Understanding the Web Design Process
It is very helpful for you to understand the web design process, so that you know what to expect when building a new website.
Establishing Goals
First, the web designer needs to learn about your business and the goals you have for your new website. What do you do? Who is your target audience? Who are your competitors? Your web designer needs to completely understand your business, and the main objectives you want to achieve with your new web site.
Site Architecture
Next, the site architecture for the entire site is determined. The site architecture basically lists all the main sections of the site, as well as all the subsections. For example, you may have main sections such as: Home, Products, Services, About, Contact. Within each of these main sections, you may have several subsections. The goal is to create a site architecture that is easy to navigate, intuitive, and flexible.
Graphical Design
Next comes the graphical design which determines the look of your website. If building a custom design, this step involves creating prototype designs until a final design is agreed upon. If using a theme, this step involves evaluating various themes to find the theme that you like the most. Graphical design is also part of the content phase in which various graphics are designed for the home page, and other pages of the site.
Web Hosting
Now that it is time to start building the actual web pages, web hosting is setup for the new website. This is completely independent of your current website, so that the new site can be built separately. During this phase, WordPress or whichever platform your website is built upon will be installed on the web server.
Framework & Programming
With the web server being ready, the web pages can now be built. At first, all the web pages are added with no content. Then as the content becomes available, it is added to each web page. This phase also involves adding any features and programming to the website.
Adding Content
This is often the longest task in the entire process. You have a big job in getting together all the content for the website. And the web designer has a big job in adding all that content to the website. Make sure that you proofread and spellcheck all your text before handing it off to the web designer.
Going Live
After all the content is added, and the site has been thoroughly reviewed, it is time to go live! This usually just requires a setting change with your domain registrar, and within 24 hours your new site will be live.
The web design process is straight forward and follows the steps listed above. Becoming familiar with this process will help you work together with your web designer.
