A Comprehensive Website Planning Guide

This guide is written in relatively non-technical language and provides a broad overview of the process of developing a website, from the initial needs assessment through the launch, maintenance and follow-up. It is appropriate for:

• Small and medium-sized businesses;
• Organizations;
• Institutions;
• Web designers, developers, and design and development firms.

If you’re building a four-page website for your family reunion or a 5000-page website for a Fortune 500 company, then this guide might not be for you; it will either be too detailed or way too short, respectively.

                                    Important questions and answers. Image by opensourceway



COMMON RESULTS OF FAILING TO PLAN

• The designer or developer is forced to make assumptions, which may or may not be correct, about how certain content will appear on the website.
• The amount of back-and-forth communication about trivial matters can be multiplied many times over.
• Backtracking causes delays and missed deadlines.
• Work that falls outside the original scope of the project creates cost overruns.
• Confusion and client dissatisfaction are byproducts of a shoot-from-the-hip process.

Determine Website Content

WHO’S RESPONSIBLE?

As you prepare to add content to the website, think about who will contribute. In a five-person business, it might be just two of you, and that’s fine. In a large business or organization, 5, 10 or 15 people might be contributing content. The time required to edit and proofread both copy and visual content grows exponentially in proportion to the number of people who contribute content.

                      Clear the fronts and distribute clear responsibilities. Image by opensourceway

CONTENT IS NOT JUST TEXT

Unless you are creating the dullest, most technical website imaginable, your content should consist of more than just plain text. By using one or more of the following multimedia elements, you’ll greatly enhance the appeal and usefulness of the website:

• Images;
• Documents (usually PDFs);
• Audio;
• Video (i.e., embedded from YouTube or Vimeo, or self-hosted);
• Adobe Flash files;
• Content feeds (from other websites, for example);
• Photos (from Flickr perhaps);
• Twitter stream;
• Facebook “friends” list;
• RSS feeds.

Designing Websites for Kids

Trends and Best Practices

Websites designed for children have been largely overlooked in Web design articles and roundups, but there are many beautiful and interesting design elements and layouts presented on children’s websites that are worthy of discussion and analysis. There are also a number of best practices that are exclusive to Web design for children’s sites — practices that should usually not be attempted on a typical website.

This article will showcase a number of popular commercial websites targeted towards children with an analysis of trends, elements and techniques used to help keep children interested and stimulated.

BRIGHT, VIVID COLORS

a typical website may be welcomed on a website for children.

Bright colors will easily capture and hold a child’s attention for long periods of time. Although color choice is a primary factor in designing any type of website, this is especially true when designing a website for children since colors make a big impression on children’s young minds. Color choices and combinations that would likely be rejected or laughed at when design.

A HAPPY MOOD

The Fifi and the Flowertots website has a large smiling Flowertot character in visual focus, creating a happy mood.

ELEMENTS FROM NATURE

Children are stimulated by recognizable elements that they can relate to. Because children’s experiences in life are limited, some of the things they are most familiar with are found in nature. Natural elements such as trees, water, snow, and animals are used in the websites shown below. In many cases, these elements are overemphasized through size or simplicity of design.

                                      

Larger-Than-Life Design

Large design elements have proved to be effective in all types of Web design, demonstrated by the fact that large typography, large buttons, and large call-to-action areas have become commonplace in modern design. Because children are naturally drawn to simple, obvious, and recognizable objects, websites designed for children will increase their effectiveness through the use of large design elements.

                                                    Barbie   

                                                 

                                                Thomas the Tank Engine

                                                    

NAVIGATION AND CALL-TO-ACTION AREAS THAT STAND OUT

Sesame Street has an easy-to-locate horizontal navigation bar, along with large call-to-action areas.

Peppa Pig has a horizontal navigation bar that includes large icons and easy-to-read descriptions for each item.

                                      

User Interaction

Effects and experiences created with Adobe Flash are discouraged in typical modern Web design, but on children’s sites there is almost no other option. It’s true that JavaScript animation and effects have come a long way because of the many JavaScript libraries available, but the ease with which complex animations can be created with Flash makes this method the first choice for many commercial websites designed for kids.

The Pauly’s Playhouse site, like most of the websites featured in this article, is built entirely in Flash.

                                          

INFORMATION FOR PARENTS

Parents will be keeping a close eye on their children’s internet habits. Many children’s sites are aware of this, so they include information that is geared towards parents. Sometimes this is in the form of a tip, as is the case with the Sesame Street games website, or simply a navigation item that points to a parent’s section.

Sesame Street Games includes a “Parent Tip” box.  

                                           

A Web designer who has worked on a children’s website would likely say that it was one of the most fun and interesting projects they’ve had the privilege of working on. If you ever have the opportunity to create a user experience that is geared towards children, be sure to follow some of the proven methods demonstrated on many of the sites discussed here, and your website will have a good chance to be a big hit with children.

How to reach the right audiences?

How to reach the right audiences, Focus your website content to the right direction

When you create a website, you're trying to make several different audiences happy. You've got searchers coming in from the search engines, you want those search engines to rank you well, and you've got past and prospective clients. Referral partners are also out there looking at your site and sending business your way. Each different audience for your website has its own requirements, different things it's looking for, and unique needs.

You have to think about each audience you're trying to appeal to as you design and develop the different parts of your site. That includes navigation style, types of pages, text on those pages, design, coding, offers, and calls to action. You have to make sure that each of these elements balances all the others so that there aren't too many pages with not enough content, or that navigation is so complex that it's hard for people to find what they're looking for.

It's easy to focus on one audience's needs over another.

Getting stuck thinking about one element of your site can result in an unbalanced site. And as you try to make your website do more, as you add complexity, it's harder and harder to keep the functions at equilibrium. The more elements your site contains and the more audiences you think about, the more difficult it becomes to keep everyone happy.

Focus on balancing everyone's needs and concerns.

If you focus on one of your audiences over the others, you'll wind up with a website that seems out of balance and doesn't meet some of your audiences' needs. For example, you can focus too heavily on writing your site content to appeal to the search engines and create a site that's so keyword-laden you look a bit crazy.

Instead, try to keep all of your audiences' needs in harmony so that everyone has a good experience and is impressed by your site instead of wondering what's wrong with it.

When you write, design, and code your site, think about:

• Who is visiting it? Where are your clients coming from? Search engines bring searchers to your site. Past clients look you up for new projects or needs. There are potential customers who have been referred to you. And those who have met you at networking events or seen your booth at a trade show. Each of these audiences has different levels of knowledge about you and different issues that they want to address.
• What do they want to know? Each audience has different needs, problems, and concerns. The search engines want to know what your site's all about, and they want to see your keywords. Past clients want contact information and to see if you can help them with their new need. Potential clients want to know if you can solve their problem, and they want to know if you're trustworthy and likeable. People who have already met you want to get more information on your services and find out what's next in the process of working with you. Think about why people are coming to your site and how you can help them along.
• What you want your website to do for your business? Your website should be more than just pretty. It should do a job (or several jobs) for your business. Think about how it can most benefit your business whether by bringing in new clients, getting noticed by the search engines, sharing your thoughts with the world through articles, helping you get the media's attention, or maybe some other function entirely. Whatever job your website must do, make sure that everything you put on it works towards making that happen.
• Are you being accidentally contrary? Do any of the things you've put on your site for one audience contradict what you've written for another? You want to make sure that your site always makes sense, no matter who's reading it or how much of the site they read. You also want your site to mesh with your printed marketing pieces, phone conversations, and the delivery of your products or services to ensure that your customers stay happy.