HTML (HyperText Markup Language) is at the heart of the Web. It's the language we use to tell your browser what to display on the screen. There's an example here. 

There are software packages which will generate the code for you but the result is invariably cumbersome, slow, difficult to understand and nearly impossible to maintain. 

Do it right - get someone who understands HTML.

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ASP (Active Server Pages) allows you to generate completely new pages depending on the user's choices. Often linked to a database which holds the raw information, it is ideal for large amounts of data or material which changes regularly.

ASP also allows the use of "Include" files - you might (for example) have an "address footer" which appears at the foot of every page. If any detail changed you would normally need to visit and modify every single page in your site. 

With an ASP Include file you just have one file to update. That's maintainability.

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CSS stands for Cascading Style Sheets and it's an important technology for a number of reasons - but the main benefit for the Client is that it makes modification to the appearance of the site much easier - maintainability again. 

If you think we're banging on about maintaining your site - find someone who's had to do it over a year or so and see if it's made their head ache. 

If you design for adaptability you get flexibilty. 

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.NET - which for once isn't an acronym and is pronounced DOT NET - is Microsoft's latest Web technology. It's still only in beta release but it's going to change the way web sites are built and run. 

For the designer of complex, interactive sites that means faster development and a more stable platform. For the Client that means it's cheaper, faster and easier to make changes. 

Keep an eye on this one - it's going to be big.

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XML - eXtensible Markup Language. XML is another technology which is going to change the way we use IT - not only on the Web but across all IT systems. It's already been adopted by major corporations and organisations like the NHS.

XML allows us to make our data "intelligent" - then we can share it across different computer systems, different software packages and present the same file of data in different ways for different purposes.

A single XML file could be transformed into a Web page, a printed page, displayed on a WAP phone or even on devices we haven't yet invented. It's going to be huge.

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