What is web development
My years of freelancing and the work done through Down-Stream; I have come to realize and understand that majority (about 99.9%) of clients don’t really know what web development is. So I figured what better way to start this blogging off than to explain what the hell it is I can do.
Nowadays web development encompasses all aspects of getting a website online. Most business owners are told they need a web designer but don’t quite get that (depending on functionality) they need someone to not only make it look pretty but to actually put it together and make it work.
You will notice more and more designers are coding and programmers are designing, kind of like singers trying to act and actors trying to sing (not sure which is better though)
From Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Web_design)
Web Designer
Web design involves the structure of the website including the information architecture (navigation schemes and naming conventions), the layout or the pages (wireframes or page schematics are created to show consistent placement of items including functional features), and the conceptual design with branding.
This is true and I will add that before doing this it should be as clear as possible what is expected as the outcome.
Web Developer
is a software developer or software engineer who is specifically engaged in the development of World Wide Web applications, or distributed network applications that are run over HTTP from a web server to a web browser.
Apparently people still say World Wide Web….Ok, so lets go through this process (like anything there is a million ways to do one thing this is the process I use and works for me).
Initially you will want to do some Requirements Gathering which is done with the client to make sure business goals and objectives are met. This stage is exploratory and deals with brainstorming and generally people can get carried away with ideas but it is always good to make sure business needs are met or else website will die fast = waste of money.
Then the fun really begins, this is where the designer takes all that spit balling and puts together a few mock-ups. There is generally some back and forth to make sure no one is wasting time and its always good to get the client involved during the process. It should be stressed that I truly believe the designer should always have to be the educated voice in tough decisions and basically let them do what they are good at.
Some designers may even do some HTML/JavaScript mock-ups so clients can get a feel for it, but a lot of time could be wasted if there is a lot of back and forth so just be aware of that.
At this point the website starts getting put together in its final form (web developer comes in here), this involves taking the design and making it work and functional, scripting and moaning usually occurs at this point if the design is hard to implement but user experience should always out weight how it works on the back end.
Testing and some more back and forth ensues at this point but it should be extremely collaborative and with the business goals/objectives in mind.
This is a glimpse into the process comment with your experiences.
