PUB - Publishing Websites [OVERVIEW]

Publishing Websites

Introduction

After you have built a website, it is important that you are able to publish the site.  There are several steps included in website publishing. First, you must register a domain name, this is the web address for the website. Then, you must decide on a website host. This is the entity that will have the website on its servers available for the public to access.

In addition to publishing the site for access by the public, you must manage the user experience. User experience is very important, it is like customer service, it is the impact on the customer or site visitor. Strategies for the user experience include conducting user research, creating clean and intuitive navigation, ensuring the website is responsive, using visual hierarchy, using white space, choosing a color scheme, using high-quality images, and ensuring fast load times.

The web development process includes a set of steps for developing websites. This includes developing the idea, researching, designing, building the site, testing, quality assurance, launching the site, and maintenance of the site.

There are several issues that web developers deal with when developing and publishing websites. These include quality control, back-end building, scalability, performance, and legal issues.

In this module, you'll go more in-depth into these aspects of website publishing.

List of Lessons

  • Publishing the Site
  • Strategies for Managing User Experiences
  • The Web Development Process
  • Issues in Developing and Maintaining a Website

Essential Questions

  1. How do you publish a website?
  2. What strategies are used to manage user experiences?
  3. What is the web development process?
  4. What issues may you run into when developing and maintaining websites?

Key Terms

Back-end building | The programs and systems used to run the site in the background, where it can't be seen by the public.

Cloud hosting | Site is hosted on a network of servers that work together to provide the resources needed.

CMS | Content Management System – Software application that allows you to create, manage, and publish digital content.

Dedicated hosting | Site is on its own server.

Defamation | False statements that can harm the reputation of a person or company.

Domain Name | A web address that people use to access a website.

Free hosting | Hosting a website on a free platform.

FTP | File Transfer Protocol – Format used to transfer the files from your computer to the web host's computer.

Intellectual Property | Copyright, trademark, domain names that are owned by the creators.

Performance | The activities and systems that make sure the website can continue to perform at a high rate.

Quality Assurance | An alternative term for quality control.

Quality Control | The activities used to make sure the website(s) meet standards and are good quality for public use.

Scalability | The ability of a website to be able to handle increased demand without slowing down, crashing, or becoming inaccessible.

Self-hosting | Site is located on your own server.

Shared hosting | Website is hosted on a shared platform, the server is shared with other sites.

VPS | Virtual private server – Shared server with sites isolated from each other on the server.

Web host | Service that stores and maintains websites.

Website Builders | Online platforms that allow you to create and publish websites without coding knowledge.

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