Website Checklist
It can surprise people what goes into (or should go into) designing, developing and maintaining a website. There are lots of components & stages, lots to consider and to plan for.
Here I have compiled a list that is by no means exhaustive, of things to consider and check in web design, development, and maintenance.
- Good Design
- Easy to navigate
- Clear aim
- Compatible
- Fast
- Accessible
- Complies with laws/legislation
- Engaging/Fun/Useful
- Up-to-date/Accurate
- Easy to read or follow & well written (Grammar & Spelling)
- Having the ability to analyse and check the website
- Easy to update
- Good conversion rate
- Solid disaster plan (e.g. No developer, website hacked, loose web hosting)
Website Structure
There are many elements to launching & managing a website. There are many specialist skills required and a lot of man hours too!
It annoys me to hear and experience clients undervaluing the hard work that goes in to developing and maintaining websites and the structure of the web in general.
In the big design agencies you will have many members of staff each with their own skills and area of expertise. In the smaller companies its common to find staff with multiple skills working in various areas. You can find people that can be very good at many things but you can also find people that try to do many things but are not that good at any of them i.e. Jack of All Trades, Master of None!
Here are some of the key roles, skills & tools required to launch and maintain a website:
- Web Design
- Front-end Development
- Back-end Development
- User Testing
- Web Hosting/Domain Registration/Email/FTP
- Search Engine Optimisation
- Copy Writing
- Marketing & Social Networking
- Public Contact
- Website Statistics Analysis
- Web Content Management & Support
- Web Structure Management & Support
- Web Legality
- Web Userability
- Web & Industry trends analysis