There is more than meets the eye when it comes to your website. CRT gets asked quite often by REALTORS ‘How do I develop my website on my own?’ It has taken me a little time discussing this concept with all ranges of REALTORS to finally understand there are some definitions that need to be laid out first before that conversation doesn’t just end up spinning some wheels and going nowhere.
First, think of a website as a car. There is the body that makes it look sleek, there is the interior that gives you the experience of the ride, the engine that runs the car, and finally the gas that powers the engine. Without the engine or the gas, the car is just something that looks good. Without the sleek body, the engine can still get it places, but it may not be something other people want to be seen driving.
Now lets apply this concept to a website: the layout, graphics, text, etc are the body of the website - it’s what people see. How the website interacts with the user (the user interface) is the interior of the website - that which gives you the experience. The foundation/software/programming language is the engine of the website - it’s what runs the show. Finally, the data is the gas for the engine. Without data, your website will just be a fluff site.
The next set of definitions are more preferential, but they help in making sure we’re all talking on the same page.
