This is the first article in a series of articles, developing the website for Ceptura Internet Solutions. Since I’m the lead developer of the team, I’ve chosen to give people a nice overview in the process of developing the website. I’m going to take you inside all the steps of the developing process, enjoy the ride!
Photo by David Wilmot
In the first article we’re going to have a look at the first step in the process of developing a complex website. A step that people tend to forget, and also is one of the most important but at the same time the most boring step. Researching is of great value for all new websites, especially for websites that need to be used for a few years.
Ceptura Internet Solutions is a company that would like to use the Internet for their initial contact to customers. In order to do this properly, the website must serve the customers and the company itself in a outstanding way and must perform well under all circumstances.
A new folder stuffed with bookmarks
It might sound a bit strange, but you can learn a lot from other websites. Spend a few hours just by browsing through sites of other companies in your niche, find out how they’ve solved problems that you will have to cope with.
Off course, take a look at the design as well and see how the design relates to the functionality of the site. Is the design bothering you or is the design just right? Bookmark the websites that you like and fill in the description for the website, with the facts that you like about it. The description box serves this purpose perfectly, but in daily use, you won’t use it at all (at least I won’t).
Once we have a few bookmarks (15 to 20 sites will be enough), it’s time to create a document in which you are going to sum up all the facts that you like about other sites. Use the headings of the document to divide the facts in a logical way. We’re going to use this document later in the process to create a planning and setting up our goals.
An example of how to store the facts about one site in the document;
- Google - http://www.google.com/
This site offers great features in a minimalistic layout. Great usage of whitespace and great structure within the search results.- Positive:
- Attractive minimalistic design
- Great structure and layout
- Google is well known, great branding - Negative:
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- Positive:
Organise communication with developers
Communication is very important if you’re going to cooperate with other developers. Email can be a way to communicate, but it’s hard to keep track of all the emails that contain valuable information. A far better way to organise communication is using forums.
Forums are easy to install, for example phpBB, and give great value to your communication. Forums enable you and the other developers to write down their thoughts and read other peoples words. Make sure you keep your forums clean and tidy and spend lots of time communicating with the other developers.
Since communication is important while working together with other humans, it is of great value to maintain good contacts with other developers and people involved. A good laugh from time to time, is a great advice to be able to work effective together, don’t push to hard on staying serious all the time. People aren’t capable of working 24/7, so derivation is also a great advice.
On to the next step
What’s up for the next step? In the next step we’re going to create a realistic planning and start creating our first sketches that will form our initial design. Also, we will have a look at how to decide what the site needs and the features we really should not add.
The final thing we’re going to do in the next step is taking a look at our features and sketches, in the way a visitor or customer will look at it. This is a great way to improve the experience for our visitors.
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