Website Tutorials

Content management systems (CMS): A CMS is great for people who update their website at least once a week. If someone is updating the website every week then they save a lot of money because it's cheaper for them to do it, rather than a website company to do it such as Day Dream Websites. The upfront cost of creating a site is more expensive if the site is to be built using a CMS, but the savings in the long run are worth it because the website owner becomes self reliant and does not need to spend money on professional support. This type of website owner will also get very familiar with the website editing software.

However, for people who will only be updating the site occasionally, they would be better off not using a CMS. This is because if a person does not use the CMS regularly then he/she tends forget how to use the CMS because it's been a while since they used it last. In which case they either have to spend a lot of their own time one re-learning it, or spend money by getting support from a professional. A couple of other disadvantages is that if your website is built by a CMS then you are tied to that particular CMS - so if you want your website to be managed by a different website company, then that company will need to be familiar with the CMS. Also, occasionally CMSs need to be upgraded which will cost you money. Plus there are also limiting factors in that you are unable to achieve everything you want simply because the CMS is not capable of doing it.

Hits: Each request for a file from your Web site is a hit. Each graphic on a page is requested separately, so a Web page with text and ten graphics registers as 11 hits. This is an old way of measuring a website and is no longer a very useful measurement.

Host server: The server that is holding your files. This is usually done by a company. When people look at your site they are actually looking at the files on this host server.

Node: A computer or device that processes information, within a network.

Open Source: Open source refers to a program such as a CMS that a number of people within a website community contribute to and build up. The final product is downloaded onto a hosting server and often no money exchanges hands for this software. The cost comes in customising the software to suit the needs of the website owner.

The way it works is that if a programmer needs a particular feature for a website, he/she would check the pool of features that the members of the community have already built. If the feature is not there then the programmer would build the feature themselves and then upload it into the pool for other people to use. Over time the pool gets bigger and the features increase. Eventually a whole website can be built using features this software.

Os commerce is an example of an open source shopping cart program. The program itself is free, but the cost comes when a company such as Day Dream Websites is asked to customise the program to suit the needs of the client. Extra cost is involved when extra features are needed such as a gift voucher system or an automatic postage calculator. Extra cost is also involved when the program needs to be updated.

Another example of an open source CMS is Mambo. This is a good program for a non e-commerce site. Website owners can easily login into the back end and edit pages themselves. Find out about the advantages and disadvantages of using a CMS such as mambo.

Page views/Impressions: When a visitor looks at a page on your site this counts as one page view. When they move to another page, that's another page view. This is a better measure because it doesn't matter how many graphics are on a page - it's still just one page view.

Router: what is it's purpose? A software package or special - purpose computer that handles the connection between 2 or more networks. The routers time is only used for looking at the destination addresses of the package passing through and selecting which route to send them on.

Search Engine: This is a program that can be used to search for words or images that are on the World Wide Web. An example is Google or Yahoo. Search engines send out spiders to fetch as many documents as possible. Another program called an indexer then ‘reads’ what’s on these pages and indexes it into a database. Each search engine uses a proprietary algorithm to create its indices such that, ideally, only relevant results are produced for each search query.

Screen Grab: It's like a photo or a polaroid of what you are seeing on your computer screen. The image of your screen is stored in your clipboard (like when you copy or 'ctrl c' a bunch of text). You can take a photo of your screen and then paste it into photoshop. From there you can add arrows and send it off to someone. To do a print screen you need to hold down the 'ctrl' key then press the key labeled 'prt scr' which is next to the F12 button. Then you open a new photoshop file and press 'ctrl v' or edit > paste.

SEO: Search Engine Optimisation involves modifying the site is specific ways to make it more likely that your website is listed within google’s search results ie when a potential customer types in a word(s) into google, what is produced is the search results. It is important for sales that you website is within these search results. More information can be found by clicking here.

The Internet: A lot of computer links together by networks. Began in 1858 with the Atlantic cable which was used to connect the communication systems of US with Europe. The Internet is a system of communication that was originally established for military purposes- Later it is was used for educational purposes and was worked on by computer scientists. Today Internet is mostly used for entertainment and by business' and corporation for advertising.

To make live: This means to make your site or pages publically viewable to the user. If the files are on your computer's hard-drive they are not live. If you transfer your file over to your host server, then the pages or files become live.

URL: Universal Resource Locator or in other words your web address eg www.allaboutscrapbooks.com.au

Unique Users: Every computer has a unique number called an IP Address. You can assume that for every IP Address, that is a unique computer meaning it's a unique person. This is the best method of measuring the amount of different people visiting your site. Unlike visits which tally the total visits regardless of where the computer may be located, this tallies the total amount of unique computers/people.

Visits: When a visitor comes to your site, they may look at various pages before leaving. This is considered one visit, regardless of the number of pages they view. This is a good method of measuring the number of people visiting your site. If that same person comes back an hour later that is another visit.

Web browser: the window/program that you use to view the internet eg Microsoft Internet Explorer (the most popular), Netscape, Firefox etc.