Lecture No. 10,11. Stages of website development

Web development- the process of creating a website or web application. The main stages of the process are web design, page layout, client-side and server-side web programming, and web server configuration.

Basic stages of web development

Today there are several stages of website development:

· Designing a website or web application (collection and analysis of requirements, development of technical specifications, interface design);

· Development of a creative website concept;

· Creation of a website design concept;

· Creating page layouts;

· Creation of multimedia and FLASH elements;

· Layout of pages and templates;

· Programming (development of functional tools) or integration into a content management system (CMS);

· Optimization and placement [ specify] site materials;

· Testing and making adjustments;

· Opening a project on a public platform;

· Maintenance of a working website or its software basis.

Depending on the current task, some of the stages may be absent or closely related to one another.

Stages of website development

Website development is a process consisting of several successive stages. The customer can choose any contractor for certain stages of website creation. However, some freelancers or studios offer a full package of their services. What is better is up to the customer to decide. You can pay for all the work in full at one time and end up with a ready-made, functioning website. Or you can order the work in parts, that is, one person makes the layout, another lays it out, a third posts it online, a fourth promotes it.

The creation work can be divided into the following stages:

Preparatory;

Layout development;

Layout;

Programming;

Filling content;

Website promotion;

Administration (support) of the site.

Each point must be approached with full responsibility, because the quality and traffic of the site will depend on it. Let's look at these stages in more detail:

1. Preparatory stage

At this stage, it is necessary to formulate the basic idea of ​​the future site.

You need to determine what the purpose of the site will be, for example, the purpose could be: education, entertainment, an online store, selling any services, a business website, or just making money on the site.

Then we determine the target audience (gender, age, education), that is, who this site will be for.

It is also necessary to find out what information visitors expect; this will help with determining the content (text information) on the site.

Then you need to decide on the technical side. It is important to consider the average network connection, as well as software.

Navigation is an important point. Everything should be intuitively clear, where and what is located, so that the user does not wander around looking for the necessary information, but immediately navigates the site.

To think through all the information content, select materials, come up with navigation, you can take a piece of paper with a pen and write down point by point everything that you plan to do on the site.

At the same stage, a technical specification (TOR) is drawn up.

2. Layout development

After setting the goals for the future site, the next stage begins - developing a layout. Based on the points of the technical specification, a future template, or templates, is developed from which you can choose the desired option. At this stage, it is determined how the design as a whole will look, what graphic elements will be used, as well as what structure the pages will have and what color schemes will be present on it.

After which the finished layout is provided in PSD format (with all layers) and as a picture, here you can use any format (JPEG, PNG) to subsequently transfer the work to the layout designer. Website design development usually takes from several days to several weeks; very complex work can take even a month.

3. Layout

To cut the finished layout into parts and later attach it to the site, you will need a layout designer. What is layout? It is the process of writing HTML and CSS codes for web pages. Each code is responsible for ensuring that all elements on the page are placed where needed. The layout designer must know all the features of browsers, since each browser requires its own layout approach.

Types of layout when creating a website:

Block. The advantage of block layout is that it correctly displays all website elements on different devices (for example, on mobile phones). Compact code, all elements weigh less, which means the page will load quickly. Among the shortcomings, it can be noted that when using different browsers, the layout may float.

Tabular. In table layout you can create columns; tables in browsers look almost the same. Disadvantages: indexing of such a site is very slow, pages take a long time to load, and the code for such a layout is too large.

4. Programming

At this stage, the mechanisms for the site administration system are being developed, which in the future will allow company employees to change/update information on the site. That is, a working version of the site is created, ready to be filled with texts and graphic materials.

A programming language is a sign system that is designed to describe algorithms. The most popular programming languages: Java, C, C++, Delphi, Basic, PHP, Perl, Ruby, etc.

After all these steps, the site is published online.

5. Filling the site with content

The effectiveness of a website is related to the concept of content, that is, text and graphic information. Sometimes the customer has the materials to fill out; if not, he turns to freelancers to write the necessary articles.

Typically, websites use SEO copywriting, this technique of creating texts for a website, which is taken into account not only by the user’s perception, but is also necessary for promotion in the search engine. Such work has its own price based on the volume of materials required.

6. Website promotion

A completely finished and information-filled website will not guarantee an influx of users. In order for visitors to visit your site, you first need to announce it. Most users access websites through search engines, so the popularity of a resource will depend on its position in the search result rankings.

To increase site traffic, you first need to register it in search engines, you can also exchange links or banners. In order not to bother with this yourself, they usually order promotion from the same freelancers who are professionals in their field; they will already run the site through directory databases and do everything necessary.

7. Site support

Here you should consider how materials and sections of the site will be added or edited. You may need to create an archive of articles that will contain irrelevant news. For such purposes, an employee is assigned who will monitor the frequency of updates, provide the latest information, and remove old information.

The resource can be updated either independently or with the help of specialist support, of course on a paid basis.

Website development is a process consisting of several successive stages. The customer can choose any contractor for certain stages of website creation. However, some freelancers or studios offer a full package of their services. What is better is up to the customer to decide. You can pay for all the work in full at one time and end up with a ready-made, functioning website. Or you can order the work in parts, that is, one person makes the layout, another layouts it, a third places it online, a fourth promotes it.

The creation work can be divided into the following stages:

— Preparatory;
— Layout development;
— Layout;
— Programming;
- Filling content;
- Website promotion;
— Administration (support) of the site.

Each point must be approached with full responsibility, because the quality and traffic of the site will depend on it. Let's look at these stages in more detail:

1. Preparatory stage

At this stage, it is necessary to formulate the basic idea of ​​the future site.

• You need to determine what the purpose of the site will be, for example, the purpose could be: education, entertainment, an online store, selling any services, a business website, or just making money on the site.

• Then we determine the target audience (gender, age, education), that is, who this site will be for.

• It is also necessary to find out what information visitors expect; this will help with determining the content (text information) on the site.

• Then you need to decide on the technical side. It is important to consider the average network connection, as well as software.

• Navigation is an important point. Everything should be intuitively clear, where and what is located, so that the user does not wander around looking for the necessary information, but immediately navigates the site.

To think through all the information content, select materials, come up with navigation, you can take a piece of paper with a pen and write down point by point everything that you plan to do on the site.
At the same stage, a technical specification (TOR) is drawn up.

2. Layout development

After setting the goals for the future site, the next stage begins - designing the layout. Based on the points of the technical specification, a future template, or templates, is developed from which you can choose the desired option. At this stage, it is determined how the design as a whole will look, what graphic elements will be used, as well as what structure the pages will have and what color schemes will be present on it.

After which it is provided in PSD format (with all layers) and in the form of a picture, here you can use any format (JPEG, PNG) in order to subsequently transfer the work into the hands of the layout designer. Website design development usually takes from several days to several weeks; very complex work can take even a month.

3. Layout

To cut the finished layout into parts and later attach it to the site, you will need a layout designer. What is layout? It is the process of writing HTML and CSS codes for web pages. Each code is responsible for ensuring that all elements on the page are placed where needed. The layout designer must know all the features of browsers, since each browser requires its own layout approach.

Types of layout when creating a website:

• Block. The advantage of block layout is that it correctly displays all website elements on different devices (for example, on mobile phones). Compact code, all elements weigh less, which means the page will load quickly. Among the shortcomings, it can be noted that when using different browsers, the layout may float.

• Tabular. In table layout you can create columns; tables in browsers look almost the same. Disadvantages: indexing of such a site is very slow, pages take a long time to load, and the code for such a layout is too large.

4. Programming

At this stage, the mechanisms for the site administration system are being developed, which in the future will allow company employees to change/update information on the site. That is, a working version of the site is created, ready to be filled with texts and graphic materials.

A programming language is a sign system that is designed to describe algorithms. The most popular programming languages: Java, C, C++, Delphi, Basic, PHP, Perl, Ruby, etc.
After all these steps, the site is published online.

5. Filling the site with content

The effectiveness of a website is related to the concept of content, that is, text and graphic information. Sometimes the customer has the materials to fill out; if not, he turns to freelancers to write the necessary articles.

Typically, websites use SEO copywriting, this technique of creating texts for a website, which is taken into account not only by the user’s perception, but is also necessary for promotion in the search engine. Such work has its own price based on the volume of materials required.

6. Website promotion

A completely finished and information-filled website will not guarantee an influx of users. In order for visitors to visit your site, you first need to announce it. Most users access websites through search engines, so the popularity of a resource will depend on its position in the search result rankings.

To increase site traffic, you first need to register it in search engines, you can also exchange links or banners. In order not to bother with this yourself, they usually order promotion from the same freelancers who are professionals in their field; they will already run the site through directory databases and do everything necessary.

7. Site support

Here you should consider how materials and sections of the site will be added or edited. You may need to create an archive of articles that will contain irrelevant news. For such purposes, an employee is assigned who will monitor the frequency of updates, provide the latest information, and remove old information.

The resource can be updated either independently or with the help of specialist support, of course on a paid basis.

Modern information technologies / 3.Software

stud. Telegina M.V., Ph.D. Kostarev A. N.

Russian State Social University, Russia

Main stages of web application development

Web application development (web development) is a set of measures and actions for planning and creating a website on the Internet, depending on the goals and objectives.

A modern Internet site can solve both marketing problems - promoting the company’s goods and services on the market, the company’s competitive advantages, increasing demand for products, etc. - and represent an information resource whose tasks are limited to informing the target audience.

The creation of a website is preceded by a detailed comprehensive analysis that determines the criteria that the future web project must meet.

The process of creating a web application, in general, includes six main stages:

· defining the goals and objectives of the project;

· development of the site structure;

· development of design layouts;

· html-layout;

· programming and quality control;

· launch and maintenance, SEO optimization.

Each of the listed stages is sufficiently independent, which allows you to choose a work scheme and performer for each of them.

Defining project goals and objectives

At the design stage, the business goals of the project being created are formulated, the requirements that it must satisfy are determined, and a general concept is developed.

At this stage, it makes sense to clarify the customer’s wishes, as well as conduct research on the target audience. For a more in-depth analysis, you can request the relevant materials from the customer: brochures, annual reports, product samples, other related data - everything that will help to get an idea of ​​who will visit the site and for what purpose, what tasks will be performed on the site. It is important to find out the technical capabilities of the future main user audience - the bandwidth of communication channels, the Internet browsers used, etc.

To find the target audience, it is advisable to enter the role of a qualified user on Internet resources similar to the one being created. Among other things, this will help to identify new creative concepts so that the site is more competitive and does not “get lost” among many others.

When the goals are determined, they begin to draw up an extended project plan, reflecting how much time, money and other funds will be needed to complete the work at each of the subsequent stages. Such a plan often contains information about the project budget, a work schedule (with the corresponding distribution of roles between web developers), technical documentation, as well as a “details and clarifications” section, which outlines specific aspects of possible controversial issues. This section also includes proposals for ready-made designs and templates.

After detailed consideration and approval of the plan, a contract for the execution of work is signed.

Website structure development

Developing a site structure includes everything related to its content and information strategy, which determines how the presentation of information should be organized so that future site visitors can quickly and easily find it. The primary task at this stage is to create a site map that reflects the relationships of typical pages and their most significant functionality.

A site map is presented in the form of a drawing (block diagram), in which each page is displayed as a separate rectangle. The connections between them show the pattern of page transitions.

They also create wireframes for the home page and main master pages, showing the placement of text and graphics on the page and how users will interact with those elements. The page frame should allow for subsequent expansion.

More efficient operation of the site is ensured by compliance with the principle: “it is more convenient for the user to get to the page he needs in a maximum of two mouse clicks.” Therefore, it is generally recommended to use no more than two levels of nesting within each group of elements.

Having completed the formation of the appearance of the site, the layout of the pages and determined the placement of content, we move on to the next stage of web development - visual design.

Development of design layouts

Design layout - This is a graphic, visual representation of the main elements of the site. The design layout fully embodies the visual concept of the site. Its development is carried out in one of the graphic programs (in the vast majority of cases - in Adobe Photoshop). During the development process, the designer is guided by a written agreement (brief) to create a design layout, which is filled out by the customer and contains wishes for the design: type, preferred colors, the presence of certain graphic elements, etc.

At this stage, all web design elements are created in accordance with the style of presenting information and the general concept. The main thing in website design is the ability to develop graphic objects that load quickly and look good, regardless of the Internet browser used.

They often resort to using ready-made design templates, which are widely available on the Internet or are built into various graphic editors, such as Microsoft FrontPage or Adobe PhotoShop. With the help of such templates, a website is created in the shortest possible time. However, it should be noted that this solution has a number of significant drawbacks, the main one of which is the repeatability and non-uniqueness of the design. The template is a shell with a minimum number of interactive elements and useful modules. Therefore, when choosing a template, you should pay attention not only to the design, but also to the functionality.

An important element of web design is graphics, which can be divided into three categories:

· illustrated graphics - explanatory images, diagrams and drawings, photographs;

· functional graphics - navigation buttons, counters and other site control elements;

· decorative graphics - aesthetic elements of page design - background images, headers made in the form of graphic files, etc.

This classification involves the use of various multimedia formats. For example, jpeg files are used for clear, contrasting images with fine details and thin lines, and gif files are used for colorful images with soft color transitions.

HTML layout

Html layout is the next step after developing the website design. Layout is the conversion of graphic page layouts created by the designer into html code, which would be displayed in an Internet browser in exact accordance with the original layout. The complexity of the layout depends on the complexity of the design.

The main tasks during layout are:

· correct display of website pages at different screen resolutions;

· cross-browser compatibility - uniform display of site pages in the most popular browsers - Internet Explorer, Mozilla Firefox, Opera, Chrome.

Programming and quality control

Programming is the practical implementation of a project, the integration of developments in individual areas. In other words, this is the process of building functional tools for filling and processing data. Programming determines how stable and secure the functioning of the site will be. The choice of platform, technologies and a competent approach to programming plays a significant role. At this stage, it is important to decide on the approach to creating an Internet resource: whether it will be static or dynamic.

A static Internet site is a collection of HTML files, each of which represents a separate page (or part of it). This approach is used mainly for storing file archives and media collections. Static sites do not require programming as such.

The pages of a dynamic Internet site are generated by the server in response to a user request (transmitted as the page URL). Such sites require more development and technical support costs than static ones, but these costs are recouped by reducing funding for editing materials and developing the information structure.

CMS

As a rule, modern web projects include a content management subsystem - CMS (content management system), or are built on the basis of it. The purpose of a content management system is to provide the ability to publish materials on a website to a person who does not have special knowledge in the field of creating HTML documents, as well as to significantly reduce the time spent on data entry.

Such systems make it possible to work together to fill a resource with information, allow you to update the content of pages and sections, place text and graphic information on the site, make changes, move or delete information blocks or entire pages, and reduce the risk of unintentional damage to the program code. Content management also includes monitoring the relevance of published information, its compliance with SEO optimization criteria, etc.

There is a wide variety of content management systems: from systems created as part of a specific project to solve specific problems, to universal systems such as WordPress, Joomla, 1C-Bitrix, etc.

Development Tools and Databases

Currently, the high-level framework Ruby on Rails has the most relevant software functionality among many development environments. Its capabilities can significantly increase the productivity of web programming compared to technologies such as PHP or Perl.

The Ruby language, which is the basis of the Ruby on Rails framework, has a fast development cycle (edit - run - edit), is implemented as an interpreter, and supports untyped variables that do not require declaration. Ruby on Rails allows you to achieve high reliability and flexibility in the development of projects of any scale. The framework includes a testing subsystem, which helps to significantly save development time and improve the quality of a web project.

Most dynamic web projects are based on a database. There are many different database management systems (DBMS), but in modern hosting centers - organizations for placing web projects on servers - as a rule, MySQL and PostgreSQL DBMS are used. The reasons for this are the actual orientation of these DBMS to hosting tasks, availability for all popular server operating systems, as well as relative ease of setup and administration. The DBMS simplifies data management and reduces the time and costs of application development and deployment. MySQL and PostgreSQL provide an acceptable level of security, reliability and scalability.

Development process support systems

Creating a web application, like any other software product, involves working with constantly changing information, data, and files. Control over changes made to the project is helped by version control systems (Version Control System - VCS), which store previous versions of the project’s source files, track changes made in the files, ensure joint team work on the project, etc. The most popular VCS at the moment include : SVN, GIT, Microsoft VSS. Using a version control system raises the overall level of development quality.

In addition, the creation of any software product (including web applications) is accompanied by new requirements for the product, proposals for its improvement, the need to correct errors, etc. To manage the above aspects of development and improve the quality of management, bug tracking systems are used - BTS). The main component of BTS is a database with remote access, providing centralized access to all necessary files, specifications, schedules, plans, comments, etc.

There is a wide variety of bug tracking systems: Basecamp, Bugzilla, Trac, MantisBT, Redmine, etc.

Upon completion of the active programming stage, the stage of testing the correct functioning of the created web application begins: checking for grammatical errors, missing pictures, broken links, etc., as well as checking the functioning of the site in various web browsers. This stage can be automated using automatic testing tools such as IBM Rational AppScan, Empirix E-TEST Suite, XSpider, WAS, etc.

Launch and maintenance

After correcting errors and presenting the site on the Internet, a new stage of work begins related to its maintenance. The main goal of maintenance is to maintain the stability of the web resource and the relevance of the information. A prerequisite for qualified support of a website is information protection, which includes anti-virus protection and protection of databases on the server from the actions of intruders, in particular from SQL injection.

In addition, it is necessary to timely update the site content and correct errors that were not identified or corrected at the quality control stage. Another important point of support is the constant monitoring of the effective performance of the site, monitoring traffic and recording statistical data.

SEO optimization

Search Engine Optimization ( Search Engine Optimization) -This is a set of events whose goal is to increase attendance Internet -resource due to its achievement of high positions in search engine results for a given set of target queries. SEO -optimization is based on the semantic core- a list of keywords for which it is planned to promote the site in search engines. Keywords are grouped by high, medium and low frequency queries. The success of the site directly depends on the correct selection of these words.

SEO optimization takes into account:

· internal ranking factors : number, density and location of keywords on the site pages, stylistic design of the text, correct formation of tags, meta tags, etc.;

· external ranking factors : citation index, content of external links, relevance of linking pages, etc.

Modern systems web -search (search engines) analyze most elements web -pages: text, headings, service html tags, style and structural features of the content. The results of SEO robots are saved in a special database-search engine index,-from which, at the user's request, they are issued in a certain order. Specialists whose professional area of ​​activity is SEO optimization constantly study ranking algorithms search engines.

Market analysis web development

Currently, the Russian web development market is changing very quickly and, according to some estimates, is considered the most dynamic in the entire history of mankind. Already in 2009, there were more than 2,000 companies in Russia providing such services. Among them, Art Lebedev Group, Actis Wunderman, Aytex, DEFA Kreativburo should be noted. This circle of leaders has remained more or less constant for several years, and only an increase in demand for rare services allows previously unknown companies to “break out” to the top. The main “lever” of web development remains the growth of the audience of Internet users, which encourages developers to improve their web projects and increase budgets for SEO optimization.

Now on the Internet trade transactions are carried out, there are many electronic currencies (Yandex.Money, Webmoney and others), representative offices of banks have been opened where users can work with their accounts. Every day, millions of users visit search engines, electronic encyclopedias, blogs (user diaries), and news sites. Recent years in the Russian segment of the network Internet were marked by the rapid development of social networks, which have long gained popularity in the West.

***

Development of a web application is a complex multi-step process that requires knowledge of many different technologies and programming languages, the ability to work with databases, and use a variety of tools and software packages.

In terms of information content, the Internet site leaves far behind all traditional sources of information and, what is not unimportant, the information posted on the site is available to the end user at any time and anywhere in the world.

Literature

1. Goto K., Kotler E. Web redesign: a book by Kelly Goto and Emily Kotler: Trans. from English - St. Petersburg: Symbol-Plus, 2007. - 376 p.

2. Lopak L. Web design. - 2nd ed.: Transl. from English - M.: Williams Publishing House, 2008. - 304 p.

3. Fernandez O. The Rails Way. A detailed guide to creating applications in the Ruby on Rails environment: Per. from English - St. Petersburg: Symbol-Plus, 2009. - 768 p.

4. Panfilov K. On the other side of the web page. - M.: DMK Press, 2008. - 440 p.

Despite conventional wisdom, the centrality of the process website design and development The coding phase doesn't always take place. The technologies that come to mind first, such as HTML, CSS, and JavaScript, indeed create the image of the Web that we are accustomed to and define the way we interact with information. What usually goes unnoticed, but at the same time is perhaps the most important part of the development process, is the stage of preliminary information gathering, careful planning, and support after the launch of the site. In this article, we'll talk about what a typical website development process might look like. There are different numbers of stages that make up the development process. Usually this number is from five to eight, but in each case the overall picture remains approximately the same. Let's stick to the average. So, seven main stages of development: 1) Information collection, 2)Planning, 3)Design, 4)Content creation, 5)Development, 6)Testing, review and launch 7)Support.

Development schedule

When you start planning your website development process, the two main issues you face are development time and cost. These two values ​​largely depend on the size and complexity of the project. To get an idea of ​​how the project will work, you can create a development process schedule that contains the main tasks of the project, as well as the stages that make up the project. This will allow you to conveniently monitor the overall picture and always be confident that the assigned tasks will be completed on time. For this purpose we prefer to use GanttPRO, a convenient Gantt chart for managing projects and tasks online:

We have prepared a detailed description of each phase of the website development life cycle, including the estimated time required to complete each phase. We've also created a list of development milestones to make sure you don't miss anything. It's available at the end of this article and you can use it as a guide when you start designing your own website.

Website development life cycle

Stage 1. Collection of information: purpose, main goals and target audience

The preliminary research and information gathering stage determines how all subsequent stages of development will proceed. The most important thing at this stage is to get a clear and complete understanding of what the purpose of your future site will be, what goals you want to achieve with its help, and also what the target audience you want to attract to it. This kind of web development questionnaire will allow you to determine the best strategy for further development of the project. News portals are different from entertainment sites, and sites for teenagers are different from those for adults. Different sites provide visitors with different functionality, which means different technologies should be used in one case or another. A detailed plan based on the data obtained at this stage can prevent you from spending additional resources on unforeseen difficulties, such as changing the design or adding functionality that was not originally intended.

Approximate time: 1 to 2 weeks

Stage 2. Planning: creating a site map and layout

At this stage of development, the customer can already get an idea of ​​what the future site will be like. Based on the information collected at the previous stage, a Site Map(sitemap). For example, this is what the XB Software site map looks like:

A site map describes the relationships between different parts of your site. This helps to understand how easy it will be to use. Using the site map, you can determine the “distance” from the main page to other pages, which helps to judge how easy it will be for the user to get to the information he is interested in. The main goal of creating a sitemap is to create a product that is easy to navigate and user friendly. This allows you to understand the internal structure of the future site, but does not describe how the site will look. Sometimes, before you start writing code or developing a design, it can be important to get customer approval. In this case it is created layout(wireframe or mock-up) . The layout is a visual representation of the future website interface. But, unlike, for example, the template, which we will talk about later, it does not contain design elements such as color, logos, etc. It only describes what elements will be placed on the page and how they will be arranged. The layout is a kind of sketch of the future site. You can use one of the available online mockup services. Usually we use Moqups.

Also at this stage it is worth deciding which technology stack (programming language, frameworks, CMS) will be used.

Approximate time: 2 to 6 weeks

Stage 3: Design: Page Template, Review and Approval

At this stage, the website gets even closer to its final form. All visual content, such as images, photos and videos, is created now. And again, all the information that was collected at the very first stage of the project is extremely important at this step. The interests of the customer, as well as the target audience, should be taken into account primarily when working on the design. The designer at this stage creates sample pages (page layout) . The main purpose of the template is to visualize the structure of the page, its content, and also display the main functionality. This time, unlike the layout, design elements are used. The template contains colors, logos and images. It makes it possible to judge what the finished site will look like in the final result. Once created, the template can be sent to the customer. After the customer reviews the work done, he sends his feedback. If he is not happy with some aspect of the design, you must modify the existing template and send it back to the customer. This cycle is repeated until the customer is completely satisfied with the result.

Approximate time: 4 to 12 weeks

Stage 4: Content creation

The content creation process usually runs in parallel with other stages of development and its role should not be underestimated. At this step, you need to describe the very essence of what you want to convey to the audience of your website, and also add CTA (call to action). This stage also includes creating attractive and catchy titles, writing and editing text, compiling existing texts, etc. All this requires additional time and effort. As a rule, the customer provides content that is ready to be posted on the site. It is important that all content is prepared before or during the development stage.

Approximate time: 5 to 15 weeks

Stage 5. Layout and development

Now you can finally go directly to the website layout. All graphic elements developed earlier are used at this stage. Typically, the home page is created first, and then other pages are added to it according to the hierarchy developed during the sitemap stage. Also at this stage, the CMS is installed. All static elements of the website, the design of which was previously developed when creating the template, turn into real dynamic interactive elements of the web page. An important task is carrying out SEO optimization (Search Engine Optimization), which is the optimization of web page elements (headings, descriptions, keywords) in order to increase the site’s position in search engine results. Code validity is extremely important in this case.

Approximate time: 6 to 15 weeks

Stage 6. Testing and launch

Testing is probably the most routine part of development. Every link must be verified, every form and every script must be tested. The text should be checked with a spell checker to identify possible typos and errors. Code validators are used to ensure that the code created in the previous step fully complies with modern web standards. This can be extremely important if, for example, cross-browser compatibility is critical for you. Once you have checked and rechecked your site, it can be uploaded to the server. Typically an FTP client is used for this. After uploading the site to the server, it is necessary to conduct another test in order to be sure that no unexpected errors occurred during loading and all files are safe and sound.

Approximate time: 2 to 4 weeks

Stage 7. Support: user feedback and regular updates

It is important to understand that a website is more of a service than a product. It is not enough to simply “deliver” it to the consumer. It is also important to ensure that everything works as planned and that users are satisfied with the final product. You must also be prepared to make changes quickly if necessary. The feedback system will allow you to identify problems encountered by site visitors. The most critical task in such cases will be to resolve the problems as quickly as possible. Otherwise, your users will choose another resource rather than put up with the inconvenience. Also, do not forget about regularly updating the CMS. Regular updates will keep you free from bugs and security issues.

Continuous process

Bonus. Checklist of main development stages

To be sure that you haven’t missed anything and complete all planned work on time, get this checklist:

Conclusion

You must always remember that the website development process does not begin with writing code and does not end once the site is launched. The preparation stage affects all subsequent stages, determining how productive the process of working on the project will be. Thorough and in-depth research into aspects such as gender, age and interests of end users can be decisive. Supporting the site after it is launched is also extremely important. You must be agile enough to be able to quickly fix errors and resolve user issues. Understanding that there are no stages of website development that could be considered unimportant or optional will help you avoid unnecessary hassle and give you confidence that the project is progressing as planned and you have complete control over the development process.

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Occurs in several stages. Each stage involves the specialists necessary for this. And anyone who says that just one person can create a website is wrong. In truth, about 8-10 people are involved in the development of a web page, this includes: a project manager, a web designer, a layout designer, a programmer, a promotion specialist and, if necessary, a copywriter. This greater participation of specialists is used for large commercial projects where big goals are set. But making a small, simple website is probably possible for anyone who has a desire to learn and a few skills. And even in this case, precise implementation of certain actions is required.

Stages:

1. Design. At the design stage, certain requirements from the customer are indicated, the idea of ​​the web resource is described, the structure and what sections there will be are considered. Next, after all these requirements, comes the choice of the “engine” on which the site will be installed. All this is described in the technical specifications of the project. Therefore, this stage is very important, the success of which determines the future life of the resource.
2. Design. The stage includes: coming up with all the elements of the site, what the site will look like. The design must take into account the style of the customer’s company, its logo, and corporate colors. Different types of ready-made template designs can also be offered.
3. Layout. The layout is done according to the layout made by the designers and gives it a finished look, the way Internet users see it.
4. Programming. All the functionality is created here, what should work, how and why. Certain modules are linked: feedback, search, links, everything that can make it easier for users to find the information they need on the site.
5. Filling. This is where you fill out the content and insert pictures. It is worth paying special attention to the content of the pages, because... This will determine whether the user will find the necessary information on your page and stay further, or close it and forget. And this situation will not be corrected by the beautiful appearance of the site, its functionality, or convenient structure.
6. Testing. This is the final stage of website creation. Before submitting an order, each project must be tested, all errors in the code and text of the site must be detected and removed.
7. Promotion. This step is necessary, but not mandatory. But how will a user find your site among millions of others on the Internet? This is exactly what promotion is needed for. This is a series of activities that will allow you to bring your web resource to the TOP of search engines.
8. Support. In the future there may be a need to improve the site. Creating new pages, developing new features, and so on. After all, without changes, the site may become boring for users.