If you plan well, your
project has a better chance of staying on budget, time wise as well as
monetary. Specifically, you need to address three steps:
1.
Define the GOALS of your site.
2.
Define the FUNTIONS required.
3.
Define the TECHNICAL requirements.
None of these steps
needs to be overly involved, but you do have to take the time to write
each definition in a document. These documents will help you stay on
track.
Before you begin to work, sit
down and take the time to write out what you are trying to achieve with
your site. Let's work with a hypothetical example. The following is my
own Garden Shed, but the principles apply to any web-development
circumstance.
Project Goals for the
Deep in the Garden Web Site
Deep in the Garden
will be an online exhibition of the work I do in my shed
The site will include
12 images of toy making in my shed, also 10 images of the construction
of a Toy (tutorial for others)
The site will include
2 interviews with me, a tutorial, my resume, and my contact information.
The purpose of the
site is primarily to promote my work, to give me an online
"Business
card," and perhaps to lead to a sale or two, although no selling will be
done directly on the site.
Functional
Requirements
The result of your
planning will be a broad wish list that might include the following:
·
I would
like my visitors to be able to search the site for images and, when they
click on them, be able to zoom in and see each piece,
·
My users
need to be able to scan the images quickly and then pick the image that
they want to see in more detail.
·
My
Neighbour has a slow dial-up connection to the web, and I want her to be
able to look at my site. I hate sites that take a long time to load.
·
It must
be easy for users to contact me; I want them to be able to call or send
me an email if they want to buy a piece or show my art.
·
It must
be easy to get from page to page
Technical
·
Target browsers and operating systems—
Do you care about 4.0 browsers? Only modern browsers? Handheld devices?
Do you care whether your site works on a PC, or are your users on Macs?
Be sure to list these receiving devices explicitly, accurately, and
carefully. Use this list to test browser performance as you go.
·
HTML and CSS—
Do you have a particular HTML and Cascading Style Sheet specification in
mind?
·
Scripting—
Be explicit about how you use JavaScript. I personally believe that
every function must work when JavaScript is turned off. This keeps a
broader range of users happy, including those who lack access to
JavaScript-capable browsers.
·
Bandwidth requirements—
Take the time to determine whether your audience is primarily using low-
or high-speed Internet connections. If most are on some kind of
broadband connection such as DSL or cable, you will not have to worry
about speed optimization as much as you would if most users were on
dial-up connections.
Now that you have your project
goals, functional requirements, and technical requirements in place, you are
ready to begin production. Your life will be much easier and your work much more
efficient because you have taken the time to plan. You will have to make
adjustments as you go, but with each shift you'll create good documentation.
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