subject: What Is An Ideal Website Development Processes? [print this page] Website development has changed a lot since the last decade mostly post emergence of search engines. Previously, website development was carried out by individuals, primarily programmers with little or no help from a designer. But now they are being accomplished by a group of expert developers with the aid of professional designers. Websites can be owned by individuals to run their small businesses or it can be used as web blogs that promote the authors/services.
This article describes the process of website development in brief.
Overview of Website Development
Website development involves a series of development phases. If web developers in India find special mention for their ability to deliver efficient solutions in competitive pricing, their counterparts in other parts of the world are fast catching up to measure Indian experts.
Steps followed
Web development is not just about designing or developing a web page. Its often followed by the site revisions before, throughout, and after the development of the website. Buying an off-the-shelf site of course is much simpler in comparison.
A standard web development process involves following steps:
Conducting a meeting to estimate the size and scope of the project and to understand the business model.
Identification of the objectives.
Recognition of the market strength and the competitors.
Knowing the promotional and search engine strategies.
In addition to this, the need of a content management system (CMS) can also be a factor to be considered. This enables the client to update some areas of the site without depending on the developers. You have off-the-shelf options as well as ones that are custom developed.
Documenting the Project
A requirement document is prepared that describes the objectives of the site. In some cases client develop it as an invitation to tender with an outline of project scope before the meeting. Sometimes they may also provide the complete requirement. The web developers are responsible to understand it and deliver the site. They can raise issues or conduct meetings in between.
After receiving the requirements document, they are revised and approved. This is followed by drafting of a functional specification that details the methods by which the requirement would be achieved and what are the supporting mechanisms involved in it.
Then a separate document on functional implementation is produced that describe the development mechanisms and schedules the deliverables standard and development phases. This document is again supported by a number of Gantt charts. This document also provides the sign-off stages of the deliverables in the web development. In comparison to small projects, prolonged projects are more benefitted by such documentation as they provide the requirements, implementation and the schedule.
Representation of the Site
A schema or site map is most important in the case of larger projects with complex navigational structures and menus. In this case the programs are presented as flowcharts that facilitate the developers to understand the layout and structure later. On identifying the goal, the developer develops a wireframe model of the website that describes the navigation, functionality, and content placement. Sophistication of the wireframe may vary from Photoshop line drawn models to a working HTML site outline, depending on the site complexity.
Many adjustments are done till the usability and functional requirements are achieved. After this the developer tries to deliver the working first draft and the client provides the contents for the site. Along with this description of hosting and the servers from which the site will be run are also provided. In brief, website development is a step by step process done with proper planning.
