Web Design & Development Process
There are five major phases in our development process. Each of these phases has three sub-phases. The depth of each depends, in part, on the size and complexity of the site being developed. We go though this process for all sites, but it may be abbreviated for small and non-complex sites. A 5-page site does not need the same level of detailed planning as a 500-page interactive or dynamic site.
The Five Phases of Development:
- Defining the Project
- Developing the Site Structure
- Visual Design and Testing
- Production and QA
- Launch and Beyond
Define (Phase One):
consists mostly of gathering and analyzing information about the goals and aims of the project, and then doing the budgeting and planning. We break this phase into three sub-tasks: Discovery, Clarification, and Planning.
Develop (Phase Two):
is where the hands-on work begins. This phase is also has three sections, though in this case each of those sections addresses Phase Two according to the objectives of the project.
- Content View involves defining content. In a redesign, there are relevant issues surrounding pre-existing content. Should it be used simply because it's available? Will it need to be updated or edited?
- Site View is concerned with overall site structure and defining the relationships between individual pages.
- Page View addresses topics like navigation and the labeling of icons and buttons.
Design (Phase Three):
is concerned with the actual visual design, the look and feel of the site. This is where the creative work begins. Three sub-tasks are defined here as well: Creating, Confirming, and Handing Off. Concepts are developed and refined in the first, a proto site is developed and tested in the second, and finally, graphic templates are created for handoff to the team (or individual) doing the actual HTML production.
Build (Phase four):
is where the bulk of the production work and QA testing occur. Again, it is broken down into three smaller pieces: Prepping, Building, and Testing.
- Prepping involves establishing guidelines, doing a budget and overall project status report, and setting rules for things like directory structures and file naming conventions.
- Building is the described as heart of the whole process - which won't come as a surprise - and is where the bulk of the work of actually building pages, optimizing images, and implementing scripting and other functionality will occur.
- Testing, obviously, is where all the QA issues will crop up. The authors emphasize the importance of developing a QA plan which will cover all potential issues. This sub-phase also includes all the fixes for potential bugs and usability issues.
Launch (Phase Five):
is concerned with the site actually going live. The three sub-phases are Delivery, Launch, and Maintenance.
- Delivery - actually handing over all the files and documentation to the client - is an important milestone in the project, and the authors recommend holding a "post-mortem" meeting around this handoff. It is also important to schedule some training for the maintenance team.
- Launch is a very small part of the overall time line, but it is important to adequately prepare the site's audience for the event by communicating clearly with the marketing department so that announcements can be made. It's also important to make sure the site is submitted to the major search engines, even in the case of a redesign.
- Maintenance is an essential component of the site's success, and the authors recommend that the maintenance team be up to the task. An assessment of their capabilities should be completed and any shortcomings be addressed. A detailed maintenance plan should also be in place by this time. If the site has been redesigned, it is useful to have some apparatus in place to measure the new design's effectiveness. Reporting these results is the responsibility of the maintenance team.
