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What is Web Development?

What do I need to know about web development process and working with a web developer so that my website development project is successfully executed and completed?

  • Let's say I'm a business owner who wants to have an online presence, so I decide to have a website developed. Although I know the results I want from the website, I'm clueless about website development process, its technical terms, and how to work with a web developer. In order to have a successful project, I need to understand how it works, what the phases are, what I can do to help the developer do his/her job well, and how to communicate when our languages are quite different. To summarize it, I don't want to be a "client from hell". I did my homework before I created this question, actually. I read this slide http://www.slideshare.net/hend.alkhalifa/website-development-process-6801397, but some weird terms made me stare blankly at my computer screen. :'( What is an information architect? What are environmental requirements? I tried to find related articles and ended up reading articles written for programmers, not for clients. I'd appreciate much if you can explain the whole process to me, a super-noob in website development.

  • Answer:

    Your best bet is to hire someone who can completely take over the part form your "I know the results I want from the website" statement. Understanding all the aspects would be too much work for you -- and, I assume, as the owner of the business you would rather invest your time into the business itself. Just a quick overview from the top of my head: beyond a great-looking website itself you probably would like to have high-quality content, community around it, presence it major social media, regular promotion campaigns, audience analysis and business intelligence, perhaps some gamification around your products. Hiring someone as equity- and revenue partner would likely work better in the long run. You will only be the "client from hell" if your demands are unclear and disproportional -- and basic business negotiation skills would easily allow you to eliminate both of these pitfalls.

Dima Korolev at Quora Visit the source

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As a web developer I have worked with many different business owners, and the process is less difficult than you are making it. First decide on how you will know your website is a success.  By how pretty it looks?  By how well it reflects your company image?  By how many inquiries it generates?  By how many people see it?  I had one client who counted his site a success simply because it had the content he needed to refer clients to instead of mailing them literature.  Or perhaps your goal is to collect email addresses.  Or sell stuff online.  Whatever your criteria for success, this is the first thing you need to communicate to your developer.Second is the content of the website.  Are you creating it?  Do you need a copywriter?  How frequently will the content change?  Who will make the changes?  If the goal of the site is to gently guide a visitor down the primrose path to a desired outcome then depending on your own abilities you may want an "information architect" to layout the content of each page and guide the reader to your desired conclusion.Then it is time to think about the appearance of the site.  Is it integrated with your other marketing materials?  Have you looked at theme templates or do you want an artist to design something just for you?There are two things that make a "client from hell", not knowing what you want, and changing your mind after you start.  Once you have thought about the above, then it is time for your project management skills.  Can you write an RFP?  Specify all the above in writing and get several companies to respond.  Before accepting a proposal decide on timelines.  When will you get to see a preliminary layout?  How long will it take to make revisions? When will you get to see and test the entire site?  How long will testing last and when will the site go live?  Are there penalties for late delivery?  How does your developer handle changes?  Does your developer speak an understandable language or is it all techno-jargon?Find a developer you can trust, who understands your goals, and let him do his job.  But come down hard if you are not getting what you want when you agreed it would be done.  On the other hand, be very gentle if you need changes, and know they will affect both cost and deadlines.That is about it.  Good luck.

Steven Arbitman

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