Web Site Development
Every site that I develop is done by hand. I do not use programs that write for me. In this way, I can insure that the site is using logical, valid markup, and that the CSS is also valid. Sites I design are also accessible for search engines and the disabled.
WYSIWYG programs like Microsoft FrontPage™ produce bloated code and use tables for positioning of elements. These types of programs rarely separate presentation from content.
That is a BAD idea. Why?
- Bloat causes pages to load slowly. Search engines do not like this either because it is just more useless chaff they have to sift through.
- Tables can be very problematic to debug.
- Tables have to completely load before the page is rendered.
- Tables cause accessibility problems. The W3C has a great example of a linearized table.
My philosophy is that since I have to test server side scripts anyway, what is the harm in validating the markup language. It does not take very long, and it seems to help search engines.
Scripting Languages
ASP
My main development language is ASP, which will run on IIS on a Windows server. My scripts are light weight, in that I will reuse code, so there is less stress on the server. Recently, one of my scripts was featured at ASP101, and I am a contributor for my Required Fields Sample Form Script.
SQL
SQL stands for Structured Query Language.
Windows servers usually offer Microsoft Access as the database, which is fine for smaller sites. Large sites with a lot of traffic should use MS SQL.
UNIX flavored servers usually offer MySQL, which is similar to MS SQL, and quite stable, and can be used easily by large sites.
PHP
PHP is the scripting language often offered on UNIX servers. PHP is an object oriented scripting language. I will confess, I do not know PHP the way I know ASP. I can code ASP in my sleep - I mean that - I do code in my sleep! However, PHP does do some things easier than ASP, so I also code in that language.
Back Office Administration
For sites that do order processing, or use a database of any kind, I provide administration pages where the site owner can make changes to the site, for example, change prices of items. This saves me and the site owner a lot of time.
Site Statistics
Depending on what type of server your site is hosted on, I can provide different types of site statistics. These are important because you need to know how people are getting to your site, whether search engine robots are indexing the site, and what kind of traffic you are getting.