How We Do It...
Many web site design projects fail as a result of insufficient planning, unclear expectations and/or lack of adequate project management. The following text details the design process situ8 uses to make certain there is a successful result and assure that our clients' web site objectives are met. We have spent a lot of time fine-tuning this process and although it may seem lengthy, it has proven to reduce the overall design and development time by clarifying the scope of work, responsibilities, schedule, acceptance criteria and ongoing support.
Phase I - Plan and Specify: Once the decision is made to go forward with a web site project, the first step is to consider the goals you have for your site. This may be performed on your own, or in collaboration with situ8 so that we can give insight into what's feasible considering current web technology. This is the time to identify the benefits a web site has to offer your organization. For example: Are there financial benefits? Do you have a service or information that others need or want? Once you have justified moving ahead, the next step is to identify your web site users; not just the visitors, but any administrators, content providers and support personnel (will you update the web site or will situ8 perform the hosting and maintenance?)
Next, consider your organization's processes? Are you selling a service, a product or providing educational content? Do you need shopping cart and e-commerce capabilities? Do you publish newsletters and other articles that need to be reviewed online? Do you want to maintain a web log (blog) or manage a discussion forum that needs to be moderated? Who is going to perform these tasks and how often? Keeping your budget in mind, prioritize the features that you want on your web site – identify the “nice to have” features and the “must have” features?
Once answers to the types of questions above have been formulated, it's time for situ8 to prepare a specification and formal proposal based on this information. The proposal will address each section of the web site specification - what work is to be performed, including web site features and services (e.g. e-commerce, content management system, search engine optimization, databases, etc.); project timeline including milestones; responsibility matrix; ongoing support and maintenance; and the costs associated with each aspect of the project. Once your organization receives the proposal, it's time to review, revise, and ask any additional questions. Once the specification and proposal meet your expectations, the analysis and design phase will commence.
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Phase II - Analyze and Design: The objective of this phase is to analyze the requirements and develop a "mock-up" (graphical or partially functional representation) of the web site. The reason is to ensure the theme, layout and user interface all meet your expectations prior to in-depth coding - it's easier to make changes at this time rather than after coding has started. The design will consider the following:
- Technology Requirements: Is the web site for an intranet or will it run on the Internet? What systems does it have to interface with? Are there specific software or development platforms required? Is there a database already - which system? Granted, these questions were already answered in the specification but still must be considered again when it comes to the design. If your organization already has an intranet or extranet, then that system may already dictate or influence the design of the web site.
- Theme Development: Your organization determines the overall theme of the web site, but there's more to it than just creating a sporting, non-profit, or technology web site. Your site has to promote action, invoke emotion and has to be identifiable with your visitors and users. It has to be pleasing to the eye and provide a trouble-free experience. The right colors, buttons, lines and other graphical and textual content will help ensure your web site connects with your target audience.
- Web Site Organization: A good web site layout takes the visitor's requirements and experience into consideration. Navigational elements must be easy to identify and clarify where they will take the user throughout the web site. The web site layout should flow naturally and help visitors find exactly what they're looking for within a few clicks. If the web site is poorly structured or inconsistent, visitors may be become frustrated and simply leave.
- User Interface: This is how your visitors interact with the web site. It defines the quality of your web site helps express the credibility of your organization. From compelling images and colors to well-organized, informative and typo-free content, this is the most critical aspect of the project. Good content and appropriate presentation are the keys to your web site's success.
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Phase III - Develop, Test and Implement: Working off the finalized mock-up, we begin developing the functional web site - coding, creating the database and content management tools, preparing graphics and content, and optimizing the web site for search engines. Throughout the development, we give you updates on the project status and present the web site for your review at prescribed milestones. Once all of the features are integrated and the web site is fully functional, we perform stringent testing to ensure that its performance exceeds the demands of your visitors and users.
Whether we created your web site from the ground up, or just gave it a facelift, we prepare and execute an appropriate test plan to ensure there is nothing wrong with your web site before it's published on the web. We understand the impact on credibility that slow performance, broken links or java script errors have when your clients view your web site. At situ8, we consider testing one of the most important steps in your project.
Once the web site performs as expected and fulfills all the requirements of the specification, we go live. Your web site is made available to visitors (or your defined users) and submitted to the search engines if required. Now the support and maintenance phase commences.
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Phase IV - Support and Maintain: We offer our clients hosting and maintenance services that will ensure your site is kept up to date and running 24/7. Although you are not required to use our service, you'll find that we offer the best service and support available. We provide around-the-clock technical support and have the hardware/bandwidth available to scale your site or application regardless of the demands.
As your web site hosting and maintenance provider, we'll keep your web site optimized for search engines and resubmit it on a periodic basis to ensure your web site maintains its high ranking. Additionally, when you want to add new features to your web site, we can rapidly develop and deploy the right solution.
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