Ok, people – I needs your input!
I spent a great deal of time tonight doodling and sketching and trying to decide which direction I’d like to see my website turn, but unfortunately I’ve been out of it for so long that now I have some questions about how things are supposed to work. I know that these were issues way back in the day, but with the advancements in technology and magic and whatnot, do I still have as much to consider???
- Moveable Type — As much as I don’t want to, I think it’s time to abandon Fusion PHP and move up to a more powerful blogging system for my site updates…is MT still the best option, or has something better come along?
- Database Content vs. Search Engines — Is this still an issue? I know that back when we converted Just Laugh over to PHP, one of the major factors that we had to consider was how to maximize the amount of content on our site that would actually get indexed by Google and friends, thus most of our format remained in a text form under PHP. Although I would guess that a database-driven system would ultimately make my super-cool, new site easier to update and whatnot, would I be digging myself into a proverbial hole with regards to search engine placement?
- Screen Resolutions — I still use 800×600 at home, but I couldn’t find any currentstudies to show what the rest of the world is doing! Am I still cool to code under these guidelines, or is it time for me to bite the bullet, buy a pair of glasses, and kick it up a notch? (…keeping in mind that most of my content is text…)
- Are People Still Impressed by Flash?— Just wondering, because I’ve got a cool idea for an animated logo and menu system that I’d rather not subject to the constraints of javascript if I can avoid it.
- Is there anything else that I should be taking into consideration???— Seriously…it’s almost two o’clock in the morning…I may very well have missed something!I welcome any and all feedback that anyone would like to provide – send me your thoughts and help me build a better place on the web for, well, me! 🙂
If you want compatibility, stick to 800×600. It’s still at least 50% of the market, so that’s important. On the other hand, you might want to build a flexible layout that can expand to any resolution… try using % instead of fixed widths for your tables/divs. 🙂
As for Flash… I HATE Flash for sites, but it can be cool for logos and widgets and such– so go for it! 😀
As for other things to consider… try XHTML/CSS. I’m in a rush right now so can’t link, but you should look into separating style from content by using XHTML and CSS. You can make skins and such, and make your site very accessible. IM me (AIM: “Cowkitty XD”) if you see me on later and I’ll send links and examples. 😀