Whether you're putting together a few online resources for a course you're teaching or looking to develop a full-blown Web presence, the checklist below can help keep planning and development on track:
- Identify your customers' requirements and develop a list of required content and features based on their input. It's best not to assume you know what they need.
- Benchmark similar Web sites. Let your customers help you to identify the outstanding ones, and those that fall short. You will come away with a lot of ideas for what -- and what not -- to do.
- Bring your technical experts into the planning process from the very beginning. These individuals will be able to guide you in what is feasible and can help set up a realistic time frame.
- Develop an overall set of goals for the site that are both short-term and long-term, based on feasibility and timeframe. While it may not be realistic to launch your entire concept at the beginning, high priority items can be followed with other information and features over time.
- At the design phase, consult the IST Web Style Guide, the Penn State Web Style Guide, and the University Style Manual to make sure that your site is meeting design, navigation, and content requirements. Using the logos, banners, marks, and other resources provided by these guides will also save you development time (links to these resources are listed at the end of this article).
- Keep in mind that about 25 percent of resources go toward site development while 50 to 75 percent go toward ongoing maintenance and upgrades. Allocate resources accordingly.
- Identify who will be responsible for authoring the content and develop a schedule for content updates. Ideally those managing content are not those also managing the Web architecture. If the site is set up within a content management system, so much the better.
- Plan for user feedback and usability testing over the course of the site's lifetime. Again, do not assume you know what your customers need.
Further Reading:
Web Design: Workflow that Works, by Kelly Goto and Emily Cotler
Don't Make Me Think! A Common Sense Approach to Web Usability, by Steve Krug
