Walkthrough

Initial Discussion

• Establish website purpose, content, and intended audience.
• Clarify options, particular client needs or requests.
• Discuss client content contributions: photos, videos, text, etc.
• Afterwards: create a set of "sketches" for the final website.

Finalizing Project

• Decide on a particular website layout and sitemap with client.
• Find a Domain Name.
• Choose a Host.
• Receive client-supplied content.
• Receive initial 50% payment; buy domain and provision a server.

Server Setup

Your website needs to be hosted on a computer somewhere. This is when we set that up.

• Establish secure server access.
• Configure the server for web hosting.
• Obtain a TLS certificate.
• Install additional public-facing services.

Web Design, Round One.

Design can be done at the same time as server setup.

• Begin with a default "prototype" website.
• Design page templates.
• Tinker with styles until the website looks good in all conditions.
• Decide on final color scheme and fonts.
• Send to client for feedback.

Web Design, Round Two

• Implement changes based on client feedback.
• Add basic text content.
• Add graphics: logos, photos, gifs, favicons.
• Add functional elements: forms, embedded widgets, analytics, etc.
• Add element animations.
• Send to client for feedback and approval.

Polish

• Implement changes based on client feedback.
• Add semantic markup for screen-readers and web crawlers.
• Optimize website for delivery: compress, minify, etc.
• Audit with client-accessible 3rd-party tools, and deliver report.
• Do cross-browser and screen-reader testing.
• Deliver report to client, and on final approval, make website publicly available.
• Stress-test production website.
• Alert search engines to new site.