management Systems or WYSIWYG programs).