Web Site Blog

There are a number of options when thinking about having a blog into your web site, but the most fundamental of them all is 'how do you incorporate it into your web site'.

The first thoughts for many people when thinking about a blog would be to use an external service like Blogger. The advantage of this is it is very easy to set up, just register with Blogger and off you go.  However the main disadvantage is that the blog resides on the blogger web site and not on you own.  Although you can alter the DNS records, so that for instance blog.vectis-webdesign.com points to a blog set up on Blogger, it is still difficult to customise the appearance of the blog so it appears to be integral to the main web site.

The ideal would be to have the blog actually on your own web site, as this blog is.  So what then are your choices?

1. Ready made Blog systems

Wikipedia lists many software sytems for the creation of blogs.  Many of them are full blown CMS's as such are proably overkill for many sites and will have quite a steep learning curve for the site owner.  Though both b2evolution and dotclear look promising.

2. Our simple blog system

We can design a simple blog system fully integrated into your site, just like this.  Easy to operate and managed through the same administration interface as any other CMS related parts of your web site.

Site redesign

Recently I've been a bit too busy on my client work to think much about my own site. But having had a quick look at it a few days ago I realised it was looking a bit tired, especially as it was designed to be viewed at a screen resolution of 800 x 600 pixels, which these days is a very low resolution.

It really is a case of "do as I say rather than as I do", since I am always pointing out to clients and potential clients that although in theory once a web site has been designed it will last forever, in practice periodic reviews should take place to ensure that:

1. the content is up to date
2. it is not looking stale
3. it takes full advantage of changes in browser and web technologies. 
   

So far the redesign has not been extensive, but I've widened the width of the pages, and in the process moved away from a table based layout to one based on a more structured approach.  Further changes will follow.