Web Design and Development

Web Design and Development process has well defined stages to go through. The general flow of the process is mentioned as follows though actual process may differ depending upon specific project requirements. The main steps or phases that website development project goes through are

1. Planning/Preliminary Phase
2. Analysis Phase
3. Design Prototype
4. Development
5. Testing
6. Publish/Implement

1. Planning phase: This phase involves in gathering preliminary Information as much as possible. The process involves communication with the client through phone, email or in person meetings followed by completion of web design questionaire. Objectives of web design questionaire are

• Documenting clients ideas, requirements and preferences about website design and development
• Get to know about client's business model
• Deciding about deliverables from client if any e.g. Content Text, Photos, Audio, Video etc.
• Deciding about web hosting service and domain name registration
• Establishing measureable goals for the project

Based on the information gathered, we will deliver cost estimates and approximate timeframe for the project. This quotation is delivered free of charge. Upon acceptance standard contract is signed with 30% deposit of the project cost by the client.

2. Analysis Phase: This is a very important step as successful websites rely on many factors besides mere visual designs. The factors need to be highlighted are

• Research clients industry, competition, target market, best keywords
• Establish Theme of the website
• Establish Looks of the website supporting the theme e.g. High Tech, Artistic, Simple and clean, Elegant etc.

All these factors are researched and discussed with client before final requirement document is prepared and approved by client.

3. Design Phase: In this phase design prototype is presented to client for review. All the details are discussed. Client's comments and feedback is used to implement changes in the design until final refined design is approved by the client. The key areas are

• Site navigation
• Database design (if any)
• Graphics based on requirements
• Color combinations, fonts preferences

4. Development Phase: In development phase of the process the approved design is converted into functional web pages by writing code based on standards. Content is inserted into web pages. The important steps in this phase includes

• HTML Coding of the web pages following SEO practices
• Client side or server side scripting
• Form validations
• Database Development (if any) by inserting sample Data delivered by Client
• Shopping Cart and Checkout process (if required)
• Contact Us Page with Email Functionality using submit button

5. Testing Phase: Testing is done at intervals throughout the development process. Main areas covered are

• Functional Testing to test all the links in web pages, database connections, form fields
• Usability Testing to check ease of usability by the user that covers easy site navigation, errorless content, help files where needed to guide users
• Compatibility Testing: Site is checked for Browser Compatibility by running on major browsers like Internet Explorer, Firefox, Opera, Safari etc

6. Publish / Launch of website: Once the testing is complete and any bugs or errors are fixed, site is uploaded on our staging site to get client's review and feedback. Any minor changes are applied if needed. Upon approval by client and final payment of project cost, all files are copied to clients domain address and tested again on clients web server. Site is then submitted to search engines manually and automatically. Minor changes are applied if any free of extra charges upto 2 weeks after site published on net.