Dynamic Web Pages

The problem:

You realize you need a web site.

One Solution:

You locate a "Web Site Design" firm and call their marketing person. They bring in their graphics people, and perhaps a "usability" expert. You meet, set goals, establish a new "company image", and pick a color scheme and some favorite pictures.

Weeks go by, you hear that the graphics guy (who only works nights) is almost done. More meetings are planned to review The Site.

What you're left with after weeks of effort is:

A Better Solution:

You hire same the "Web Site Design" firm, but this time you insist that they include a database specialist on the design team. In face of the emerging emphasis on separating content from presentation, a successful web site should incorporate the effort of the "presentation" people (graphics designers) and the "content managers" (database specialists).

Sadly, many web site firms can't offer database services -- just ask yours what a "foreign key" is, or what "3rd normal form" means. The answer is less important than the duration the stunned silence that preceeds it.

If your web site team does not include database specialists, contact us for a confidential, no-obligation evaluation.

What does it mean?

Database-driven web sites leverage the data you are already using to run your business to generate web pages on demand. Instead of preparing dozens of separate "HTML" pages to represent your product catalog, a few "active" pages are written which talk to the database. The database provides content which the web page combines with presentation guidelines.

Database-driven web sites also track and respond to the visitor's actions and experience. Search tools which remember what the visitor requested; systems which provide an option to the visitor to be "remembered" each time an order is placed.

A web site which is dynamic and responsive improves the user experience, adds valuable information to your understanding of your customers, and makes the Internet a valuable extension of your firm's market presence.

Several languages are available for building dynamic web pages, including:

Just as there is no "best" flavor of ice cream, there is no single "best" web language. Your web design team should understand how to use several languages and know how to select among them, based upon your specific requirements.

The Lesson?

If you find yourself relying upon a Microsoft FrontPage "guru" to create your web site, remember that your Internet presence should be more than the page layout. Web sites are not cheap, so you deserve a web site that can change as your requirements change, and can respond to changes in your product mix. It should be shaped by the "content" which you supply and maintain.

Call us -- we can show you the path to a successful dynamic web site!