Myrtle Beach Web Design • North Myrtle Beach Web Design • Surfside Beach Web Design • Garden City Beach Web Design

Professional Web Design Serving Myrtle Beach, North Myrtle Beach, And Surrounding Areas
101 Purple Martin Drive • Murrells Inlet • SC 29576 • Phone: 843.651.0162
Web Design Process
The web design process is a structured methodology implemented by web developers to maximize web development efficiency and reduce development costs.

Simply put, web sites are not effectively developed by trial and error. Instead, they are developed in complete stages ranging from planning to site launch. Planning is key in achieving your goals and managing costs.

The design process may vary depending on the size and complexity of the web site but there are some elements common to all web development that the customer should consider.

Your Target Audience
Who are you trying to reach and why? Are you selling products or services online, providing information about your business, providing customer service? The list goes on but it's important that you communicate to us who you want to reach and why. The solution to achieving your current and future goals may range from a simple web presence site to the implementation of a complex database site. Alltec can best help you find a solution when we are clear on your current and future goals.

How do you expect people to find your site? Some clients rely heavily on search engines while others may rely on paid advertising, printing their domain address in brochures, on business cards or other documents. On the other hand, some clients may not want their site available to the public. If you are relying on search engines your site should be developed and optimized to provide you the best rankings possible. Many people think that search engines rank your site by adding search keywords to the pages but unfortunately this hasn't been true for over a decade. How you expect people to find your site greatly impacts how your site is structured and developed.
Site Requirements
There are many types of web sites varying in complexity and cost. Consider the following before making your decision:
  • Will an inexpensive brochure or web presence site be adequate?
  • Will the content on the site change often? It may be far less expensive to maintain a site that changes often by having custom software written that will enable you to add and change pages by filling out simple web forms rather than paying a web designer to make the modifications.
  • Do you need an e-commerce site? If so, will you need the ability to process credit cards online? If you have a lot of products a commercial package may be a better choice than incurring the expense of developing a site from scratch.
  • Do you need a community oriented site or one that will include a lot of content or articles? There are many reliable commercial and open source packages available that can save a lot of expense and implementation time.
  • Will your site require Flash, video, virtual tours, or other high end technologies? These can add a great deal of appeal to your site but offer little or nothing in the way of search engine rankings.
  • Will an "open source" solution meet your requirements? Open source software is basically free and can save you the expense of developing from scratch.
These are just a few of the possibilities. What's important is that you know what you need and realize that you have many options. Alltec can help you find an acceptable solution within your budget.
Information Gathering
Information gathering is probably the most important step in implementing a site in a cost effective and timely manner. Before starting the actual web development process all information: verbiage, images, and other content should have been gathered and organized. Color schemes should have been decided on. You should also determine the number and nature of web pages your site will require. Some pages may be static, some dynamic, and some database driven. Web developers must know what will go into the site before they can create a prototype. A prototype is just a general theme of what you and the developer thinks the the final site should look like. It is a framework that provides the general look and navigation of the web site.
Coding
Once all the information the site will contain has been gathered and organized, and a prototype has been agreed upon, actual site coding can begin. Coding is the process that creates the actual web site pages. There may be many types of computer code that must be written for the pages. Because there may be various types of code required, requiring various skill sets, there may have to be multiple people required to build the site. Coding is a tedious and time consuming process therefore you need to be sure your planning is complete and accurate. Good planning costs less than poor planning. Having to re code web pages as a result of poor planning can add unnecessary expense to the web development process.
Site Review and Testing
At the end of the coding process the site will be reviewed with the customer and final adjustments can be made. Adjustments may be required due to over sites in planning, changes from the original plan, or errors in the development or coding process. Don't expect things to go perfectly but do expect to resolve them during the review and testing process. Thorough site testing will ensure that everything in the site works as it should before site launch.
Site Launch
Site launch simply means that the site goes live and becomes available to the public. In the days to come the customer or developer may discover things that have been overlooked during the development process. Don't despair because this is absolutely normal. Working together, the developer and the customer can overcome almost any obstacle.
 
This has been a simplified description of the web development process. The key things to remember are that good planning, good communication, completeness of information, and teamwork will produce the best results at the minimum cost.