Static and Dynamic
Websites can be built in either a static way where all the pages are created manually and linked up internally in a manual way or by using a Content Management System where pages are added by using an administration interface and pages appear automatically. Each method for building the website has advantages and disadvantages.

Static Website

Pros

• The website technology is simple and the web designer will know how to add pages later
• The initial design can be done in Photoshop with placeholder text. The design is creative and can be changed easily before being made browsable
• Uploading pages and images is easy since the designer has done it many times
• The website will be a unique creation
• No database is required for a basic website, allowing for less technical knowledge and perhaps cheaper hosting costs

Cons

• The website will have to be maintained by the web designer as the technology is generally too advanced for the client to use
• It will take longer to create the website if there are a lot of pages
• The designer will have to make sure that the website is Search Engine Friendly by designing it like that from the beginning
• It will cost more if additional functionality has to be manually programmed

Content Management System

Pros

• There are a lot of free templates out there for most CMSs
• It is very easy to add new pages when the site is already complete and the administrative area is understood
• Free plugins can add a lot of powerful functionality while only paying for the implementation time by the designer
• The original developers of the CMS are always updating the package, making it more secure and efficient
• The CMS is already Search Engine Friendly

Cons

• Using a widely used template might make your website look like a spam site by Google and thus ranked low
• Changing a template can be tricky and time-consuming
• Creating a good template from scratch is time-consuming
• There is a steep learning curve for the designer if he hasn’t used the particular CMS before, adding onto the cost and time required
• Possible increased hosting costs, since most CMSs require a database on the domain as well
• A learning curve when it comes to using the administrative area of the CMS
• The CMS file structure is widely known, allowing hackers to know the inner workings of your website
• The original programmers might stop supporting the CMS and no updates will follow
• Upgrading the CMS to the latest version can be a nightmare
• If something in the CMS stops working it can be difficult to browse through the code to find the problem, adding to maintenance costs

How to choose the solution for your website

You would choose a static website development if :

• That is the only way your designer knows how to make a website
• If your branding is pretty complex and you want a unique looking website
• Your website is small (about 5 pages) and you don’t intend updating it a lot
• Your web hosting package does not include a database
• You don’t have time to update the website yourself anyway and will pay the designer to update it now and then

You would choose a CMS solution if :

• You don’t mind spending more in the beginning to be able to add a lot of content later in-house
• You need a website quick and do not mind too much that the design is vaguely based on a template
• You need the powerful plugin functionality that comes with the CMS
• You need a new look and you want all the functionality
• You have the requirement and time to update the website in-house

CMS Examples
Here are a couple of examples of free CMS software that can be downloaded and used to create your website :

• Wordpress (Cognite.co.za was built using this)
• Mambo / Joomla
• Drupal
• OpenACS

Conclusion
Both static and CMS websites can work for you. Listen to what your web designer can do since you will likely be working with him for a while to come. Contact Us if you need any help with choosing the right solution.

What does a web package generally look like?
Below is a typical list of the summarized features of a package :

• 1 GB disk space
• 2 GB monthly traffic
• 3 FTP accounts
• 100 email boxes
• PHP 5 or ASP.NET

We will now take a brief look at these features.

Disk Space
The disk space mentioned is the physical hard drive space allocated to your website. This space will need to contain your website files and any emails that have not yet been downloaded from your email boxes. Websites are generally between 2 mb and 50 mb with all the web pages, images and downloadable documents included. Email boxes are generally checked every day so the email is downloaded and cleared from the server daily.

Monthly Traffic
This is generally the most important thing to look out for (Apart from the operating system). Your monthly traffic cap includes all files uploaded and downloaded by your web designer through standard maintenance. It also includes all the pages and images browsed by your website visitors as well as the sizes of all emails and attachments sent and received. In a small company of about 5-10 employees with a standard website, the traffic will be around 400 – 600 mb (1000 megabytes = 1 gigabyte) in a month.

FTP Accounts
FTP (File Transfer Protocol) accounts are different user accounts that make it possible for someone to log onto the PC that is hosting your website’s files and upload or download files. The program used for FTP’ing is just called a FTP Application. You can get a free FTP program called Filezilla here. One FTP account is generally enough to maintain a website. If you want a client or someone to upload files to a folder on your website then you can create a FTP for them with their own login details. You can then also specify the folder that they have access to so that they will not be able to access any other part of your website.

Email Boxes
An email box is another name for an email account. An email account is an email address that is connected to your domain such as johndoe@mydomain.com. You can also get email aliases that are not real accounts in themselves, but allow you to create an account such as info@mydomain.co.za and then let the email forward to johndoe@mydomain.co.za. Do not create too many email accounts for your domain. Rather focus on having all general email from your website being sent to info@mydomain.co.za. This will simplify the communication with your clients.

Another tip is to disable the catch-all account. The catch-all account is an email address that will receive all email that have been sent to a non-existing email account on your domain e.g. imfo@mydomain.co.za. The idea behind the catch-all is to still receive the email even if the person sending it mistyped the receivers name. The problem with the catch-all is that spammers do not know the email addresses that exist and will send spam to non-existing accounts e.g. business@mydomain.co.za, marketingmanager@mydomain.co.za and it will end up in your inbox. Place the onus on the client to type out the email address properly.

Depending on the size of your company and the list of departments you should only create one email account per person then general accounts such as info@, sales@, marketing@, management@, accounts@ etc. One for each main business function. If you are a small company between 1 to 10 people then only use info@ in addition to the employee email accounts.

PHP or ASP
First off, websites are generally hosted on either a PC running the MSWindows or Linux operating system. Depending in which programming language your website was created in, you will need to choose one. Programming languages such as ASP, ASP.NET etc will require MSWindows. Programming languages such as PHP requires Linux or a MSWindows operating system that can run PHP code. Web sites that are created in plain HTML (.htm and .html file extensions) can run on any operating system since there is no programming language involved, just basic HTML scripting. If in doubt then you can ask the hosting company which package will suit your website.

Conclusion
With a basic understanding of these web hosting features you will be able to choose the package that will satisfy your needs without costing you a bundle.

You can contact us if you have any queries on the hosting package that will suit your needs.