Website design is a process that involves many steps, all of which are necessary to create a website. These phases are the front-end development cycle and back-end development cycle.
The front end has three main components: information architecture, user interface design, and graphic design.
The back end consists of coding languages like HTML5, CSS3, JavaScript, etc. All of these steps must be followed in order to develop an effective website for users to use today.
When working with a web design and development agency, it is imperative to review the entire process. It’s very easy for a random company to mess up your website if they don’t follow the process.
You must discuss and take the necessary steps in advance in order to collaborate with a web designer.
You should be aware of the entire process to avoid being scammed. Let’s find out how this works.
1. Research
Web design and development is a multi-phased process that includes both design and development activities. The planning phase, which comes first in the list of phases, details how these activities are to be carried out.
Designers begin by identifying sites’ audiences and examining site goals: what the sites aim to achieve for their visitors. For example, a site that allows visitors to book hotel reservations will have different audiences and goals than a site that sells physical merchandise.
After identifying the audiences and defining objectives, designers develop specifications for each element of the design: how it looks and what functionality is required.
After finalizing the visual and functional requirements, designers typically create prototypes of pages or sections of the site. By the end of the planning phase, production-level code is prepared for designers to implement in an iterative development process.
It’s important during this phase to remember that design and functionality are often tightly interwoven; it may not be possible to create high-quality designs without a thorough knowledge of programming constraints and techniques.
For instance, the site’s visual design might call for non-standard HTML/CSS techniques that are impossible to implement without knowing how they affect site functionality.
2. Planning
Mapping out assumptions and constraints at this early stage helps designers avoid costly changes later on. And, because designers usually work closely with their Web production counterparts during the planning phase. There is an opportunity to identify and fix potential problems before implementation begins.
The planning phase is where fundamental questions about the project (Who is the site’s audience? What do we hope they will accomplish by visiting?) are resolved. This process can be as simple as making assumptions based on available data or as involved as commissioning extensive surveys and usability tests, which test how well users understand specific site information or processes.
3. Wireframing
Wireframing is one of the most crucial phases in web design and development. This phase has a huge impact on how long it takes to build your site, the quality of work that goes into building your site. And ultimately what you get out of your website.
You can find wireframes for just about any type of website, but they all have the same goal: to create an outline for content placement before starting coding.
Wireframes are not meant to be finished products; rather they’re there as a guide so designers know where everything will go when it comes time to code pages with HTML or CSS.
4. Prototype
Prototyping is a crucial phase in web design and development. It offers an opportunity to test out ideas, validate assumptions. Improve the final product, reduce rework later on, and increase user satisfaction.
Prototypes are often considered “throwaway” designs that are replaced by the actual finished product when it’s launched.
However, through prototyping, you can save time and money because you’re able to catch problems before they become bigger issues down the road.
5. Development
In the web design and development world, there are a number of phases that need to be completed before you have a functional website.
A common misconception among those with an idea is that. You can hire someone to create your content.
The reality, however, is much more complex than this. To start with, one needs to decide what platform they want their site developed on (i.e., WordPress or Drupal).
Then they will need to hire a web designer who can create wireframes for the layout of the site as well as any associated graphics.
6. Testing and Maintenance
In web design and development, there are two phases: Testing & Maintenance. The testing phase is the process of checking a website to find out if it works properly with browsers, operating systems. And other technologies that your audience may be using.
After the approval from client or business owner the site enters into maintenance mode. This means that updates will need to take place regularly in order for the site to remain up-to-date and functional.
Both testing and maintenance require extensive knowledge about HTML, CSS, JavaScripting languages like jQuery as well as many others like PHP among others. If you do not have this knowledge yourself then it is important to hire someone who does because failing to keep a website updated can result in lost traffic and leads.
7. Marketing your website to the public
Marketing your website to the public phase in web design and development is an important part of the journey that you are embarking on. Market your content effectively to attract more people’s attention.
One of the best ways is through social media sites like Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest and Twitter. Once you have created a solid foundation for these pages, they will begin bringing in more traffic than ever before! If done properly, this can increase interest exponentially.
This blog post provides information about when marketing should start during the web design and development process as well as how social media sites can help with online marketing efforts by improving search engine optimization (SEO) ranking while also increasing site traffic overall.
Conclusion
Designing and developing a website is no easy task. It might take months to plan, sketch out, wireframe, design, build on the front-end and back-end development side of things before you see your first glimpse of it come to life on screen or in print. Therefore it is important to know the ins and out of the process before you actually start.
