Website Design Planning, Programming Methodology

The First Meeting

The first thing you will notice about the theinfotechsolutions Web Team is that we will insist on meeting you in person, preferably at your office. During this first meeting, which takes no more than an hour, we will try to understand your business and also offer some insights from our experience on the best way to integrate the Internet into that business for maximum impact and minimum disruption. The meeting is free and without further obligation. Should you agree to appoint the theinfotechsolutions Web Team as your Internet publisher, we will then move into concept development on your behalf.

Concept Development

This stage includes a detailed analysis of your business and its potential for improvement by on-line services integration, together with a more thorough search for the web sites of your competitors, suppliers and customers to identify areas for market enhancement and upstream/downstream business integration.

theinfotechsolutions web Team also analyzes the graphic design and programming that will be needed to develop your web site and obtains firm prices for these services where possible. A detailed proposal is prepared and presented to your management for approval. This phase of development is chargeable at a fixed price, payable in advance.

Presentation of Proposal

Once the proposal is complete, including a thorough appreciation of your business requirements and a detailed quotation for web site development, we present the proposal. Again, we look to do that in person so that we are able to answer any questions and completely explain our concept.

The proposal details the structure of the site, the number of pages required, the estimated number of graphics per page, the workings of an order-form page or pages, and any programming required to complete the site. It also details immediate and ongoing costs of web site management. We also provide you with detailed checklists of your immediate and future responsibilities within the Web Design Project.

The terms of engagement (listed in the proposal) include a 50% deposit payment at the commencement of the project, with the remainder paid at completion of the project.

Information Collection

Once you have accepted the Proposal, with or without amendment, we will expect you to nominate one of your team members to be our contact for the duration of the project. The contact person must be available during normal business hours for both face-to-face meetings and for consultation by telephone. That contact person will also need to carry out the project tasks listed in our Client Checklist and Project Calendar.

The amount of time the contact person will need to spend on the project will vary according to the size of the web site and the complexity of its intended operation. You should expect that for a small site of 3-4 pages, the contact person would spend ten hours on the project in total, spread over about one week. For a medium-sized site of 6-20 pages, the contact person should spend about 15 hours on the project over about one month. The time to be spent on larger sites will need to be estimated on a case-by-case basis.

Advantages of Having the theinfotechsolutions Web Team Design Your Web Site

1. Web pages are designed with accessibility in mind. HTML tag support varies with each browser. We stay on top of percentage of browsers being used as well as what HTML; CGI and scripting languages are supported. We test all web pages on Windows and Mac computers and view them in different browsers. We then make necessary adjustments to graphics and/or HTML to guarantee the best possible accessibility for your potential viewers without compromising design.

2. Graphic compression is done to minimize load time without compromising the quality of the graphic.

3. We make Internet sites "search engine friendly" that is, we design your web pages so that they can be found based on the keywords and phrases you provide us.

4. All web pages are developed based on guidelines of Web Presence Council.

What Will My Site Look Like?

We understand choosing a design for your web site can be a difficult decision. We offer professionally designed templates for you to choose from (for sites having more than 50 pages only), as well as flow chart assistance, including some suggestions on how your web pages can link and other design elements can be incorporated.

We can provide you with more specific proposals if your design needs do not fit into any of the theinfotechsolutions web Team's design plans. We are committed to getting your web site up and running as quickly as possible and will do our best to work within your requirements.

Additionally, we can analyze your existing web site and let you know how our design team can improve the effectiveness and professionalism of your Internet presence!

First Draft Development

The theinfotechsolutions web Team uses a phased development process to maintain quality control throughout the project. First, we develop the general "selling message" of the site and the general "look and feel" of the pages for the various sections. We call this the "template design," and we reuse this work on each page of the site during final development. So you can get a "feel" of how the site will look and perform, we upload the first draft stage onto our private host-server, which is not available to general web traffic. Once the first draft is on-line, we can work out any "bugs" and get feedback from your team about its look and feel.

Your comments at this stage of development will ensure that the final content, message, look and feel of the site meet your expectations. Only when you have "signed off" on the first draft design will the major elements be added.

Final Product Development

Any forms, programming, and database integration required to achieve the aims of the site (e.g., sell products, collect information, facilitate subscriptions, allow feedback, etc.) are added to the design during this phase. This part of the development of the site can only be done when the site is on-line. Final content is added to the site and fine-tuning is carried out to test the operation of the site prior to hand over. Once we are happy that everything is working to our satisfaction, we will present the final pre-launch site to your team once again for approval before moving on to the proofing stage.

Proofing Stage

To ensure that your site is error-free, we send the completed site to the University Proofreader for corrections. Once we have made changes based upon the proofreader's suggestions, you have the option of re-proofing before we send the site to the Web Presence Council for final approval. Once the site is approved, we are ready to open the site to the public and promote its presence in the Internet!

Launch and Promotion

Once the site is "switched on" for public access, the theinfotechsolutions Web Team will list its presence with major search engines and directories using key words and phrases specified by your web development team/contact. This will ensure visibility of the site for those users looking for you or the type of products and services you provide. We will also seek out "cross-linking" with the web sites of your key suppliers and trade groups and other web sites with a common interest or role, all of which must be provided by the web development team/contact.

Upon completion of your project, you are allotted a limited number of hours in which our staff may train you on the maintenance of your site. If you need assistance beyond our basic training, we can point you to other resources to further your skills. We are also available for site maintenance at the regular hourly rate.

Types of Questions to Ask in the First Meeting Questions Like

What is this site supposed to do?
How does it fit into our overall business strategy?
Who is our target audience?
What is their level of knowledge and understanding?
How much information do we need to provide?
How can this best be accomplished?
What do competitor sites look like?
How do they accomplish these goals (that we have established)?
What information do we need to capture?
How will we monitor the site?
What maintenance will be required, and who is responsible for this?
What kind of visual appearance do we want?
How much will it cost to build? Maintain?
How long will it take?
Can we build it in phases? Do we need to?

What Can We Do for You?

Templates or specialized custom pages
On-line forms
Linked to databases
Linked to response pages or e-mail transmissions
Image maps
Animated GIF
Flash Movies
Frames (WPC recommends against this)
Video clips
Audio clips
Other computer languages