Web Development Cycle

Types of Sites

• informational

• entertainment

• e-commerce

• administration

• persuasion

web development team

a group of people working together as a team develops a website

project manager

oversees the web site project and coordinates the team

information architect

clarifies the goals and mission of the web site, determines functionality

marketing rep

deals with the marketing plans and goalsg

graphic designer

determines the color scheme and graphics

network administrator

configures and manages the software, hardware, web server etc.

web developer

writes the HTML and CSS code, plus javascript

Develops server-side scripting

Development Process

1. Concept

2. Analysis

3. Design

4. Production

5. Testing

6. Launch

Concept stage

• who is client?

• what are goals?

• who is target audience?

Analysis stage

• determine information topics

• functionality requirements(what site will do and not do)

• Environmental requirements

• content requirements

• compare old approach with new

• review competitor sites

• estimate costs

Design Stage

1. Website organization Structure

2. Page Layout

3. Document each page

4. prototype the layout

5. imagery/graphics

Web organization structures

• linear

• hierarchical

• web

• mixed

linear

sequential order

hierarchical

home page with navigation links to major site sections

• often used for commercial and corporate websites

web

no clear path through site

• not used for commercial sites

mixed

integrates various aspects of other structures

page layout/wireframes

a sketch or blueprint of a webpage

• shows structure of the basic page elements including: header, nav, content, footer, image locations

above the fold

place important items on the top portion of the web page

Production stage

1. choose web authoring tool

2. code your site

3. organize your site files

4. reference your design notes

Testing

1. test on different browsers

2. test different screen resolutions

3. bandwidth testing

4. mobile devices

5. accessibility

maintenance

• who is taking care of your site

• who determines what updates should be done

things to consider

• registering domain name

• web hosting virtually or dedicated hosting

• registering with search engines