Types of websites and improving user experience

UNIT 13 – WEBSITE DEVELOPMENT

Broadly speaking you can divide websites into two main types: static and dynamic.

This section will discuss these two types of site and also what features you can add to improve the experience of users visiting your website, to make their visit more enjoyable and to give them a reason to come back to the website.

INTRODUCTION

A static website is one which is not regularly updated and does not have any dynamic content. When the internet was fi rst used, a large proportion of websites were static: they presented unchanging information across a series of webpages. In fact, there are still many static websites, but they are no longer popular, due to the fact that they do not change very often and they do not have any interactive features to attract users.

Static websites are created using HTML

STATIC WEBSITES

Dynamic websites include information which changes often, sometimes automatically using data feeds from other sources. Dynamic websites allow the user to select and view information based on the information they enter.

Sites of this type include online banking sites, where users can see up-to-date information on their bank transactions and make payments and e-commerce websites, where users can search for products which match their requirements and purchase them online.

These types of websites make use of web programming languages such as PHP and ASP.NET, as well as HTML.

DYNAMIC WEBPAGES

Social networking sites such as Facebook use dynamic interactions to allow users to customise their pages, to ensure status updates, to see those of heir friends and to share updates and media.

DYNAMIC INTERACTIONS

Embedding digital content including images, animations, sounds and videos makes a site more interesting and visually appealing.

For example, your favourite band probably has a website. A band website with photos, tour dates, their latest news and song lyrics is something you might want to visit once a week or once a month, depending on how often it is updated (this is static content).

But if the website has a forum on it, where fans can post messages and discuss the band’s latest album or recent gigs, then you might want to visit the site more often, because it is interactive (this is dynamic content).

INTERACTIVITY THROUGH EMBEDDED DIGITAL ASSETS

Forms that allow users to leave feedback or request further information are another way that can allow a site to interact with its users. Having a form to allow users to register with the site so email updates and other information can be sent to them is a way many websites use to keep in touch with their users and encourage them to come back to the site again.

CUSTOMER FEEDBACK FORMS

Another aspect of website design which can help attract people to the site is its visual appeal. A well-designed website with complimentary colours, a consistent look and feel to all the pages and easy navigation is likely to give users a much more positive experience than a messy one with clashing colours, many diff erent fonts etc.

One method that is used by all professional websites to maintain consistency and to make updating easier is cascading style sheets (CSS). These specify the formatting of font styles and sizes, colours and backgrounds for each page of a site.

APPLYING STYLE SHEETS