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[W207]Web Programming And Design

by Sergio Roth, Ser

Let’s start with an example so you see where we’re going to with this article. Consider a listings type site; in this case, let’s think of a real estate website which lists properties. Each property has a picture. You have a page where you list all properties in a given neighborhood, about 20 properties per page. For each property, you display a smaller version of its picture (this is called a thumbnail), and a brief description of the property, so site visitors can click on the property they like to learn more about it. The problem is: this page takes really long to display in the browser.

There is a high probability that this problem is related to the images. You need to analyze how your site generates the thumbnails. In many scripts, the thumbnails are just the original pictures, but displayed in smaller width and height. If this is the case, then each picture takes too long to load. You should change this approach and generate real thumbnails of each picture. You also need to change your script to work with the images thumbnails, and not just the original big images.

There are different ways to generate the thumbnails:

1)Using a graphics program. You load the original image, and resize it to the thumbnail size. Then you save it with a different file name. For this approach to work, your script must let you upload the big image for each property, and also the thumbnail.

2)Your script can generate the thumbnails automatically when pictures are loaded, and save them on the server. You only need to upload the big picture. If your script is written in Php, for example, this can be accomplished by using Php image functions, which make use of the gd graphics library. These functions let you generate thumbnails in different image formats like gif, jpg and png.

3)Your script can generate the thumbnails on the fly and serve them directly to the browser. This will save storage space in the server, but requires a lot of server processing time. It is not recommended if you have many images, or if your site has many daily visits.

The important aspect to remember here is that you should not resize original images to show them as thumbnails, especially if you’re showing several of these images on the same page. It will not only slow the page load in the browser, but it will also use a lot of extra bandwidth you can save.

Creating a website is now an essential activity for any successful business or online venture. A company without a website is quite literally frowned upon as being underdeveloped, or being behind the times. Irrespective of the purpose of the website, there are often times when a company requires a website created in a short period of time. The reasons for wanting to make a website quickly could be, not wanting to delay a launch of a product, or it could be simply to get ahead of a competitor. To keep up with the demand of clients that require fast development of web sites, web development companies have different ways of developing websites quickly; without compromising on the quality of the sites.

Template based sites are the first thing that companies can offer to create websites rapidly, design companies usually have numerous predefined templates created that they can offer to the client, a template is nothing but a combination of colours schemes, and designs. So the client can choose from hundreds, sometimes thousands of predefined templates. Once the clients have chosen the template they want, they can then just give the design company textual matter, and the site is ready in no time. The only downside of template sites is that they do not offer a great degree of flexibility, and are usually fit for people who do not want web programming, as web programming requires a different type of template based site.

To cater to fast web development for dynamic pages, or pages that require web programming, there are specialized software called CMS (content management system) available. Content management systems are way ahead of a template based site, in that they allow far more flexibility and they are designed to cater to dynamic pages, hence a majority of rapidly developed e-commerce sites are developed through content management systems. One of the most popular content management systems is Joomla. The advantage of sites using Joomla or other content management systems is that once the site is ready, more often than not the customer can also directly manage the site, and carry out small changes in content without any additional input from the web developers. The downside of content management systems is that they are usually PHP based, and do not cater to propriety web development technologies like .NET.

Not all clients can be serviced using templates and content management systems, more often than not customers require fast development, but at the same time have specific technology requirements. As mentioned earlier content management systems are based on free to use technologies like PHP; however some companies usually prefer using more advanced and faster web technologies like .NET to get their websites developed, in such cases fast web development requires setting up a team, that will create the website from scratch, and will do so on a deadline. There are very few companies on the internet, that are actually capable of offering web development from the ground up in a short period of time.

Before considering rapid development of web site, a company must first assess its requirements, and should also be aware of the various methods that are employed in fast web development. This ensures that both the company and the web developers are dealing with realistic deadlines.

Article Source : Department Of Tourism Development

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Both Sergio Roth & Metakinetic Ltd Ltd are contributors for EditorialToday. The above articles have been edited for relevancy and timeliness. All write-ups, reviews, tips and guides published by EditorialToday.com and its partners or affiliates are for informational purposes only. They should not be used for any legal or any other type of advice. We do not endorse any author, contributor, writer or article posted by our team.

Sergio Roth has sinced written about articles on various topics from About Web Hosting, Software and Web Development. Sergio Roth is an experienced freelance web programmer. You can contact him for hosting and website development services at .. Sergio Roth's top article generates over 8100 views. to your Favourites.

Metakinetic Ltd Ltd has sinced written about articles on various topics from Web Development. Metakinetic Ltd is the author of this article on . Find more information about