Before building a website

Considerations before building

• What is the purpose of the site?
• Hosting and a domain name
• Domain name registration should not cost more than $25/yr
• Hosting costs depend on the type of website you’re creating (ex. small personal websites should not cost more than $100 annually to host
• Hosting choices may depend on supported server-side tech
• Whether to build it yourself or hire someone

A user-friendly, well-structured site will

• Deepen engagement
• Increase conversion
• Raise satisfaction
• Bring users back

A Word About Web Design

Previously design was very separated from development

• Pros: Strong design skills, no need to deal with learning curve of dev, just pass from role to role
• Cons: causes problems when handing off to a developer, teamwork + products suffer

Design Best Practices

• No longer designing for one view (e.g. desktop)
• Consider multiple views across devices i.e. Responsive sites across multiple platforms (desktop, phone, pads/tablets)
• Content + design thought through from big to small

Design Best Practices

• User-Centered
• Keep it clear and simple – make the purpose clear from the get go
• Make primary actions obvious so the users know where to go
• Keep navigation in an easy-to-access format
• Test!

What languages to use

• You’ll definitely use HTML and CSS
• You may use JavaScript to make things interactive
• If you want to store or retrieve data, you’ll need a server-side language
• You may want to be able to make your own content changes so a CMS (Content Management Software) platform is best for you

The Team

Front end:

• User Experience Designer
• Graphic Designer
• Web Developer

Back end:

• Server Admin
• Database Admin
• Web Developer/Software Engineer