Thinking about developing a web site

If you're thinking you'd like to develop a web site for personal, business or organisation purposes, there are a few things you should consider before you even think about technologies and packages. That's because a web site is essentially about communication, just as a letter, book, CD or video is communication. If we rush in to think about technology too quickly we may waste a lot of time and money developing something that is boring, irrelevant, confusing or just not focussed right.

Some Steps to help:

These are the main things to think about before talking to a web designer. There are boxes to fill these in and send to me on the right, together with more explanation. The objectives are to make assumptions overt and to focus general thinking. These are all arbitrary and only the client can really decide the answers.

Then a web designer or architect or general consultant will be able to make specific recommendations. The first ones are more important. Some later questions can be worked on in consultation with a competant web designer.

1. Why are we doing it?

  • Decide your primary and secondary audience.
  • Decide the main purpose and secondary purposes for the site

2. Rough budget - time & money

  • How much can you afford for startup and ongoing costs?
  • How much time will be allocated to startup and updates?

3. Look at free options

  • What do you need that you can't get for free?

4. Names, Space etc

  • Decide what domain name(s) you want - primary and alternative ones.
  • What kind of content?
  • How much space and usage is expected to be required?

5. Who's Responsible

  • Who decides the look and feel of the site?
  • Where will the content come from?
  • Who pays for it?
  • What happens after launch? Who keeps it going?

6. Initial Design and Content

  • Do we have existing style, logo etc to fit into?
    • How should the web branding fit with other styling to give coherent communication?
  • What categories of content do you envisage?
  • What content will be available at launch?

 

Finally, look at my general hosting plans to see what I could offer you, and look around at others to see how they compare.

Specific Questions:  

What's your email address (so I can get back to you)?

1. Audience & Purpose
  • Who is the most important audience? Describe as succinctly as possible.
  • What effect do you want the site to have?
Secondary Audiences
Primary Purpose
Other Purposes
2. Budget
Money £ — £
  • How much time and money are you able to devote to this site?
Time —
   
3. Free Options
 

Look at sites like:

…and work out what you want to do that those sites don't let you do:
  • You don't need to do this, but it can save you a bit of time and money if you check whether you can just use a nice free off-the-shelf framework.
4. Names & Space
Primary Domain eg rowbory.co.uk
  • Domains are a site's identity. They'll be what you use in other media to refer people to your site.
  • It's good to think of things that the primary audience would understand and which might draw them in.
  • The kind of content and the number of expected visitors to the site will affect choice of technologies, design and hosting options.
Other Domains

eg rowbory.net,
rowbury.co.uk (common mis-spellings or alternatives)
Kind of Content with images
/ Photo albums
Main Content

What will characterise the site?
How Many Visitors Expected
   
5. Who's Responsible
Look and Feel
  • Who is responsible for these decisions and ongoing management of the site and content?
Content
Paying
After Launch
6. Initial Design and Content
Existing style or logo
  • Does the organisation already have a logo or design style?
Categories of Content
  • eg:
  • About
  • News
  • Downloads
  • …
Launch Content
  • What content will be available at launch?
Any other comments?
   

 
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David & Julie Rowbory • Wycliffe Bible Translators in Training • Currently studying in Nairobi, Kenya