User Guide

Planning: Things to Consider Before Creating a
Web
If you buy into the old adage, “Garbage in, garbage out,” then planning is the single most
important stage of the site creation process. It is here that you will set the course and tone for
your web. With that said, unfortunately, it’s the stage most taken for granted. Since people are
often pressed for time at the start of a web project, they assume they can easily plan during
the site’s production. That’s rarely a successful strategy. It’s best to take the time up front to
discuss the following web planning guidelines:
Be sure to record all of your planning somewhere—we recommend keeping a binder for
each web you develop for planning decisions and notes.
Guidelines:
• Purpose: Why are you making a site at all? What will you and/or your
company gain by having a site? What will people who visit your site
gain? Once you’ve settled on a purpose, write it down and keep it in front
of you at all times. Some web developers like to create a mission state-
ment, because it keeps you and the site focused on the goal. No matter
what the purpose of your web, one goal of every site should be to keep it
fresh. Don’t just publish a web and leave it to rot on the vine. Update the
site regularly.
• Audience: Who’s your target audience? Is your audience made up of
techies or newbies? Are they high-energy teenagers or patient senior citi-
zens? Gather demographic information. Do they use the Microsoft Internet
Explorer or the Netscape Navigator browser to surf? Gather technological
information. Does your audience have vision problems? Consider your
audience’s physical requirements. The more you know about your target
audience, the more you can tailor your site to best meet their require-
ments, because the production choices you will make should be based on
their needs. (Note that your web audience may differ from your regular
customers, so do as much research as possible. Surveys and questionnaires
of your existing clientele is a great starting point.) Don’t make your site
so generic that it doesn’t serve anyone. By targeting a particular audience,
your web will be more targeted as well.
• Content: What will the site provide? Based on your site’s purpose and
target audience, identify what information or service will meet both those
needs. Will the information be text-heavy or graphically intensive? (Care-
fully consider the use of graphics on your web. Too many can make a
page download slowly.) You want your site to be appear “fast”; text and
graphics should be used purposefully—if a piece of content is superfluous,
leave it out. Now’s a good time to identify that content that will need to
be updated, such as news items.
• Organization: Take time to identify some general categories of informa-
tion, and then arrange the specific content within those appropriate
categories. For instance, a category might be named “Catalog,” and in that
category, you might put pages for individual products. Try to anticipate
how site visitors might “click through,” or navigate, the content. If a site
is difficult to navigate through, visitors won’t return no matter how good
LESSON 1
Lesson 1: Creating a Web 7
Reference Material
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