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Model Development Processes
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Website Development Process
1. Requirement Analysis and Development Plan
What problem does your client want you to solve?
Can you realistically help the client?
What is the scope and nature of work?
What are the design and programming tasks involved?
What resources and information will be needed and what problems you foresee?
Who will provide content information for the site, in what form?
What are the requirements for the finished site?
What exactly will your finished website (or subsite) do for the client?
Resources
-- Who will supply the text?
-- Who will supply photos and other imagery?
-- If client will not provide imagery, where will you get it?
-- Royalty free images, sound and video
-- Use old logo? New logo? How many logos?
Corporate Logo? Subsidiary Logo? Divisional Logo?
-- Observe corporate identity standards for use of logos
-- Copyrights, credits, footers, insignia
Answer the preceding questions and make a plan,
create and group content and functional requirements,
set clear goals and milestones for developing the site.
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2. Site Architecture
Website architecture deals with the structuring, the relationship,
the connectivity, the logical organization, and the dynamic interactions
among the constituent parts of a Web site.
Within each Web page, the placement, layout, visual effect, font and
style of copy, etc. are also important but may be considered more
"interior decoration" rather than architecture. However, architecture
and interior/exterior decoration are intimately related.
Consider:
* Organization to support website goals and requirements
* Organization and structure to support updating of pages
* Efficient and effective presentation of information,
including any multimedia (audio/visual) delivery
* Logical and economical arrangement of components
* Customer/visitor needs to make browsing
an enjoyable and rewarding experience
* Target Audiences -- Write scenarios, define userıs
experience, know the competition
The architecture phase will produce a blue-print
for building the website. The blue print is a specification of
the components, their relations, their connectivity, their dynamic
interactions, and their functionalities/information contents.
Website implementation will follow the architecture plan closely/exactly
to create/build/code the website
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3. Text-only Site Framework
Content
-- Create content list or inventory
-- Prepare content ready to be included in Web pages
Site Map
-- create a site map and give all pages appropriate titles
-- Create legend that defines how on-and off-site links,
page components, pages, and groups of pages are
represented in the blueprints
-- Distinguish function; transaction;
dynamically generated; simple text pages and
define crosslinks
-- Define major sections as "roots" of site structure listing
-- Map out organization of each section with items from content inventory
Create a skeletal site:
* Create entry and home page
* Create typical subpage and sub-subpages
* pages contains only textual content in summary form
* pages contain textual navigation links, with rough
placements -- top, left, right, or bottom
* enter text for any forms and how the forms will be processed
* create a site file hierarchy structure
* define and follow well-defined coding standard for the pages
Navigation
-- How will users use the site?
-- How will they get from one place to another?
-- How do you prevent them from getting lost?
-- Define global and local navigation systems
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4. Visual Communication and Artistic Design
Concept
-- Brainstorm look and feel of site
-- Narrow possibilities, choose direction
Story Boards
-- based on text only site, create simple layout sketches
for all major sections of the site,
-- Add graphical sketches: header, footer, left and right
margin designs, navigation bar, logo, and other graphical
elements
-- Be sure that visuals support the delivery of textual content
-- Show story boards to clients and make adjustments,
finally get permission from client to proceed
-- Graphics and layout for dynamically generated pages,
form response pages, and data entry confirmation pages.
Page Layout Process
(may be done at half or full size)
-- Determine groups, relationships and hierarchy
-- Determine grids, margins, alignments, constants and variables on the page
-- Determine charts, graphs, illustrations, photos and cropping
-- Explore creative use of space
-- Explore grid variations
-- Explore typography options
-- Explore color palettes
-- Explore style options
-- Explore permutations
-- Explore sequencing
Create system for organizing form
-- Combine previous explorations above
-- Strive to create unique, functional, flexible,
consistent, aesthetically pleasing systems
-- System needs to reflects client identity and purpose
-- Consider logo use, placement, hierarchy, function
-- Consider clientıs existing corporate identity
-- Should website reflect current client identity or have new identity? Why?
Home Page/Entry page
-- Unique properties of home pages
-- Function of homepages
-- Mission statements, letters, opening paragraphs
-- Establishing identity, creating impressions,
introducing global navigation, setting precedence
-- Animated introductions
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5. Production/Programming
Photo selection and cropping
-- colors, textures, duotones, photo effects
Creating original images
-- scans, drawings, collages, vector or raster art
-- converting original print color to browser safe color
-- image file formats choices, placing graphics into web pages
-- construct prototype layout pages in Photoshop (or other program)
-- develop all major sections, compare, fine tune spaces
Page Templates:
* Create HTML templates for pages at all levels
* Templates contain layout, graphics, and navigation
* Templates contain javascript, head, body, and meta tags
* Templates contain style (CSS) information
* Templates have clearly marked places to insert
textual content
Server-side Programming:
* CGi scripts
* PHP page generation
* Server-side includes
* make sure result pages from scripts conform to the
look and feel of the site
* make sure pages in an interactive session (e.g. shopping)
are user-friendly and logically sequenced.
Database access
* specify pages requiring server-side database support
* consider how such databases are created, maintained,
and administered
Prototype pages:
-- Use the templates to create completed pages in prototype form
-- throughly examine prototype pages to see that they ]
will work for most scenarios
-- be sure that layout system is versatile and flexible to
accommodate changes based on new content
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6. Testing --- try things out, debugging, fine tuning, check against
architecture, requirements
7. Launching --- put it on the Web, make it known, and register with
search engines
8. Documentation --- write down a description of the website, how it
is structured, how it should be maintained, how it can be modified,
how it can be evolved
9. Maintenance --- continued operation and evolution of the website.
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