Nowadays a quality website is proven to be a key tool for spreading information about a company, its services and products to a vast audience across the Globe. But what is a quality website? It seems, there is no a simple answer to the question. Still there exist some general factors that determine the quality of a website and therefore its success.

An appealing design, comfortable navigation and quick website loading definitely attract visitors. The more difficult task is to convert visitors to clients and keep them coming back. This can be done by providing high quality content and updating the website on a regular basis. However for a website owner it can become a serious problem, as website maintenance requires technical skills and programming knowledge.

Of course, there are a lot of companies providing a variety of web mastering services such as news or upcoming events additions, product list changes and additions, photos, graphics and text additions and updates, and more. It all seems to be ideal but for one thing: as a rule, their prices are very high and not always affordable for small businesses.

Another solution to the problem of website maintenance is the implementation of a Content Management System, also known as CMS. It is an application combining web-based tools, web templates and a database in order to manage a content of a website. Content Management Systems are perfect for websites that require constant updates and additions.

CMS usually have user-friendly interface giving freedom for text editing, as well as for image managing. In fact, one of the main advantages of these systems is that you will be able to manage a web site's content without having to study web programming and deal with time-consuming technical tasks. All necessary website modifications and updates will be done immediately, no matter where you are: at your workplace, at home, or on vacations. You will just need a computer connected to the Internet.

There are a lot of different CMS packages available, some of them are free or open source, and some are commercial. A commercial Content Management System has a number of advantages, not the least of which is a guarantee of professional tech support and the possibility of development of specific extensions personally for your website. Commercial software is usually associated with a relatively high degree of safety as opposed to open source. So, if a website owner has the resources to purchase such a system, then it can be the safest way.

CMS also vary by structure and features. For example, Content Management Systems that use module architecture can be tailored to suite the needs of almost any website, be it a business site, an online shop, or a multilingual portal. These CMS offer additional modules and extensions covering up assorted functions. It may be a good choice for those website owners who are planning to expand their business and widen the range of their web services in future.

On the whole, the implementation of a CMS is a perfect solution for a wide variety of websites. Content Management Systems make it much easier for non-technical users to add, edit, and update their content on websites. It also helps to save a good sum of money as website owners do not have to pay a web master for their website maintenance.

Web development encompasses many stages i.e. Planning, Analysis, Web design, Implementation, Promotion and Innovation. Each of these stages requires use of different sets of tools and professionals with varied skill sets.

Planning and Analysis don't require as many software tools as the experience of the web master or project director. They need working knowledge with all aspects of server and database. Familiarity with Operating Systems and the Internet server applications are required. Experience with IP networks, programming languages and database development are also essential. The two most common Operating Systems used are Windows NT/2000 and Unix, although many also use Linux. Most commonly used Internet programming languages include PERL, CGI, ActiveX, ASP, and Java among others.

In the next stage of Web designing, tools such as HTML Meta tags, JavaScript, CGI, Macromedia Flash, Macromedia DreamWeaver and Adobe Photoshop are used. Web templates, graphic designs, photographs, texts, clippings, audio and video are also included, as per the requirements. Flash helps in animation that gives an identity to a website. Visual Basic is the most common language for scripting and SQL with other database engines are used for database management on the website. To create Search Engine Optimized content, tools such as Overture are used. Once the most popularly searched words in your industry are identified and short-listed, the content creators write content using these search words. This ensures that your website lists high in the search engines and directories.

In the Implementation stage, the website is implemented and tested on various browsers. Any functional errors, if found, are corrected. The Promotion and Innovation stages, help in marketing a website. Pay-Per-Click Search Engine Promotion, Loyalty Programs, Email Campaigns and Online Games are some tools used for website promotion. Tools such as site statistics software and reporting from site searches let you know what exactly your visitors are looking for. The content and marketing strategies are then adjusted accordingly. A website also needs to be maintained and continuously evaluated and updated with respect to content, presentation, layout and technical aspects.

Use of good web development tools ensures that your pages have good content, Meta tags, a high link popularity score, appropriate keywords and visual appeal. Although web development tools are essential, it also takes a seasoned team of programmers, graphic designers, content creators, consultants and marketing staff to work in tandem to create a technically sound, visually appealing and highly functional website. A well-planned site, apart from being high in functionality, is also easy to re-design or alter, at a later stage.

AJAX is a cross-platform technique that can be use on different operating system and web application based on JavaScript and DOM. It is a powerful approach of web application technique using client-side scripting to exchange data with the web server. This means that with AJAX, web pages increases interactivity and faster responsiveness of user interface by having an independent communication with the server. Gone are the traditional ways of web browsing whereby a new page communicates with each user's request. This creates dynamic web application user interface that renders effective usability of every desktop applications. AJAX primary purpose is to increase the web page's interactivity, speed, functionality, and usability.

Ajax, by definition, is not technology. In fact, it is an application of several technologies. Ajax incorporates several existing web application like XHTML and CSS for standard-based presentation; the Document Object Model for dynamic display and interaction; XML and XSLT for data interchange between the server and the client; the XMLHttpRequest to exchange asynchronous data with the web server; and the use of JavaScript as the core code for running AJAX application.

To understand AJAX, first we must know how the traditional web application works. The classic web interface trigger an HTTP request back to web server. The server then process and retrieve data before returning an HTML page to the users. This process as a model for hypertext medium makes technical sense. But as web application evolves this process does not make the user interface more interactive and practical.

AJAX, on the other hand, eliminates this problem. AJAX speed up the loading of any web application with the use of intermediary between the user and the server called AJAX engine. This adding of another layer application of eliminates the start-stop-start-stop nature on the web. The browser loads an AJAX engine at the start of session.

The AJAX engine allows the user interface and the application to interchange data asynchronously-independent of the communication to the server. So the interaction between the user and the web never slows down, no point of waiting for the server to do something.

AJAX is a powerful technique that grows exceedingly as web application. That is, AJAX is now part of the guiding principle as web 2.0 flourishes and become a practical reality. With the power of AJAX, many of the business and marketing web site are integrated with AJAX application server platform now. Most of the major products of Google such as Gmail, Google Maps, and Google Suggest are employing AJAX application. Other web services like the photo-sharing application Flickr, Amazon's A9.com, and the new Yahoo! maps depends on AJAX. The application of AJAX comes from simple function to the most complex program like Google Maps.