website development processA website may be developed in many different ways and schemes but achieving a fully developed website in a timely and proper manner, is not easy. These are some basic stages a designer has to go through to achieve a well functioning website:

Plan your project

  • Develop a plan for your site from beginning.
  • Define the purpose of the site. If it is being done for a client, review the client’s ideas and wishes with him / her.
  • Choose your domain name as well as the server. Balance the server’s speed and price based on your project’s needs.
  • If necessary layout the ideas on a piece of paper; make a raw drawing.

Choose the site’s design

Choose navigation

  • Choose the site’s navigation carefully.
  • It must be easy to navigate and manage.
  • Communication with visitors and error messaging must be transparent. Contact and about pages have to be visible and approachable from any page on a site.
  • Organizational hierarchy must be well done and easy to understand. If possible, avoid nested pages that go deeper than 3 layers.
  • Add sitemap to the site. That helps the visitors and search engines.
  • Add a search through site field.
  • Add hyperlinks inside the body of website’s pages.
  • Make the main navigation visible and attractive by adding subtle graphics to it.

Choose and manage the site’s content

  • Make sure that the content is not overwhelming and easy readable. Cut paragraphs short (not more than few sentences); split pages into two if the content seems too large.
  • Guide visitors through content in a form of task completion.
  • Make sure that the content is properly rendered with different browsers.
  • If there is plenty of textual content, make it printable.
  • Concentrate on SEO (Search Engine Optimization).
  • Limit the advertisements.

Visual effects and media

  • Avoid too much graphical and video additions because it slows down the site and it may appear un-tasteful.
  • Add attractive buttons to navigation.
  • If there are flashing advertisement on the site, avoid other aggressive effects.
  • Choose carefully background and text colors. Text has to be readable!
  • Limit sound effects and other media to minimum, unless the website is about entertainment.

Credibility of the site

  • Make sure that the site has visible policies and terms of use. Especially if the site collects the visitors information and / or works with the financial processing (credit cards…).
  • Add about page to your site.
  • Ensure that there is a proper contact form, e-mail subscription and other communicating tools existing on the website.
  • Pay attention to site branding. It should be visible, i.e. in the header, but not too aggressive.

Testing and launching

  • If possible test your website before launching (i.e. by using “testing server”).
  • Ask friends and family to be first to evaluate the site after launching.
  • Perform other type of research online, before starting fully advertising it; for instance visit the forums and post questions about your site.

Website management

  • Properly organize all the files and folders used during and for the development.
  • Archive the site and development tools frequently, especially if there is a database involved and customer information collected.
  • Keep earlier versions of the site.
  • Frequently update the content and sitemaps.
  • Use free or paid advertisement tools to promote your website (i.e. Google AdWords, forums, website directories…).