Overview of the web development process
The web development process can be daunting for the customers as there are lots of aspects to consider. However, working with a professional web development company that is easy to communicate with makes a world of difference. At Loonar Studios, useful and effective communication is a must and a staple in the web development process. Each web project comes with unique challenges. However, the process of developing a website generally follows nine major stages:
The Brief
What you need to do to create a website? First of all, send us a request providing the necessary information to prepare the Brief. It should contain the following elements:
- A short outline of the whole project
- Target audience. This section may include include audience needs, brand perceptions, psychographics, demographics, etc.(optional)
- Goals. What are some specific goals that your website should achieve?
- Competition. A short overview of competitive companies’ websites. (optional)
- Message. What is the key message that motivates and attracts your target audience to engage with the company?
- Additional information (project’s features, project’s technologies, assigning the team, harmonization of design (colors, styles, examples), harmonization of branding issues (if necessary)
Project Scope
This is a critical step. A project scope plan should be well-defined outlining specific timelines, along with specific deliverables and activities, and GANTT diagram (for complicated projects). After the plan is done, we prepare preliminary estimate, harmonize hourly rates, and sign the contract (if necessary).
Prototyping
At this stage, we prepare and harmonize the wireframes and sitemap of the website. Although wireframes do not show any actual elements of design, they provide a detailed view of the content. Creating the sitemap allows seeing all the key pages on the website and defining the structure of navigation.
Visual design
Once the website’s blueprint has been developed through the creation of the wireframes and sitemap, the next step is to create a visual design. Our designers prepare the main (home page) working closely with the client. After approving the main page, the designers develop all other pages on their own. All design also includes responsive versions. At this stage your website acquires its feel and look as the graphic design, page design, and grid are created and approved.
Front-end development
With designs approved, we can finally develop new audiovisual and graphic content, podcasts, photography, slideshows, and illustrations fleshing out the design of the pages. It is time to build out the CSS and HTML of the website.
Backend development
At this stage we develop your website’s backend development using:
- Frameworks: Laravel, Zend, Symfony, YII, Codeigniter or
- CMS: WordPress, Drupal or other or
- Ecommerce: WooCommerce, OpenCart, Magento.
Also we provide Database development if necessary.
Website testing
Testing of the website is crucial as there will inevitably be problems that should be solved before the website goes live. So before launching, the website will be placed on a production server where it can be viewed only by internal audiences to see if breaks occur.
Launch
After the client approves the project at whole, we upload it to client’s server. However, once the website is launched, expect to make some immediate changes to it such as making adjustments, editing content, and fixing broken links.
Maintenance
Websites are breathing, living entities and need maintenance and constant care. Fixing broken links, making changes to the backend, updating content, and monitoring the analytics are all in a day’s work. All of these operations are crucial to the web development process.