A general schedule to designing and building a site.
Pre-define project scope & Quotation
Firstly the goals of a proposed website need to be defined, this involves developing a clear understanding of what’s achievable for a given budget and / or timeframe.
It involves having an understanding of what your business is and does, including:
- short and long term goals
- target market
- competitors
Other criteria need to be identified such as:
- what is the proposed website functionality
- site structure
- ongoing upkeep and management of the website
- desired feel and presentation of the site
This is generally assisted with my website-planning-checklist than can be viewed and downloaded here.
Initial Payment to commence.
A Quotation for the proposed work will be provided as well as an invoice to commence work if accepted.
All project payments require confirmation of transferred funds in order to progress to a following stage. Initial payment also confirms acceptance the projects payment schedule and terms and conditions.
Design
Whether it’s professional, corporate, clean or creative design? after the website goals and requirements have been defined, designs are generally delivered within one and two weeks.
Configuration
Appropriate systems are now set-up and configured, this may include hosting, content management systems (CMS), email hosting & setup, domain name delegation and migration. These tasks may happen earlier depending on the project.
Develop
Once the design is signed off the site structure and HTML are developed into templates for a content management system or the occasional interactive prototype. Clients are able to review the progress at key stages on-line in a dedicated production area.
Data Entry
Content insertion is charged at an hourly rate separate to the quote, unless accounted for in the quote and is provided within the deadline. This may be included either as an allocated number of pages or hours depending on the content requirements and quantities.
Testing
Although testing is continually performed up until now, final site tests are undertaken across multiple browsers, support is Internet Explorer 6 & 7 are no longer supported unless specifically requested.
Deploy
The site has been built and tested and waiting for sign off and final payment.
Please note: Although projects have proposed time lines they are an estimated guide, clients often request changes or additions as a development evolves and timelines may need to be adjusted accordingly.
