Technically Fun

We’ve all seen the ads saying “$9.99 a year for your very own website and only $5 a month for your domain!” or something similar to that. Most people will jump on these places because it is very inexpensive. Ten bucks and a few more to get a website that potentially can bring a significant amount of new business and revenue seems like a no-brainer. However, some details a lot of the companies don’t tell you are the details that should be a top priority for you: the ease of updating content and web pages, how the web page will look on all web browsers, and how the web page will look on phones. (Yes, phones.)

A lot of companies claim their easy-to-use tool is “the best ‘WISIWIG’ tool on the market.” This is kind of ironic and funny. Ironic because the ease of placement of text and images makes for a more complicated code that does not necessarily transfer seamlessly from browser to browser.

Assuming most people don’t understand everything I ramble about, allow me to explain what the term “WISIWIG”(wizzy-wig) or “WUSIWUG”(wuzzie-wug) means. “WISIWIG” is an acronym that stands for “What I See Is What I Get,” and for “WUSIWUG” just replace the “I”s with “You.” Now, let’s go through a rundown of what they are and how they work.

WISIWIG editors were created to help everyday people like you and me build websites without requiring someone to code every word, picture, or - heaven forbid - a video. Working with these editors like working on a website in a word processor, much like if you tried to build a web page in Microsoft Word. The WISIWIG editor works in layers, text boxes and tables. After you build your website using one of these editors and save (publish) your pages, the editor converts everything. This is good and a bad.

GOOD – The WISIWIG editor keeps the necessity for “coders” to a minimum.

BAD – The code that the WISIWIG editor writes may not show up the same on every web browser because some browser reading HTML and CSS code differently.

The code is usually not a terrible thing since most major web browsers (Internet Explorer, Firefox, Safari) can view the HTML code similar enough for your website to come across almost the same on most web browsers. However, if someone would try to view your website on their iPhone, Blackberry or any cell phone with internet, that person would have a difficult time viewing your website. And now more than ever, with the increase in people who search the web on their phones, this is a very important aspect of building a website. This could also happen if someone is still using an older version of a web browser. Examples of the more popular, older web browsers: Internet Explorer 5 (yes, some people are still in the 90s and refuse to upgrade) and Firefox 1.0 (most people upgrade Firefox but they’re still people who are scared of change … I guess.)

One way to make sure that your web page is viewable on all platforms and browsers is to get a basic knowledge of HTML and CSS coding or hire someone to read over and check your HTML code for you. (This could get pricey since most coders would rather you hire them to do the work rather than go through and fix badly written code.)
HTML and CSS can come easy if you can afford about half an hour every day to learn the proper code guidelines. (Yes, guidelines. There is an organization that monitors this stuff. http://w3.org/)

On a professional level, it’s actually a good practice to spend up to an hour every day to further your knowledge in anything in your field. So for the next few months, if you think you can understand it, make that something HTML and CSS coding. You can go all out and buy programs and take courses but the best thing to do is get a reference book and just play around with it.

I actually picked up what I consider to be the best book for this. It was the HTML, XHTML, and CSS all in one desk reference for Dummies book. After reading this book, I have been able to go through client websites and “update” their sites. You can buy this at almost any book store or Amazon.com if you are a big online shopper.

Now, go forth and learn more about HTML and CSS.

Also, always remember, coders are a necessary part of web development. They know the darkest
corners of the web and most of them have been doing this a long time. So, when looking to build your website, at least consult someone who is in that world before you create something you’re not happy with.