Web Design - Design Process

Design Process

The Web Site Design and Development Process
 
There are numerous steps in the web site design and development process. From gathering initial information, to the creation of your web site, and finally to maintenance to keep your web site up to date and current.
 
The exact process will vary slightly from site to site, but the basics are generally the same.
 
  1. Information GatheringThe design process
  2. Planning
  3. Design
  4. Development
  5. Testing and Delivery
  6. Maintenance
 
Step One: Information Gathering
 
The first step in designing a successful web site is to gather information. Many things need to be taken into consideration when the look and feel of your site is created.
 
This first step is actually the most important one, as it involves a solid understanding of the company it is created for. It involves a good understanding of you and you having a good understanding of what you want to achieve – what your business goals and dreams are, and how the web can be utilised to help you achieve these goals.
 
It is important that we start off by asking a lot of questions to help us understand your business and your needs in a web site.
 
Certain things to consider are:
 
  • Purpose - What is the purpose of the site? Do you want to provide information, promote a service, or sell a product?
  • Goals - What do you hope to accomplish by building this web site - make money or share information?
  • Target Audience - Is there a specific group of people that you want to visit your site based on their age, sex or interests?
  • Content - What kind of information will the target audience be looking for on your site? Are they looking for specific information, a particular product or service, online ordering?
 
 
Step Two: Planning
 
Using the information gathered from step one, it is time to put together a plan for your web site. This is the point where a site map is developed.
 
The site map is a list of all main topic areas of the site, as well as sub-topics, if applicable. This serves as a guide as to what content will be on the site, and is essential to developing a consistent, easy to understand navigation system. The end-user of the web site, your customer, must be kept in mind when designing your site. These are, after all, the people who will be learning about your service or buying your product. A good user interface creates an easy to navigate web site, and is the basis for this.
 
During the planning phase, we  will also help you decide what technologies should be implemented. Elements such as interactive forms, e-commerce, flash, etc. are discussed when planning your web site.
 
 
Step Three: Design
 
Drawing from the information gathered up to this point, it’s time to determine the look and feel of your site.
 
Target audience is one of the key factors taken into consideration. A site aimed at teenagers, for example, will look much different than one meant for a financial institution. As part of the design phase, it is also important to incorporate elements such as the company logo or colours to help strengthen the identity of your company on the web site.
 
We may create one or more prototype designs for your web site. These are typically a JPEG images of what the final design will look like. We may email you mock-ups for your web site or even give you access to a secure area of our web site to view work in progress.
 
Either way, we will allow you to view your project throughout the design and development stages. The most important reason for this is that it gives you the opportunity to express your likes and dislikes on the site design and us to make the changes during development and prevents us all getting nasty surprises at the end!!!
 
In this phase, communication between us is crucial to ensure that the final web site will match your needs and taste. It is important that we work closely, exchanging ideas, until we arrive at the final design for your web site.
 
Then development can begin…
 
 
Step Four: Development
 
The developmental stage is the point where the web site itself is created. At this time, we will take all of the individual graphic elements from the prototype and use them to create the actual, functional site.
 
This is typically done by first developing the home page and or template. The template serves as a shell for the content pages of your site, as it contains the main navigational structure for the web site. Once the template has been created, we will take your content and distribute it throughout the site, in the appropriate areas.
 
Elements such as interactive contact forms, flash animations or ecommerce shopping carts are implemented and made functional during this phase, as well.
 
This entire time, we will continue to make your in-progress web site available to you for viewing, so that you can suggest any additional changes or corrections you would like to have done.
On the technical front, a successful web site requires an understanding of front-end web development. This involves writing code that complies to current web standards, maximising functionality, as well as accessibility for as large an audience as possible.
 
This is tested in the next step…
 
 
Step Five: Testing and Delivery
 
At this point, we will attend to the final details and test your web site. We will test things such as the complete functionality of forms or other scripts, as well last testing for last minute compatibility issues (viewing differences between different web browsers), ensuring that your web site is optimised to be viewed properly in the most recent browser versions.
 
A good web designers we are well versed in current standards for web site design and development. The basic technologies currently used are XHTML and CSS (Cascading Style Sheets). As part of testing, we will check to be sure that all of the code written for your web site validates. Valid code means that your site meets the current web development standards – this is helpful when checking for issues such as cross-browser compatibility as mentioned above.
 
Once you give your us final approval, it is time to deliver the site. Unlike some web designers we offer, domain name registration and web hosting services as well. Once these accounts have been setup, and your web site uploaded to the server, the site should be put through one last run-through. This is just precautionary, to confirm that all files have been uploaded correctly, and that the site continues to be fully functional.
 
This marks the official launch of your site, as it is now viewable to the public.
 
 
Step Six: Maintenance
 
The development of your web site is not necessarily over, though. One way to bring repeat visitors to your site is to offer new content or products on a regular basis. We will be more than happy to continue working together with you, to update the information on your web site. We are able to offer maintenance packages at reduced rates, based on how often you anticipate making changes or additions to your web site.
 
If you prefer to be more hands on, and update your own content, there is something called a CMS (Content Management System) that can be implemented to your web site. This is something that would be decided upon during the Planning stage. With a CMS, we will utilise online software to develop a database driven site for you.
 
A web site driven by a CMS gives you the ability to edit the content areas of the web site yourself. You are given access to a back-end administrative area, where you can use an online text editor (similar to a cut down version of Microsoft Word). You’ll be able to edit existing content this way, or if you are feeling more adventurous, you can even add new pages and content yourself. The possibilities are endless!!!