Sharp IT Solutions

Here is a bit of information on terminology used while designing website

Content – is your website data – information that you want to present to users (text, images, posts, pages)
Layout – is the way how your website presents content to users. Layout can be broken into manageable parts: header, footer, menu, side bar and of course main content.

Main content – usually page or post and located in the middle of the screen, with header on the top, footer on the bottom, and side bar on the side, either right or left.
Header – usually located at the top of the page and may have there: logo, menu, phone, address, links to social networks.
Footer – located at the bottom of the page and may have there: menu #2, phone, address, links to social networks, maps and other widgets.
Menu – links to the website pages. Menu item can have dropdown submenu.
Side bar – panel with widgets. Side bar may be located on the right and left side of main content. Usually side bar is shown on posts and not on the home page.

Widget – independent piece with its own functionality. e.g. Search bar, list of posts, map.
Page – a medium to large article – need to be add to menu or as a separate link on footer/side bar. Examples: home page, contact us page. Service page for example can have a list of “services”, where “service” is a separate post in category “service” .
Post – a short article that belongs to category or categories. As soon as you(site owned/administrator) add new post, it will AUTOMATICALLY show up on the page that LISTS all posts in that category. No coding required. You will decide when and what to show to users and you do not have to pay to developers for “maintenance”.
Category – is logical break down of posts into groups. Category might have subcategory. e.g. Main categories: sport, news. Subcategories: soccer, hockey and politics, finance.

Home page – main page users see when they open your website. Usually it is a separate page or list of posts. That separate page can be also broken into sections: introduction, services, clients, testimonials, call of action.

Website Template or Theme– It takes a lot of time to put all the parts of the website together in “nice way”. Problem is that “nice way” may be interpreted in hundred of different ways based on someone preferences. To minimize time and costs, some companies has created different layouts with different color considerations. The Word Press technology allows to apply themes on the top of your content with minimal effort. Nowadays, the biggest problem is simply “to choose” theme you like.

Slider – set of images to give dynamics to the page and show user additional information without extra clicking from user.

home page sample

side bar sample

This is sample of home page layout with header, slider, service section, call of action section and footer.

home page layout – sample 1

This is a sample of contact us page that have side bar on right hand side.

layout sample 2

Mostly free templates. Good to begin with and perfect enough for simple website.

• WordPress official site

Commercial templates. For  $20-$100 you will get so much better templates with different configuration options: colors, widgets, sections

• Theme Forest
• Template Monster

Most of the templates support mobile devices. Meaning layout will reformat itself in such way that website page will be suitable for cellphone and tablets – bigger font and button, dropdown menu, etc.

Website design can be broken into several stages

1. Initial set up:
   1. WordPress installation 1h (once)
   2. Plugins( security, performance, design) 2 hours (once)
   3. Theme (header, menu, footer, sidebar) 2 hours per theme
2. Create content structure
   1. Based on discussion with the client we will create skeleton structure (categories and subcategories) 1-2 hours
   2. Add/Edit content – create a minimal set of posts in categories simply to allow site to function 0.25h per each post. Owner will add new post him/her self later on.
3. Create/customize HOME page
   1. Home page is most complicated page.
   2. Fee depends on complexity. Usually 1h per section.
4. Create/customize OTHER pages
   1. Other pages might be contact us page (2hours), list of services, testimonials – 1h per page
5. Training  – free/included into total fee
   1. We will provide a crash course on how to add new posts and images
   2. If you enter something incorrectly and we will assist you on how to correct it.
   3. There is also 3 month warranty period on work done.