• What you don't see

    A lot of the work we do in developing  a website is unseen. Intelligent programming, database design, creating display solutions, content solutions, adapting web apps and creating dynamic effects all help to make a website work better but may not be obvious to visitors.

    We always work hard make to make smart things happen with seemingly little effort.

     
 

Working behind the scenes

Programming - Many seemingly basic functions on a website require sometimes complex programming. Take a contact form for example. Here it is necessary to ensure:

  • That all the fields required are filled out
  • To ensure that valid data formats have been used
  • Check that the message is not trying to send a virus
  • Pre-fill correct fields when returning from a error report
  • Format the email to be sent from the form
  • Verify validity on the server to prevent spamming/hijacking
  • Deliver the email

All of these functions require a large amount of unseen programming as do many other 'ordinary' functions that interact with the site visitor.

Databases - While databases are often associated with trading or e-commerce sites, there are numerous other uses for structured and searchable data. Managing event lists, keeping options for dynamic pages, storing customer information, controlling website behaviour with different browsers etc. etc. Database design is important to ensure that searches do not become excessively long and result in timeouts. This is especially important for e-commerce sites with long product listings.

CSS design - on modern websites appearance and site layout are controlled using something called a Cascading Style Sheet or CSS, a file sitting behind the website that dictates how all of the site's separate elements will behave. The CSS needs to be carefully designed to ensure that all parts of the site fit together efficiently using the minimum amount of coding. Ideally, the website pages themselves will contain no formatting code, with everything being controlled by the CSS. The latest incarnation of CSS, version 3, along with HTML 5, allows once complex dynamic elements such as fades, shadows, object size changes and object movements to be created more easily and efficiently. Intelligent use of CSS should mean that websites can be used on a PC, Mac, iOS phone/tablet or Android phone/tablet without any additional programming. Note this is not the same as developing Apps or mobile-specific websites.

 

Problem solving

Almost every website presents a new set of issues or problems that need to be addressed. Whether it be a database structure to be designed or processing user input information we pride ourselves on our ability to create elegant and efficient solutions that produce robust outcomes and do not drag on site performance.

Occasionally we will have to do more unseen work than that which is visible to the visitor so sometimes what appears on the surface to be a very simple website can actually be a fairly complex, lengthy and expensive project.