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Administrative: Gather info from client.
- Who's the target audience?
- What kind of information will they be wanting to find?
- Example url's of sites that they like, what elements they like about them.
- Basic color scheme.
- Samples of the work the client would like to showcase (what format are they in, i.e. digital, or will scanning be necessary?)
- Will the site be static or will there be movement (flash or javascript animations)?
- Name(s) desired for url (if domain name is not registered yet). It is possible that the name desired may already be taken. Careful consideration must be taken to create the domain name. Is it something people will remember easily? Acquire hosting service and domain registration if necessary. Setup email account(s).
- Meta information: what will people searching for your site type in (keywords) the search engine. Using more keywords throughout the content of the site will optimize your site and make it more accessible for the search engine.
Design: Steps for designing the site
- Sketch out basic design comp including layout, basic graphic elements, and navigation.
- Once signed off the next step is to create a design comp using Photoshop. This will be used to create the graphic elements, optimize photos (scan if necessary), and crop all elements to create the basic layout of the page.
Development: The "Meat and Potatoes" portion
- Create file directory including file names, image names, and main directory names.
- Title of each page- helps identify the content of the page, name of site.
- Create style sheets- controls the majority of design attributes of the site including font styles, some rollover effects, layout control, and scrollbar effects.
- Develop tables, flash components, javascript effects (navigation rollovers, popup windows), navigational systems (how will each page link to one another).
Testing: Making sure everything plays well together
- This is going through the site, making sure there are no spelling errors, broken links, all the images appear correctly, make sure things are browser compatible, cross platform (Mac vs. PC), email links work, and everything plays well together.
Deployment: The final frontier
- Loading everything up to the server located wherever the hosting service of choice is.
- Testing once again when everything is loaded onto the server to make sure things work well in its new home.
- Submitting the url to search engines, generally google, yahoo, and msn.
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