Nowadays, web designing is limited up to good looks and user friendly features. The most crucial aspect of web designing is its SEO friendly nature. It is important if it is core of your business. Hence, usually in SEO companies; web designers and search engine optimizers sit together. There are several expectations of SEO from a prominent web designer. Few are mentioned below:-
• To treat search engine optimization as an afterthought is perhaps the biggest one mistake by web designers and site owners too.
• All web designers must have strong command over CSS (cascading style sheets).
• Font tags, color tags, size tags, etc provide search engine an ease over determining ranks of web pages.
• Simultaneously, search engine experts can search & provide keywords and key phrases to designers to be used in the navigation schemes, headings, categories, cross-links, etc.
• Mostly websites use high priority phrases on the homepage and hence internal pages lack far behind. So, web designers can link internal pages with anchor text on home page. It will certainly make the navigation smoother and more users friendly.
• Splash page has immense significance from both aspects; web designing and optimization as well. Now, let’s have special briefing about splash page.
? Normally, it is a flash animation with a link to redirect to the main home page.
? Splash pages are primarily focused upon giant shaped advertisements.
? The biggest setback with splash page is lacking of visible body text and link for single page.
? So use splash page if usability tests, focus groups & web analytics data are showing its demand. But, be prepared regarding its negative impact as well.
Thus, hunting for designers is not an easy task. You must have bit idea about basics of web designing and search engine optimization. Such awareness will help you in analyzing the portfolio of web designing service providers. Now, here are few tips which are common in modern day web designing.
• Search engines pay high respect to headlines so as a SEO/web designer; we must take advantage from this virtue and incorporate major keywords in headlines.
• Every page of website has title & description tags. These include good keywords to describe the whole page content. Ideally, total number of words in title should not be more than nine and in description more than twenty.
• As per latest trend, menu must be created on the left hand side of a website.
• Think precisely upon the relevance of graphics and try to use an ALT tag containing keywords/key phrases.
• Try to avoid flash due to its search engine unfriendly nature, though it enhances beauty of webpage.
• Frequent use of image for link building also can not be called a smart web designing tactic because spiders are more prone towards text links.
• Frames are another search engine unfriendly design so beware of them.
• Too much complex tables are also not good from search engine optimization point of view.
• CSS and java script files help in minimizing the page size and simultaneously, it makes download easier and faster for web surfers. It helps in quick indexing of web pages and enhances its ranking as well.
• Always prefer standard HTML for web designing because software like Dreamweaver or WYSIWYG editor adds unnecessary scripting codes. Sometimes, search engines are unable to read them.
We can never neglect the fact that rank of website is directly proportional to the amount of traffic it invites. Vibrant look and rich contents work like catalyst for drawing huge traffic inflow. So, certainly; SEO and web designer are complementing each other. In this context, we can prominently talk about its future prospect especially as a bright career.
In coming days, there may be numerous forms of web designing. We can experience today vibrant look of flash designing and web sites in 3-D formats as well. On the other hand, news are flashing that Google has set up a team of sharp minds to enable text reading of image and video for search engine. These are symbolically speaking a lot about a new dynamic era
InixMedia
http://www.articlesbase.com/web-design-articles/what-is-seo-friendly-web-designing-676217.html
What methods are used in designing an eco friendly house?
I am doing a design project that requires to be an eco friendly home, i know what eco friendly means, and what it is, just not familiar with what and how to design an eco friendly house.
I do this for a job, and here’s the methodology.
First take into account the site. Every site is different, even if they’re the same size and next to each other. Every site will have it’s own strengths and weaknesses based on solar access, wind availability and prevailing direction, soil type, size and shape, views, transport access, surrounding structures and trees, etc.
Then design the home around those strengths and weaknesses. Just as each site is different so will each house. That design is also influenced by passive solar heating and passive airflow cooling principles.
That’s the main core of designing an eco friendly house, and so far there’s NO extra cost over a regular house. If you get these first two steps right, the rest is relatively easy.
Next decide what to build the house out of, and what to use as far as appliances, renewable energy, etc. The budget comes into play here, because the best materials and fittings usually are more expensive. But having said that any extra money spent now will pay for itself many times over during the lifespan of the house. So it’s worth doing as much as you can possibly afford.
Also take into account toxicities of materials. An Eco house should also be a healthy house, and many materials commonly used in building contain cancerigenes such as formaldehyde.
Then think outdoors, and design the landscaping around the house to be as productive and complimentary as possible. One of the best ways to eat is straight from your own garden, and with food miles to be taken into account this is even more so now.
And finally, the last but certainly not least step is to inform the occupiers how to live in the house efficiently. Behaviour can make or break even any environment, and an eco friendly house is no exception.
Hope that one minute nutshell helps, and I have a link to a self-reliant house I’m currently building if you’d like more info. Feel free to take any ideas from it.
References :
http://www.energised.com.au/projects_aquarius8.asp
Most homes need an adequate amount of insulation to keep air from leaking out. All the energy that escapes a home must be replaced. The less energy that escapes, the more ecofriendly the home.
———-
BY THE WAY, the government will pay to weatherize your home. It will save you $500 a year in energy costs.
http://apps1.eere.energy.gov/weatherization/
References :
Natural materials such as wood and stone.
Renewable energy such as a windmill or solar panels.
Insulation and other forms of energy efficiency.
Compost toilet.
Re-use materials in the construction.
Permaculture garden.
Energy saving light-bulbs.
Large south-facing windows to get the sun.
Double-glazing.
Wood-burning stove.
Back-boiler on the fireplace.
Reed-bed water filtration system.
Low impact housing (grass roof etc. to make it blend in with the natural surroundings).
Avoiding the use of chemicals in the construction.
Hemp-lined straw-bale houses are very good.
Water filter plumbed in under the sink.
References :
Some useful sustainable design elements might include:
- Passivhaus design standards (look this one up on Google)
- Rainwater harvesting/permeable surfaces
- solar panels
- daylighting strategies (sun tubes and north-facing windows)
- site greening (ie. vegetation)
- micro wind turbines
- some capacity for on-site food production
- eco-friendly products, ie. high efficiency boilers, low-energy light bulbs, etc.
References :
I designed a carbon-neutral supermarket for an urban designer.
1) List all the ways we use energy in the home
heating
cooling
lighting
appliances
2) start with energy conservation, by looking at all the routes and ways heat is lost and design features that prevents the thermal losses, using building materials that are thermally "inert" and require the minimum possible maintenance.
3) look at ways of *accumulating* and *storing* heat and circulating it around the building, for domestic heating, as well as ways of *dissipating* it, in summer – for example, look at ground, water and air heat pumps (no, I am not giving you links, do your own research and you’ll retain more of what you learn, pet! ;o)
4) look at alternative energy sources – "microgeneration" like solar thermal, solar photovoltaic and small scale wind turbines
5) look at ways to minimise the need for electricity usage – for example, by using gravity to circulate water, instead of electric pumps
Finally, look at
A) the amount of "embodied energy" in the materials you use (the amount of energy they took to make and transport) as well as the carbon they may have locked-up (like trees, which used carbon to grow and turned it into wood).
B) how sustainable they are (do they use a lot of oil in their manufacture? can they be grown again? are they in scarce supply? does their manufacture affect wildlife and habitats or the livelihood of indigenous people?)
References :
BSc Environmental Quality & Resource Management