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website design and typography

February 14, 2012

Believe it or not (and you probably won't), it is possible to create an amazing website using nothing more than text.

Think about that! A masterpiece that contains no photographs or images or colorful backgrounds. A masterpiece whose subtlety and finesse derive solely from its use of typography.

Actually, typography is a very interesting aspect of design. At its most basic level, it consists of font selection. Do you want a serif font such as Times, or a sans-serif such as Arial? Or how about one of those fancy “wedding invitation” fonts?

Thought must be given to font size, line height, font weight, color, letter spacing and word spacing. Will you want lower case letters or upper case letters? And how about new sentences: is it essential that they begin with a capital letter?

You could also think about “special effects” such as drop shadows, outer glows or embossing. In my opinion, though, effects such as these are seldom necessary and often detract rather than add.

Finally, never lose sight of the fact that typographical variation should be used in order to enhance the presentation of the content. It should add structure to the page and help create a more logical flow. Used properly, you will find that text (and text alone) can very often obviate the need for a surprising number of superficial design elements.

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This section is devoted to a few news items I've written over the last couple of years or so.

I generally try to add a new item about once a month.

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Actionscript

Actionscript is an easy-to-use programming language that is built into Flash. It's similar to Javascript.

AJAX

AJAX is a technology used to add richness and interactivity to web pages. It was invented by a man at Google and has become a standard feature on many modern websites.

API

In terms of website design, an API can be thought of as a small computer program that can be used to access popular services such as Google maps and Google charts.

Blog

A blog is a good way of keeping a website fresh and up to date. Many blogging packages are available: some are easy to set up and manage; others are feature-rich and much more complicated.

Browser

A browser is the program you use to view web pages. Popular browsers include Internet Explorer, Firefox and Safari. Some people are surprised to learn that different browsers can often display the same web page differently. Because of this, thorough testing in all major browsers is essential when making websites.

CMS

A CMS, or Content Management System, is a sort of admin area that can be used to update, edit or delete website content. Some Content Management Systems are very basic; others are more comprehensive and give site owners control over almost every aspect of their site.

CSS

CSS, or Cascading Style Sheets, is a design language used to control the layout and presentation of web pages.

Database

A database is really just a collection of information. The information might be the names and addresses of your clients; it might be an inventory of your stock; or it might be a listing of room rates and availability at a hotel.

Domain name

A domain name is basically the address of a website; ie, abc.com.

Encryption

Encryption is often necessary to prevent unauthorized access to confidential or sensitive information. The difference between encrypting and encoding is that encrypted content cannot be decrypted.

Flash

Flash is used to add animation, slideshows and video to websites. It's less popular today than in the past as many people find it unnecessary and distracting.

Hosting

See the entry for Server.

HTML

HTML, or Hypertext Markup Language, is the core language used for making websites. Many website designers use a version of the language called XHTML.

Javascript

Javascript, also known as ECMAScript or DOM scripting, is a programming language used to add animation and interactivity to web pages. Javascript is often confused with JAVA, but the two languages are actually quite different.

PHP

PHP, or PHP Hypertext Protocol, is a programming language used to manage information on the server. It is often used in conjunction with AJAX to control the appearance and content of web pages.

SEO

SEO, or Search Engine Optimization, refers to the techniques that are used to help websites achieve high rankings in Google, Yahoo or Bing.

Server

All websites need to be hosted on a server. Choosing a server is similar to choosing a service provider for a mobile phone: numerous packages are available, and variations in price and quality can be considerable.

SQL

SQL, or Structured Query Language, is a language used for retrieving information from a database.

XHTML

XHTML, or Extensible Hypertext Markup Language, is basically another version of HTML.