Our Web Site Design and Development Process

Our web design and development process includes the following 6 steps:

1.    Information Gathering
2.    Planning
3.    Design
4.    Development
5.    Testing and Delivery
6.    Maintenance (optional)

Typically, it takes 2-4 weeks for web design/development project.  Some projects might take longer time, while others take shorter time. It really depends on the project need (customer requirements).

Step 1: Information Gathering

Obviously, the first step is to gather information on the web design and development. Many things need to be considered here. for instance,

• What the purpose of the site? Do you want to provide information, promote a service or sell a project?
• What the fuctions and features are you expecting for?
• Do you have any specific target group/audience?
• What kind of contents you want to put on your web site?
• How do you want your web site look and feel?

Step 2: Planning

We need planning no matter if it is a big project or small project.  No plan, no aciton. With the information we gather in step one, we will have a planning session on the web design and development. The planning session basically lays down the path for the next movement. The detailed time and cost estimate will be provided. We will also reach the  the concensus on the project  time and estimate here with some defined deliverables.

Step 3: Design

Drawing from the information gathered up to this point, it’s time to determine the look and feel and to layout the funcitons and features of youe web site or web application. You know, a web site targeted to sport fans will look much different than one meant for a home owners. 

Things will be conducted here (but not limited to):

• Company logo design (if you haven't had one already)
• Graphic design
• Layout design
• Style design (fonts, colors, etc)
• Content design

The deliverable from this prototype design in this step could be an image (screenshot) of what your web site will look like, or one live page your web site on our server that you can actually see it on the web.The most important reason for this is that it gives you the opportunity to express your likes and dislikes on the site design. It is very important that you work closely with us to ensure the final design that will match your needs and taste. We will move to the site development once you are good with our design.

Step 4: Development

No question that this is the point where the web site/application itself is created. Web pages will be created, and functions and features (ie. interactive contact forms, flash animations or ecommerce shopping carts)  will be added here according to the previous design.

During the development step, your in-progress web site will be made available to you for viewing, so that you can suggest any additional changes or corrections you would like to have done.

Step 5: Testing and Delivery

It is for sure that the web site/application needs to be fully tested before delivering and releasing into production. The problems discovered in this phase will be corrected before delivery.

Your web final web site/application can be delivered and published to your web server (your web hosting company) or to our web server/hosting if you choose to.

Step 6: Maintenance (optional)

The delivery of your web site/application is not necessarily over of your web projects. One way to bring repeat visitors to your site is to offer new content, products or functions/features on a regular basis. So updating your web site in a regular basis (keep your web site up to date) is something you have to do if you take your web site/application seriously. We will be more than happy to continue working together with you, to update the information on your web site. We offer maintenance packages at reduced rates, based on how often you anticipate making changes or additions to your web site.

But you are not tied to us. You can update your own content if you like to with a Content Management System (CMS) implemented to your web site.  With some minimal training, you should be able to update your web content with CMS. Though CMS is nice on the site maintenance, it might not be good for every case of web design and development. The decision on if using CMS or not should be determined in the planning step (step 2).

It’s really up to you as far as how comfortable you feel on updating your own web site. Some people prefer to have all the control so that they can make updates to their own web site the minute they decide to do so with training or without training, while others prefer to hand off the web site entirely, as they can focus their precious time on the real business development.

To update a web site without CMS implemented, you would need to have some basic HTML/CSS knowledge. Also, there are updates (for instance, adding secured shopping cart, new web addons such as event calendar) you probably can not do it without angaging IT professionals (designer/developer) in.