In the digital age the difference between "old" and "new" is often blurred. Facebook, which has only been around since 2004, receives more visits than ABC, NBC and CBS combined, all organizations that have been around for more than 50 years. New can trump old very, very rapidly on-line. The same is true of how we build websites.

Web 1.0 (The "Old Way")

There was a time, not very long ago, and to some extent is still on-going, when websites were created using specialized tools such as Microsoft Frontpage, Adobe Flash, or built by hand using plain text editors. Building these websites involved creating individual "pages" for each website such as:
- Home
- About Us
- Services
- Contact Us
- Portfolio

This simple 5 page structure consisted of at least 5 individual documents, much like Microsoft Word Documents but written in a markup-language called HTML (Hyper-Text Markup Language).
Following our 5 page example these documents may be entitled:
- Home = index.html
- About Us = aboutus.html
- Services = services.html
- Contact Us = contact.html
- Portfolio = portfolio.html

If you wanted to make a change to your home page you would generally need to contact your website designer to make the change as only He or She had the specialized knowledge of HTML to make the change and access to the website files. Further, one of the most limiting aspects of this type of model is that if you want to make a change to ALL of the pages you would need to update them all individually. For example, if you had your phone number listed on each page and your phone number changed, you'd need to open each page individually, find that text, make the modification, save the document and upload it to your webs server, or pay a web designer $125+ per hour to do this for you.

There are many things about this model that causes roadblocks for a business:

1. Updating content is costly and as such it discourages businesses from updating their websites. The truth of search engine optimization today, however, is that "Content is King" meaning that the more timely and relevant your content is, and the more quantity of relevant content you have, the more likely your website is to be found and viewed by your target audience.
2. Updating content is slow and error prone. Not only do you, the business owner, need to write the content for your site but you then need to send it, in some form, to your website designer who will add it to their queue of work and eventually get around to posting the information. This can take hours, days or even weeks depending upon the web developer's schedule.
3. The text (information) in this model is directly integrated with the graphics / layout of the website. Making changes to the overall look and feel of the website means changing every file and re-formatting how and where text is displayed. A website over-haul can cost as much, if not more, than the initial design of the website.
   

At MDI we follow a different model known as Web 2.0

Web 2.0 (The "New Way")

In Web 2.0 the content (text) and structure of the website is separated. The content, and information controlling its placement, is controlled by a database which is separate from the actual "web page" Using a web programming language such as PHP, ASP or ColdFusion, a single page can be used to request multiple "snippets" of information from the database by queries to the database. Following our 5 page example:
- Home = index.php
- Aboutus = index.php?aboutus
- Services = index.php?services
- Contact Us = index.php?contact
- Portfolio = index.php?portfolio

In each of these cases 1 file, index.php, is controlling the overall look and feel of the website, its colors, graphics and text locations. The "?" is being used to send a query to the database to request that an individual portion, or grouping of text be displayed. The overall website layout is "template-able" meaning that changing 1 series of files will change the overall look and feel of the website without effecting content. This programmed approach does much more than just separating the content however, it also makes it more manageable. Using the same programming language the developer can create a "Admin Interface" where anyone, with virtually no knowledge of HTML, can add, update or delete content from the website through a WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get) interface.

Using a Web 2.0 framework and a CMS or Content Management System anyone can create content which brings control of the website content to the business owner, where it belongs. The easier it is to update content, the more often a business will do it, and this translates into a more up-to-date website that will attract more visitors to your business.

Under our model:

• Business owners can update their own site anytime they like adding pictures, text and video in an easy-to-use interface
• There is no cost "per-page" or "per content item" your website is only limited by your service plan (disk space) and (bandwidth) which means virtually unlimited pages can be added to your website.
• Content (Text) is separate from the website design making future changes in design easier and more cost effective.
• More time can be spent focused on WHAT you want to say and less about HOW you're going to get it published.

To find out more about content management (Web 2.0) solutions, or to request a free consultation, contact us.

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http://www.mdihosting.com