Futility

Currently, there are a plethora of software and web tools to help people and businesses design their websites, depending on their goals in mind.

This website was built by combining different sections from readily available website templates published on Bootstrap. This allowed the website to be built much faster with minimal effort put into writing CSS and Javascript files for styling and animations.

In order to keep track of editted versions, GitHub was used to store the website files and assets. Editting was then done locally by using GitHub Desktop and Sublime Text.

1. Firstly, register a domain name with a domain registrar such as GoDaddy.
2. Next, obtain a web host. While most domain registrars also offer web hosting services, domain names can be tied to other third party web hosting services as well. Web host more often than not charge a recurring subscription fee.
3. Then, point the domain name to the web host. This is done by first obtaining information of the web hosts primary and secondary DNS. Once this information is filled in the DNS settings of the domain name registrar account, the domain name should point to the web host within 24 hours.

Websites function as a point of contact between the owner and the users. It facilitates the conveying of information from the owner to any users who view the webpage.

Websites that send clear and strong messages usually have the following aspects in common:

1. Purpose. Great designs originate from a clear purpose in mind, whether it is to sell a product or educate the public.
2. Aesthetically pleasing. Many new technologies and tools have been created to allow developers to create fluid, dynamic and responsive webpages. Great visuals and a clean layout (viewed on both a computer and phone screens) conveys information more effectively
3. Clear Navigation. Most websites contain multiple webpages that require users to navigate around. A meticulously designed website should have seamless navigation to allow users to easily obtain information they need.

From a humanistic perspective, it is important to design a website that is easily accessible especially for disabled users. The following are a few steps to design accessible websites

1. Adding ARIA Landmarks. Aria landmarks allows web designers to give definition to otherwise undefined HTML elements, such as div or span. This then allows screen readers to inform visually impaired users of the layout of a particular website
2. Adding Alt Text to Images. Alt texts are useful in cases where images do not load, or when users with color blindness are unable to process the image.
3. Choosing Colours. There are many forms of color blindness, such as the inability of differentiating colours of different hues and saturation. Hence, it is important to ensure adequate colour contrast to avoid such problems.
4. Resizable Text. Most devices and browsers enable the resize text feature. In order to ensure that a website adapts accordingly, it is important to avoid absolute units when specifying text sizes, such as in pixel. Instead, by using relative sizes, text will be able to scale according to screen size and other content.

The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) is a set of protection rules that were approved and adopted by the EU Parliament in April 2016, which came into effect on May 25, 2018. It gives greater protection and rights of personal data to individuals as compared to previous laws in the EU, and details how data "processor" or "collector" can store and use information of individuals.

For companies and businesses, the following is a summary of 10 key requirements with GDPR inplace.

1. Lawful, Fair and Transparent Processing. This means all processing must be following a legitimate process, companies must inform individuals about processing activities on their personal data and only to use this data for the purported process.
2. Limitation of Purpose, Data and Storage. Companies are expected to limit processing, collect data only when necessary and not keep personal data once processing is complete.
3. Data subject rights. Individuals have the right to ask companies what information the company collected about them and what the company does with this information.
4. Consent. A clear and explicit consent must be asked from individuals before companies collect personal information for processes beyond legitimate purposes. Individuals are also allowed to withdraw consent at any given moment. For processing data of any individual below the age of 16, parental or guardian consent is required.
5. Personal Data Breaches. Organisations must maintain a Personal Data Breach Register, and depending on severity, the regulator and data subject must be notified within 72 hours.
6. Privacy by Design Data privacy and protection aspects must be enabled by default.
7. Data Protection Impact Assessment. This assessment must be carried on when significant change is introduced to the processing of personal data. Change could be a new process, or change to an existing processs altering the way in which data is previously processed.
8. Data Transfer. The controller of personal data have the responsibility to ensure that GDPR requirements are followed at all times, even when processing is done by a third party.
9. Data Protection Officer. If a significant processing of personal data is involved with the operations of a company, a Data Protection Officer must be in place to ensure that GDPR Requirements are followed at all times.
10. Awareness and Training. Organisations are responsible in creating awareness of GDPR requirements and to run regular training to ensure that employees are aware of their responsibilities of protecting personal data and identification of data breaches as soon as possible.

Once a webpage is deployed live, it would not make sense to not drive traffic to it. The following are fews steps that could increasing traffic to a particular website

1. Paid Advertisement. The most straightforward way of increasing traffic. Be it through paid search of social media advertising, it is important to strategize spendings according to main goals
2. Maintain Social Media Presence. Social media platforms such as Facebook and LinkedIn are some of the best places for promoting content. Companies can rely on the viral effect of sharing to allow contents to reach new audiences, thereby driving traffing to website.
3. Understand the Target Audience. By understanding the characteristics of people most likely to find relevance with a website's content, companies can then select the best avenue or channel to reach their target audience.
4. On-Page SEO. Including image descriptions and internal links as well as meta description could help drive organic traffic to a website.
5. Long-Tail Keywords. Long-Tail Keyword searches make up the majority of web searches, and websites not targeting these searches are missing out.
6. Create a Community Blog. Many companies achieve amazing traction with zero marketing spending through PR and content creation that is relevant to their product/services. Thus, having community blog ensures recurring traffic while also driving in new traffic that resonates with the written content.
7. Interviews with Industrial Thought Leaders. Big and famous names drive traffic by relying on the network effect. Having these individuals share content on their social media ensures that a website reaches the attention of their follower and connection base.
8. Email Marketing. Traditional methods of timely email reminders can help ensure regular traffic to a website.

If given more time, these are the possible milestones that the team at Futility will look to undertake.

1. Include a Product Roadmap. This is to inform visitors of future plans of product development and official launch.
2. Create a Community Blog. By creating meaningful content that visitors and target audience can relate with to ensure constant traffic to this webpage.
3. Launch Product on Kickstarter. Effective way of obtaining funding to continue product development, while maintaining constant communication with potential customers and backers. Possibly include crowdfunding progress bar on this section itself.
4. Email Subscription. Allows interested visitors to subscribe and receive periodical email updates on progress and other great stuff.
5. SEO. Ensure that content can be easily found and drive organic traffic.