Thursday, January 31, 2008

Stop struggling with creating quality XHTML/CSS!


In the process of developing a web site, converting web-page design to XHTML markup can be quite a time-consuming and sometimes even challenging task. Nowadays, clients constantly require improvements in quality in every aspect of their projects. More and more customers not only demand aesthetic design, but also request page codes to comply with W3C standards.

To code a web page, many developers are still using table, Dreamweaver or other tools to carry out the page layout. However, using table has some shortcomings, for instance, the data format can mix with the content, which makes the size of the page grow bigger and bigger. If you are visiting a page, you are first required to download the format of this information. This results in a lot of bandwidth wastage. Redesigning a site takes a lot of labor. This also makes us maintain the visual consistency of the entire site with great difficulty. A better approach is to use DIV + CSS layout, as it greatly decreases the page codes, increases the speed of page viewing, and reduces bandwidth cost. The clear structure makes it easy to be captivated by search engines that naturally improve SEO. It also shortens the repair time as a few simple changes on the CSS document can cause the same effects to dozens of pages of a design on the site, not to speak of better control of page layout. Table has little flexibility in the layout; you can only follow the table TR, TD format. But you can use DIV + UL + LI, OL + LI as well as UL + LI. Also the fonts of the page become more diversified and easier to rearrange so that the page is really pleasing to look at. The design for your web browser can be released in other devices, such as PowerPoint. In the table layout, the codes will be a lot of garbage, and some modified codes and the layout of codes mixed together. The DIV+CSS pattern reflects the phase separation and remodels the structure. It can be used in almost all browsers and is easier for search engines to collect.

However, it is a bit difficult to use the DIV + CSS for page design. In order to grasp CSS well, you must understand the display differences between the browsers. As for the beginner, it is much tougher to master these skills than to use the tool for page design. Communication with customers and the designing of pages probably are the most important activities in all web projects, and tasks like page coding are very suitable for outsourcing. But for such work, coding habits and timeframe requirements are important considerations.

Recently when surfing the Internet, we found an internet company called Web Outsourcing Services Group, which provides clients with page coding services at a good price, for it is based in China. Many customers in the United States use their services, and the time-zone difference can be used to improve development efficiency. Just as the company's publicity says, by using their services, customers in the United States really can bring their designs to life overnight. That is, a team in the United States can outsource their work to Web Outsourcing Services Group in the evening, and the Web Outsourcing Services Group team will follow the designs to produce the pages, so the team in the United States can get these pages for the next phase of the project.



With the development of outsourcing services, some small and tough work can be outsourced to professional providers to complete in a faster, better and cheaper way. It is reasonable to take advantage of these services, and this is definitely helpful in enhancing competitiveness in the local market.

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