The Death of Web Page ...............???

Ever since the social network pages such as Facebook, Twitter and Linked'in came into picture, the demand of conventional web pages are slowing down.

Especially blogs, you'll see less and less new blogs or many blogs are switching over to Facebook pages.

Additionally, with the mobile apps getting more and more popular, web pages take another hit. Web users nowadays prefer Facebook and mobile apps over conventional web pages due to its simplified user interface, easy exposure to friends and very "touching" (AJAX and touchscreen friendly).

Still, I can see the following scenario that will prevent web pages from dying off:

1. Corporate image - no company can afford to live without a proper web page. For web user without any tablet or smartphone, conventional web pages are still a good source of information.



2. Versatility - you can put more info on your web page than other mobile platform and social networks. Such as Facebook, you cannot put much info on a Facebook page. You can also hardly put as many info on a mobile app either. For mobile apps, access to info usually goes through a series of touches before you can get to the content you need. The navigation is a bit more complicated.



3. Exposure - contents in social networks and mobile apps are harder to be found in search engines. If you want your electronic content exposed to public web users, you'll need conventional web pages. Contents in social networks and mobile apps are very limited to their users only.

I could be wrong. The wind may change its direction any time. But I'm confident that web pages still have many years of popularity to come. Imagine those web giants Google, Amazon, Ebay only available on mobile apps, the picture is ugly.

What I can see is expansion rather than contraction. Most organization requires not only a web page nowadays, they also require a presence on social networks and mobile applications. Web developers now need to equip themselves with various skills in order to survive. Due to the current web search capability and incentive to write blogs or online tutorials, keeping up with latest technology or programming skills cannot be easier. Anything you want to learn especially programming, just "Google" for it.

Instead, the current trend is good for web developers. That's only one thing that is holding back the conventional web presence, I discover more and more small businesses and companies are only requesting presence in Facebook and reject conventional web pages. Since Facebook pages can be set up easily, it is a good tool for small organization to save cost which is also something good for them.

In conclusion, the challenge in web development is being taken to a new height, actually closing in to a peak. A web developer is not only required to know the nature of IE5, IE6, IE7, IE8, IE9, IE10, latest Firefox, Chrome, Safari, Opera, Linux based web browsers and all the mobile versions of browsers, they also need to learn to develop apps, developing Facebook pages and applications. It is never this fun for web developers until recently. I think it is time for people like us to hunt for food to grow our hair faster!

Is it the end of web pages? A big NO. Is it a good source of income as a developer? Sadly, a big NO as well as one needs to spend a lot more hours for a fee that is closed to a simple web page 10 years ago. So think twice before you want to become a web developer. :(

P.S.: Don't forgot that mobile apps come in two flavours, iOS and Andoid which requires very different codes and platform. To make the matter worse, you still need to deal with the difference between the screen resolutions especially the difference between the tablet and phone version.

P.S.2.: With the popularity of Facebook, websites are obliged to make it feel "Facebook" which means a lots of "AJAX" toys without refreshing the page.

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What is the best resolution for Web?

This is the first thing to ask yourself during the design stage.

You create a new photoshop document and you are asked about the size in pixel.

800x600, 1024x768, 1280x1024, 1280x720, 1366x768, 1600x1200, 1920x1080, 1920x1200?

I always start with 1024x768 as my beginning resolution to design with.

Actually, my maximum width is just 1000 instead of 1024. The scroll bar on the right side of the browser takes up some space too. As more and more monitors are going toward 1920x1080, I may start the width with 1280x1024 in the future. It is not advisable to optimize your resolution with the max, 1920x1200, as monitors with lower resolutions will have trouble getting a good view of your web site.

After the design, I find ways to cut the design into two parts, left part and right part. The purpose is to make the web site to fit in any monitors that are higher than 1024x768.

This is a challenging job as cutting some area may not be as easy you think especially with designs with a lots of images.

Then I will make the website width 100% so that it will fit into most of the resolution in the market.

I don't like to fix the width as it only looks good with certain monitors of similar resolution with your design.

Making it 100% width is a very challenging task. It's hard to go over detail in this write-up. A lots of examples will need to be shown.

Hint: You need to use background="(image path)" to help you with this 100%-width task in some of the tables of your website.

I will elaborate more upon request.

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Web Trick #4: Should Load Fast

This could be the most technical part of all four parts. I like this part as I am from technical background.

I like use the word “webify” myself as this is the process of converting your photoshop design to HTML file(s).

The explanation of this section can be very extensive but for the sake of clariness, I go for the blog style, the simplified version.

Basically in order for a web site to load fast, the number of image file and their file size must be kept to the minimum.

For example, you have a big area of the design that is required to be converted image files. Choose the biggest chunk you can have to convert it to either JPEG or GIF format whichever gives you the smaller file size. That should improve the load time a lot. If you cut the image into small pieces, it will end up loading slower as every loading of image file requires a connection to the server which introduces extra time for establishing connection and disconnection for each image file. Our broadband also tends to download faster in burst mode (which data are loaded consequentially). Dissection of images to smaller pieces was once a popular practice when the time modem was used to make internet connection. The smaller pieces although will extend the overall loading time but it is good to show bits and pieces before the visitor gets frustrated for having nothing on browser after loading for sometime. The new broadband technology has changed the way web developers to “dissect” their design and “webify” into HTML format.

This is from 10-year experience. For those who read back dated Web books, get this updated method and your web site should load faster.

Other thing that can affect the loading speed is the location of the server. Please try to use server that is closed to the potential or targeted visitors.

The last but not least, please make sure your javascript doesn’t hang up the broswer. This is very common especially if your visitor is using IE of any version.

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Web Trick #3: Meaningful Content

Make your point straightforward.

It is better to make one main point than many points in a single page.

Visitors are human. They can only focus on one thing at a time.

Beside the look and feel of your website, your content is the key of the development. It gives meaning to the website or it just becomes rubbish.

There is one trick that works on almost every occasion. Choose a photo or picture that summarizes the whole story. For example, if you page is about selling a house, show the photo. Choose a big photo and place it closed to the center of the page with a short caption or slogan. Human likes quick and easy solution. If you can convey your full message in a split second, they will like you and probably bookmark you straight away.

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Web Trick #2: Easy to Navigate

This is a tricky part.


Most web developers know this is important. But when it comes to implementation, it is quite a task.


This also depends quite a lot on the design as well. Layout of the website is properly planned with similar links or buttons grouped at the same place. Visitors will have a much easier time to recognize the location to browse, look for information, inquire or quit and back out.


My advise is to put more effort on the design to make use of color to group links of similar nature with similar color. For example, links to other parts of web site should be grouped in a "control panel" fashion so that visitors know where to look for links to navigate around. The "control panel" has to be prominent enough to stand out in a crowd. Some even use floating "control panel" type separating it in a different layer to stay on the sight all the time.


The last but not least, use your imagination. Be fair with your own design. Treat your design as other's design and navigate your own site without mercy. Try to crash your own site and you will see the problems and know where to fix to make it user friendly.

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Web Trick #1: Good First Impression Feel

How do we go about starting to develop a website?

For me, I started with a Photoshop stage. I used to draw it on a piece of paper. But I now go straight to Photoshop.

Before drawing on the photoshop, I will ask customers for references if he or she has any website that is worth referring to.

Now I will make a few Photoshop samples and see if I like it or not. I will spend time looking at other websites and then look at mine. I take first impression very seriously. I only give myself 2-5 seconds to like my own design.

Sometimes I will leave it overnight and look at it first thing in the morning. The first impression is very important. If 'lame' is the only impression you get, discard the design and start a brand new one.

The Photoshop phase is the most important step.

Why photoshop? It's because photoshop support "Layer" feature. I need this feature very much when converting the design to web format.


The catch: the more you are familiar with Photoshop, the more professional your web site will look. I think Photoshop version 7 or above is adequate for this task.

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What is considered a good website?

Here is a personal point of view:

1) Good First Impression Feel
2) Easy to Navigate
3) Meaningful Content
4) Should Load Fast

These GEMS will be explained one by one in the following days!!!

Good day!

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