Creating a website can seem like a complicated task, especially if you’re starting from scratch. However, with the right tools and guidance, you can build a website that’s not only functional but also visually appealing. In this article, we’ll walk you through the step-by-step process of creating a website from scratch.

Step 1: Define Your Website’s Purpose and Goals

Before you begin designing your website, it’s essential to define the purpose and goals of your website. What is the purpose of your website? Are you creating a blog, an e-commerce site, or a portfolio? Knowing your website’s purpose will help you choose the right design and layout.

Also, think about your target audience and what they’re looking for in a website. Consider what you want to achieve with your website, whether it’s to increase sales, gain more subscribers, or provide valuable information to your visitors. These factors will shape the overall design and layout of your website.

Step 2: Choose a Domain Name and Web Hosting Provider

The next step is to choose a domain name and web hosting provider. A domain name is your website’s address, while web hosting is where your website files are stored. When choosing a domain name, make sure it’s memorable and relevant to your website’s purpose. You can purchase a domain name from a domain registrar.

Once you have a domain name, you’ll need to choose a web hosting provider. A web hosting provider is where your website will be stored, and it’s essential to choose a reliable provider that can handle your website’s traffic.

Step 3: Choose a Website Platform and Content Management System

After choosing a domain name and web hosting provider, you’ll need to choose a website platform and content management system (CMS). A website platform is a framework for building your website, while a CMS is a tool that allows you to manage your website’s content.

WordPress is the most popular website platform and CMS, and it’s free to use. It’s easy to set up and use, even if you don’t have any coding experience.

Step 4: Design Your Website

Once you’ve chosen your website platform and CMS, it’s time to design your website. Choose a theme or template that’s relevant to your website’s purpose and customize it to match your brand. Add your logo, choose a colour scheme, and select fonts that are easy to read.

Make sure your website is easy to navigate and user-friendly. Use clear and concise language, and avoid cluttering your website with too many elements. Keep your website design simple but visually appealing.

Step 5: Add Content to Your Website

With your website design in place, it’s time to add content to your website. Create pages that are relevant to your website’s purpose, and add high-quality images and videos. Use headings and subheadings to break up your content and make it easier to read.

Make sure your content is optimized for search engines by using relevant keywords and meta descriptions. This will help your website rank higher in search engine results pages (SERPs) and drive more traffic to your site.

Step 6: Test and Launch Your Website

Before you launch your website, it’s essential to test it thoroughly. Make sure your website is responsive and works well on different devices, including desktops, tablets, and mobile devices. Check that all links are working correctly and that there are no broken images or videos.

Once you’re confident that your website is working correctly, it’s time to launch it. The last step is publishing your website.

The speed of development and change in cyberspace in recent years is amazing not only for inexperienced users but also for experienced specialists in the field of IT and information security. There is an exponential development not even in the amount of data processed, the number of devices or applications or services connected to the Internet, but also in the concepts and technologies themselves, and the comprehensive digitalization and the transition of most businesses online due to the pandemic have only accelerated this trend.

Cyber ​​threats are multiplying at the same rate, as attackers use the same highly effective development tools, but for their purposes. This brings the level of cyber countermeasures to a new level: earlier the confrontation with intruders could be described as a struggle of minds and customized means of protecting information; now it can be called a full-fledged ‘war of machines’, where artificial cyber intelligence is fighting. In this article, we will talk about current cybersecurity trends in 2022: attacks on supply chains and third parties (3rd parties), attacks on elements of the Internet of Things and issues of protecting cloud infrastructures, security of personal data.

How to deal with 3rd parties attacks

Such things can be easily prevented – it is enough just to apply the principle of Zero Trust to all entities that appear in your IT infrastructure. This includes checking and controlling all accounts, all devices, all network connections and running processes, regardless of who initiates them. For each entity, be it a manager’s account, an engineer’s smartphone, or even a printer in a meeting room, you should set network interaction rules and calculate a certain scoring risk score, which increases when connecting from suspicious locations, after hours, if there are active cyber incidents on this device.

Attacking ‘Internet of things’

IoT includes a large number of consumer-grade electronics elements continuously connected to various networks, incl. to the Internet, to interact with each other, with the owner and with a variety of Internet services.

To protect IoT devices from cyberattacks, attention should be paid to the following:

• Country of manufacture of the device and manufacturer: the more known the manufacturer, the higher the likelihood of timely software updates and the lower the likelihood of unpatched vulnerabilities that are known to the vendor.

• Availability of legal documents on the official website: provisions on the confidentiality of processed data, personal data processing policies, statements of compliance with certain legislative norms, etc.

• Ability to configure firmware to control external Internet connections to the device – remote control, administration, status viewing, etc.

• Availability of firmware updates on the official website of the manufacturer, frequency of their release, date of release of the last update.

• The presence of a community of amateur enthusiasts who release unofficial, “customized” firmware for this device.

When using IoT devices to perform business tasks, you should carefully consider the choice of manufacturer, giving preference to one who regularly releases firmware updates, offers extended technical support and on-site visits of its specialists, provides a long warranty and recommendations for protected configuring the device, as well as having up-to-date documents describing the implemented information security measures and accepted secure development techniques.

Personal data security

The issues of ensuring the confidentiality of personal data began to be raised almost immediately after the start of the widespread use of computer technology for processing information relating to individuals.

Talking about business, the protection of personal data of customers and employees is an important task not only in the context of compliance with the law – today it is often the accumulated data about consumers that is one of the main intangible assets of a company, and the loyalty of employees and customers is formed, among other things, by measures taken the company to protect their accounts, personal data, payment information.

The essence of interface testing is that the software is tested from the user’s point of view so that the final product is user-friendly, attractive and understandable for your audience. To do this, a team of people not involved in the development of a particular product is involved in testing: they get acquainted with the application, study it and interact with it in the same way as an ordinary user would do. In this case, the task of the development team is to track the strengths and weaknesses, and after testing, improve the product based on the test results.

UI testing is carried out in parallel with software product UX testing, thus achieving a greater degree of verification and even better results.

Is UI testing always necessary?

User interface testing is necessary primarily on large and complex projects, but it is nevertheless useful on projects that are not too large.

To begin with, you need to understand that UI testing is carried out at three levels: unit tests, functional testing and End-to-End testing. Unit tests are needed to check each individual element and all its characteristics separately, that is, independently of other elements of the system. Functional testing checks the operation of all elements and their interaction with each other, while this type of testing is carried out at the development stage. And End-to-End testing is carried out on an already finished product, where its operation as a complete software is already checked.

On small projects, the second stage is often skipped, leaving only unit tests and final verification. Some people do this on any project, regardless of their scale. Saving time? On the one hand, yes, because functional testing is a rather voluminous and time-consuming process. But on the other hand, without checking everything at the beginning, during the final End-to-End testing, you run the risk of finding errors that can be fatal for the product or at least bring significant financial losses.

The feasibility of conducting each of the testing stages, as well as the depth of detail for each of them, must be determined based on the project itself, its scale, features, and requirements. Nevertheless, there are certain principles of testing, and one of them says: you need to start testing as early as possible. And this is true because in this way you reduce risks and immediately receive a high-quality product that meets the requirements, protecting yourself from further alterations.

Let’s take a closer look at what checks are made as part of User Interface testing, and what you need to pay attention to in each of them:

The general appearance of the page

This checks the integrity of the appearance (a rather subjective but important criterion), how harmonious and pleasant the software product looks, and it is also important to make sure that nothing is broken when scaling. Users can open pages from different devices with different resolutions, it is important that on any of them the text is readable, all elements are displayed correctly, do not run into each other and do not disappear, and so on.

Text

There is always text on any page, and it should be given due attention when testing. Firstly, it should not contain errors, typos and other possible errors. Secondly, the text must be aligned according to the same parameters so that the overall picture looks holistic and harmonious. It is also important to make sure that the text will be readable when the page is scaled.

Element Selection

There are always elements on the page that the user can interact with. These elements must be distinguished in a certain way. For example: on a computer, when you hover over an interactive object, it is highlighted, or when you hover over a link, a window appears with additional information. There may be many options, but each of them requires verification. It is also important to make sure that after clicking on a certain element, it is highlighted. This is important so that the user knows which option has been selected or which element is involved.

Forms

When working with forms, there are many elements to pay attention to. Firstly, this is the form window itself, its location, appearance, and so on. Secondly, the elements on the form: radio buttons, checkboxes, drop-down lists, text fields, and so on. All elements must comply with the requirements and specifications.

Other requirements

Not always your requirements and wishes are the only limits for the user interface. So, for example, when developing applications, it is also important to take into account the requirements and standards of the app store or marketplace where the future product will be placed. After all, if there is a discrepancy, your application may simply not pass the test and you will be rejected for placement.