By Ng Yi Xuan
An online webinar cum workshop to explore the nuances of being a web designer was organised under the title Website Interface Development. Held on 7 May, the workshop also aimed to enable the students to master the basics of web interface design.
Lim Liong Keat, a Digital Multimedia Design specialist, was invited as the speaker. He began his session with a quick briefing on the usage of several online platforms such as the Google Meet, and he applauded the inquisitiveness exhibited by the 63 participants for better learning experience.
After the briefing, he explained the significance of web development in the current era. Lim mentioned that it is not a surprise that there are 4.66 billion active internet users, including kids and senior citizens. He said that even three-year old kids nowadays know how to fulfil their own needs, and some even possess their own iPad.
According to Lim, websites are amongst the prime factors in judging the credibility of a business. Thus, developing an attractive website is a must, Lim emphasized. “To create a website, individuals must understand the purpose of users landing on your website. The next key is do not let users contemplate. Be simple and minimize the questions,” Lim gave a professional tip regarding website design.
“There is a 97% employment rate for students who know coding. There are a lot of trending coding software and builders that still use HTML and CSS codes including Adobe Dreamweaver, WiX, Squarespace, GoDaddy and WordPress,” Lim elaborated.
“Content is King. Unique and great content brings great traffic. Moreover, the arrangement or coordination in the website is the most vital element that is always ignored by web developers. It takes three seconds for the visitors to decide whether they want to stay or leave. An appropriate design decision gives the visitors and users a good impression,” Lim added.
Lim mentioned the instances of seeing the ‘error 404, page not found’ as an annoying experience. So, Lim reminded the participants that it is essential to have easy access navigation and be intuitive and consistent on every page.
“Do not settle for one size, build it for smartphones, tablets and other potential gadgets too. On the other hand, aim for efficient file optimisation. No one would enjoy waiting and seeing the loading circle,” Lim expressed the knacks of an efficient website.
“For developers and designers, having these wonderful features is always a work in progress as we must remember to never stop improving the websites. It needs to have constant tasks, trials and errors, and debugging runs. With this, the website would look well-maintained with regular updates,” Lim mentioned.
He shared the concept of Hypertext Markup Language (HTML) and Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) as well. HTML is the first core of a website which handles the content and structures, while CSS is the second core of a website dealing with the designing tasks.
Lim also briefly suggested some of the free online software like Sublime Text 3 which can be downloaded quite easily through Google. During the workshop, he encouraged the participants to try to modify the templates to fit into their own websites.
“If you are scared of accidentally messing up the codes, just duplicate the whole folder first and experiment with it,” he suggested.
Lastly, he mentioned that many companies are actively seeking for web developers to help either in creating a new website or to maintain the existing website. He also added that Artificial Intelligence (AI), Mixed Reality (MR) and Internet of Things (IoT) are a few examples of the career path and the future in the field of web development.
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