Website Design Basics : Website Design Components
Essentially, each website has the combination of one or more of the following components: images, text , video or other content.
Images
Images and the way they are organized are crucial for all websites. The main types of images that are used on websites are photos , vector illustrations, and icons. Vectors, also know as vector illustrations, are basically computer generated images. It is possible to use your own images and images that are in the public domain on your website. Majority of websites use JPEG images because this compressed format doesn't take up too much space, loads faster, and the quality is sufficient most of the time. GIF images are usually used when one needs very basic animation. And PNG is used when one needs transparency. PNG images usually take more space and due to the fact that old browsers don't support transparency of PNG images they aren't as widely used as JPG's. There are however ways of making PNG's display properly on old browsers via the use of AJAX/JavaScript. However, be 100% sure that the image you will be using belongs to public domain and you can use it on your website. If it is a picture you have taken make sure to use only part of the original image and keep a higher resolution copy on your computer. Majority of the professional web designers use stock photography companies. Stock photography companies sell both royalty free and licensed images. It is important to read the terms and conditions of use for the images purchased from a stock photography company. Further more, one must really keep a hard-copy of proof of purchase in order to avoid any potential infringement claims in the future.
Text - Typography
Text is the core of all websites. As the popular expression goes web design is 95 % typography.
It isn't a good idea to make a website that is composed of only images. After all it is complicated to change text that is on an image . And it doesn't help with SEO. Style sheets(CSS) are used to define the location of text on a page*. The most common font that is used on the web is Arial , Times New Roman and Courier New are the fonts that are considered to be safe fonts. However, one isn't limited to these fonts only. You can use Cufón API , sIFR API , or Google Font API to display impressive fonts on your website. These API's are capable of loading any commercial font you like via the use of AJAX.
* In the olden times use of tables to define the location of text was a common practice.
Macromedia Flash Animations
Macromedia Flash allows websites to have very vivid animations. The use of Flash on websites have decreased tremendously in the last few years. The main reasons are 1) It doesn't work on the mobile platforms that use IOS. 2) It is really not good for search engine optimization. But Flash is still being used widely for playing videos these days.
* A popular alternative to Flash is AJAX. Which is much lighter and is able to create some fancy effects that were previously only available to Flash.