WEB DEVELOPMENT PROCESS

Objectives
 Factors to consider when designing a website
 Web development process
 Web hosting
Factors to consider when designing a
website
 Goals and objectives of the website
 Target audience
 Content
 Browser compatibility
Features of a good website
 1. Clear purpose.
 2.Excellent user interface (UI) and user experience (UX).
 3. Responsive, mobile-friendly design.
 4. Effective calls to action (CTAs).
 5. Relevant, accurate, high-quality content.
 6. Optimization for search engines and social networks.
 7. Simple but effective navigation.
 8. Strong, trusted security features.
Bad Websites
 Visit the following websites: • www.websitesthatsuck.com
[http://www.websitesthatsuck.com] •
www.worstoftheWeb.com [http://www.worstoftheweb.com ]
Write down your view of these sites. Choose three of their
featured websites and, for each chosen site, identify one
aspect of its design that you find particularly poor. Try to
find four or five examples of bad Web design
 http://www.webpagesthatsuck.com/Gates%20Foundation/
Original Top 10 Mistakes in Web Design

 https://www.nngroup.com/articles/original-top-ten-mistakes-
in-web-design/
Website development
 Planning and research: Planning is the first phase of the
web development life cycle and includes the initial
research, information gathering, and collaboration to
confirm scope, feature requirements, stakeholders,
processes, and expectations. This stage will inform initial
project details and first steps on development. The
questions to be answered in this stage include:
◦ Why are you creating this website?
◦ What are you offering your audience?
◦ What do you want users to do on your website?
Cont..
 Information Architecture is the structure and hierarchy of
how the information on your website is organized. It is
helpful to visualize this mapping to give you a sense of how
and where content and information will live on your website
or web app
 Information architecture is also known as the sitemap
 Here is an example of what an Information Architecture

might look like:

Cont..
2. Developing the “look” and “Feel”
All the visual content, such as images, photos, and videos, is created at this
stage. Once again, all the info that was gathered through the first phase is
crucial. The customer and target audience must be involved while you work on
a design to make the user interface and user experience intuitive and easy to
use.
3. Development phase
once the design is approved and the content is ready to go, the site enters the
production phase. For small sites, the production may be done by one person
but for big sites, a team may be tasked to work on it.
Web developers use various programming languages and technologies, such
as HTML, CSS, JavaScript, and backend frameworks, to build the website's
structure, layout, and functionality. At this stage, all pieces are brought
together to create the first prototype known as the alpha release
Cont..
 The prototype may be made available only to the people
within the team for review and revisions before it is
released to the client. After changes the second release is
called the “beta” release
Cont,,
 4. Testing
 All websites need to be tested before they are ready for the

public. The site may be tested locally in your own computer

prior uploading to its web server.
 Testing stage should answer the following questions:

◦ Is all the content there?

◦ Are there typos or grammar errors?
◦ Do all the links work?
◦ Are all the images showing?
◦ Are all the scripts and applications functioning properly?
◦ How does the page look in different browsers?
Cont..
 5 Launch the site
◦ Once the testing stage is complete, the website is uploaded to the
final server and made available to the world
 6.Maintain the site
Ongoing maintenance and updates are essential to keep the website
secure, optimize performance, and address any issues or changes that
may arise. Regular backups, security monitoring, and content updates
are part of the maintenance process.
Getting your website on the web
1. Get a domain name
2. Register the domain name- There are two ways:
◦ Have your hosting company do it for you
◦ Register from the a domain name registrar. Domain name registrars
are regulated and overseen by ICANN. ICANN makes sure that
domain names are assigned to a single owner
3. Finding a server space- for your web pages to be on the
web, they must reside on a web server. Looking for space
on a web server is called finding a host for your site
4. Upload the files to the server
Web Hosting options
Overview

 A web hosting company is one that rents out space on their

server for a monthly fee.

 To run a web site you need access to a server, and although

you could operate your own server, it is usually easier and
more convenient to use a third party.

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Types Of Web Hosting

 There are three main categories of web hosting: -

 Shared Hosting/ virtual hosting

 Dedicated Server Hosting
 Colocated Server Hosting
 Personal web pages
 Free page sites
 Hosting your own site

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Shared Hosting/Virtual Hosts

 Your site is given a section of a server, which is shared with other

web sites. This is the most common type of hosting, and the most
affordable.

 It is often referred to as ‘virtual’ or ‘budget’ hosting.

 Cheaper than a dedicated server and allows ou to have your own
domain
 Demerit is that you have to share a machine with other domains
 Pros: cheap way to have your own domain, no server to maintain
 Cons: server shared with many other people, limited access to the
server

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Dedicated Server Hosting

 The next stage up. You rent an entire server for your site.

 This gives you more control over your web space. It also
tends to be more reliable, holds more content, and can
handle more bandwidth than shared hosting. Predictably, it
is also more expensive.
 Pros: don't have to buy any hardware, flexibility of the server
 Cons: you have to administrate the machine, hardware is
offsite

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Colocated Server Hosting

 The most advanced level of hosting, this is where you own

the server and the hosting company simply provides the
maintenance for it.

 You have full and complete control of your server.

 Pros: control over the entire server
 Cons: you still have to manage and purchase the machine,

the hardware is offsite

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Free-page sites
 Most of ISP and web hosting companies
provide free web space.
 They do not charge but will place web

advertisements on your site in order to make

money
 It does not support server side scripting, e-

commerce and other tools or even FTP files to

the server hence creating all pages using
forms and templates
 Space for free web pages is limited (1-10MB)
 Pros: free
 Cons: pop-up advertisements, limited support

little space
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Hosting your own site
 It involves hosting you website in your own web
server which gives you complete control over your
site.
 Things to consider when setting up your own server:
1. Purchase a suitable machine and get it connected
to the internet by an ISP. It will be a dedicated
machine.(determine the bandwidth, hit rate etc.
2. Get a name (domain name) for your website which
should be registered and configured

3. Ensure its backed up secured and monitored.

 Pros: complete control over the entire server onsite
 Cons: expensive, difficult to maintain and monitor

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Finding Your Hosting Company

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Step 1:

 Your first step should be to establish what you need from a

hosting company.

 Make a list of what you must have, what it would be useful

to have, and lastly what it would be nice to have.
Consider……

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Step2: Establish Your Requirements

 How much space you need?

 What bandwidth you’ll require?
 Do you need E-mail aliases?
 Do you need URL redirects?
 Do you need Web mail?
 Do you need Autoresponders?

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Step3: Obtain a List of Hosting Companies

There’s lots of sites out there that will help you to find
possible hosting companies, but to start you off, here’s a
few suggestions.
 www.hostcompare.com
 www.google.com
 www.findwebspace.com

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Step4: Narrow Down Your List

 Once you have your list of possible hosting companies

cross off any duplicates that are immediately obvious.

 Next, get rid of any companies whose web sites do not look
professional or up-to-date.

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Step 5: Features of the hosting company

Check out what features the hosting company provides.

Look for: -
 99.9% uptime guarantee
 High level of bandwidth
 24 hour support
 30 day money back guarantee

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Meeting Your Requirements

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Item 1: comparing companies

 Dig out that - must have/should have/be nice to have - list

you drew up earlier. How does each company compare?

 Cross off any company that does not meet the criteria in
your ‘must have’ section.

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item 2: Control Systems

 What happens if your hosting company has a power cut?

Do they have an independent power supply? What
protection do they have against viruses, fire or power
surges? Do they carry out regular backups?

 If these points are not mentioned on their site, then ask!

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Item 3:Response Time

 The next step is to check the response time of the

remaining companies.

 Write them an e-mail, perhaps asking about their control

systems, and cross off any who do not respond within 24
hours.

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Item 4: One Last Point

 Don’t pay for extra’s you don’t need.

 If you plan to expand your service that’s fine - it’s always

easy to upgrade. However paying for space you don’t use,
or goodies you don’t need, is just a waste of money.

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 Summary
 Decide on your requirements
 Draw up a list of possible companies
 Remove unsuitable/inferior companies
 Check the companies can meet your needs
 Research remaining possibilities
 Make your choice!

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The end

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Hosting options

 Shared hosting is perfect for entry-level website hosting.

This is where your website will be stored on the same server
as multiple other websites. With a shared hosting plan, all
domains share the same server v resources, such as RAM
(Random Access Memory) and CPU (Central Processing
Unit). However, because all resources are shared, the cost
of shared hosting plans are relatively low, making them an
excellent option for website owners in their beginning
stages.
Cont..
 Dedicated hosting gives website owners the most control
over the server that their website is stored on. That’s
because the server is exclusively rented by you and your
website is the only one stored on it. This means that you
have full root and admin access, so you can control
everything from security to operating system that you run.
Cont..