In this article, we will go over some website basics, and see what sites/stores are made up of. Ecomly uses Elementor Page builder which empowers you to create and manage the parts needed for your own websites.
Header #
This is the top part of a website containing the logo and usually (but not always) the site’s navigation menu. The header is the zone at the top of the page that stays constant and visible as visitors click around your site.
Once upon a time, the header was a place to display a banner or graphic promoting your brand — kind of like the cover photo on a Facebook page. But today’s websites are more streamlined and the trend is to just include your logo and navigation in the header.
Navigation (aka Navigation Bar or Main Menu) #
These are the links at the top of the page to help you find what you’re looking for. The navigation links are usually in the header or just below it. When a site is viewed on a mobile device, the navigation usually morphs into an icon with 3 stacked lines (aka a “hamburger” because it looks like the side view of a hamburger) since space is limited on a mobile device. Tapping the mobile navigation icon usually triggers a vertical or horizontal toggle menu.
On complex sites with tons of pages, you’ll sometimes see a “mega menu” which is a drop-down menu triggered by hovering over a link in the main navigation. The drop-down mega menu then shows you many links organized into categories and sub-categories, kind of like a sitemap.
Footer #
A footer performs the same function as the header — it’s a region on a website that’s constant from page to page — except a footer is at the bottom of a page instead of the top.
You can put whatever you want in a footer. But what’s often in the footer is contact info, privacy policy, terms of use, sitemap, social media icons and links to other important pages on your site.
Blog #
A blog is actually a type of website.
So what’s the difference between a blog and a website? Not much. It basically boils down to how the content is structured and presented.
- When you publish something on a blog it’s called a post and blog posts are published in chronological order like journal entries in a diary. The origin of the word “blog” is a contraction of web log.
- When you publish something on a website it’s called a page and web pages are not presented sequentially. They’re just a collection pages (i.e. homepage, about us page, contact page, etc) that are linked together.
- Blog posts allow for interactivity with readers via comments. Standard web pages don’t have a commenting section.
- Web pages are usually informational in nature about a company’s products or services. They tend to use a bit more formal and official sounding language. Blog posts have a more casual and conversational tone.
A blog can be a standalone website or it can be a section of a larger website.
What you are reading right now is a blog post on a blog that is part of a larger website.
Shop pages #
Every online store besides regular pages should have shop pages.
- Shop and category page
- Single product page
- Cart page
- Checkout page
- Thank you page
- My Account page
Dynamic templates #
Blog post templates, archive templates, and other dynamic content can be easily built with Page Builder. Page builder using theme elements like featured image, post title, author box, and so on you can build the framework, and the content gets filled automatically from your website, for new as well as old posts and pages. The same is for product and product pages.
Design it once dynamically and visually, and apply it everywhere on your site NO CODING SKILLS REQUIRED.
Ecomly is designed from dynamic templates and has a lot of possibilities.
