Jul 30 2010
The other day I was outlining our web design process for an internal document and as I was writing every single step it was interesting to see on paper just what goes into creating a website.
A lot of people, it seems, think that web design is easy or shouldn't take that long. Usually these are the same that expect a site to cost $500 or less, or think it can be done in a week and half. With programs like Dreamweaver or iWeb it's easy to see why this is believed.
Of course web design isn't the most difficult thing on the world. We're not curing cancer or sending people into space after all. But there's a big difference between throwing some linked pages together and truly designing and developing a website. This is a fact that even some supposed web designers don't get. Take this list of things for example:
- Competitive analysis
- Information architecture pieces such as site mapping and wireframing
- Usability testing
- Browser testing
- Feature and functionality testing and bug squashing
- Sketching and brainstorming original concepts
- Refining a concept to a high fidelity layout
- Writing HTML and CSS
- Programming in PHP/MySQL or some other web programing language
- Working with CMS software
- Coding jQuery for extra oomph
- More testing and code validation
- Content migration plans
- Copywriting and all the steps that come with it
- Server issues to tackle such as redirecting URLs or cron jobs
- SEO including keyword research and on-page optimization
- Moving the development site to live
And that's just one web agency's typical list. Still think web design is as easy as buying Photoshop and Dreamweaver?