| Like
the traditional software development, the process of web site
development can also be divided into different life cycle steps.
This can help to format the team effectively, and the standards
and procedures can be adopted to achieve maximum quality. This
article explains the steps of development which can be possibly
arranged as a process of web engineering. This is just a guideline
to help you, to know, how a process can be done. The steps may
vary from application to application. Write me your suggestions
and comments on this article to
Note:
Throughout this text, The words web sites, web applications,
web based applications and Intranet/extranets are interchangeable.
A system development
process can follow a number of standard or company specific
frameworks, methodologies, modeling tools and languages. Software
development life cycle normally comes with some standards
which can fulfill the needs of any development team. Like
software, web sites can also be developed with certain methods
with some changes and additions with the existing software
development process. Let us see the steps involve in any web
site development.
1.
Analysis:
Once a customer is started discussing
his requirements, the team gets into it, towards the preliminary
requirement analysis. As the web site is going to be a part
of a system, It needs a complete analysis as, how the web
site or the web based application is going to help the present
system and how the site is going to help the business. Moreover
the analysis should cover all the aspects especially on how
the web site is going to join the existing system. The first
important thing is finding the targeted audience. Then, All
the present hardware, software, people and data should be
considered during the time of analysis. For example, if a
company XYZ corp is in need of a web site to have its human
resource details online, the analysis team may try to utilize
the existing data about the employees from the present database.
The analysis should be done in the way, that it may not be
too time consuming or with very less informative. The team
should be able to come up with the complete cost-benefit analysis
and as the plan for the project will be an output of analysis,
it should be realistic. To achieve this the analyst should
consult the designers, developers and testers to come up with
a realistic plan.
Input: Interviews
with the clients, Mails and supporting docs by the client,
Discussions Notes, Online chat, recorded telephone conversations,Model
sites/applications etc.,
Output: 1.
Work plan, 2. Cost involved, 3. Team requirements, 4. Hardware-software
requirements, 5. Supporting documents and 6. the approval
2.
Specification Building:
Preliminary specifications are drawn
up by covering up each and every element of the requirement.
For example if the product is a web site then the modules
of the site including general layout, site navigation and
dynamic parts of the site should be included in the spec.
Larger projects will require further levels of consultation
to assess additional business and technical requirements.
After reviewing and approving the preliminary document, a
written proposal is prepared, outlining the scope of the project
including responsibilities, timelines and costs.
Input: Reports
from the analysis team
Output: Complete requirement specifications
to the individuals and the customer/customer's representative
3.
Design and development:
After building the specification,
work on the web site is scheduled upon receipt of the
signed proposal, a deposit, and any written content materials
and graphics you wish to include. Here normally the layouts
and navigation will be designed as a prototype.
Some customers may be interested only in a full functional
prototype. In this case we may need to show them the interactivity
of the application or site. But in most of the cases customer
may be interested in viewing two or three design with
all images and navigation.
There can be a lot of suggestions
and changes from the customer side, and all the changes
should be freezed before moving into the next phase. The
revisions could be redisplayed via the web for the customer
to view.
As needed, customer comments, feedback
and approvals can be communicated by e-mail, fax and telephone.
|
Throughout the design phase the team should develop test
plans and procedures for quality assurance. It is necessary
to obtain client approval on design and project plans.
In parallel the Database team will sit and understand
the requirements and develop the database with all the
data structures and sample data will also be prepared.
Input: Requirement specification
Output: Site design with templates,
Images and prototype |
4.
Content writing:
This phase is necessary mainly
for the web sites. There are professional content developers
who can write industry specific and relevant content for the
site. Content writers to add their text can utilize the design
templates. The grammatical and spelling check should be over
in this phase.
Input: Designed
template
Output: Site
with formatted content
5.
Coding:
Now its programmers turn to add his
code without disturbing the design. Unlike traditional design
the developer must know the interface and the code should
not disturb the look and feel of the site or application.
So the developer should understand the design and navigation.
If the site is dynamic then the code should utilize the template.
The developer may need to interact with the designer, in order
to understand the design. The designer may need to develop
some graphic buttons when ever the developer is in need, especially
while using some form buttons. If a team of developers is
working they should use a CVS
to control their sources. Coding team should generate necessary
testing plans as well as technical documentation. For example
Java users can use JavaDoc to develop their documents to understand
their code flow. The end-user documentation can also be prepared
by the coding team, which can be used by a technical writer
who can understand them, writes helps and manuals later.
Input: The
site with forms and the requirement specification
Output: Database driven functions with
the site, Coding documents
6.
Testing:
Unlike software, web based applications
need intensive testing, as the applications will always function
as a multi-user system with bandwidth limitations. Some of
the testing which should be done are, Integration testing,
Stress testing, Scalablity testing, load testing, resolution
testing and cross-browser compatibility testing. Both automated
testing and manual testing should be done without fail. For
example its needed to test fast loading graphics and to calculate
their loading time, as they are very important for any web
site. There are certain testing tools as well as some online
testing tools which can help the testers to test their applications.
For example ASP developers can use Microsoft's Web Application
Test Tool to test the ASP applications, which is a free tool
available from the Microsoft site to download.
After doing all the testing a live
testing is necessary for web sites and web based applications.
After uploading the site there should be a complete testing(E.g..
Links test)
Input: The
site, Requirement specifications, supporting documents, technical
specifications and technical documents
Output: Completed
application/site, testing reports, error logs, frequent interaction
with the developers and designers
7. Promotion:
This phase is applicable only for web
sites. Promotion needs preparation of meta tags, constant
analysis and submitting the URL to the search engines and
directories. There is a details article in this site on site
promotion, click here to
read it. The site promotion is normally an ongoing process
as the strategies of search engine may change quite often.
Submitting a site URLs once in 2 months can be an ideal submission
policy. If the customer is willing, then paid click and paid
submissions can also be done with additional cost.
Input: Site
with content, Client mails mentioning the competitors
Output: Site submission with necessary
meta tag preparation
8.
Maintenance and Updating:
Web sites will need quite frequent
updations to keep them very fresh. In that case we need to
do analysis again, and all the other life cycle steps will
repeat. Bug fixes can be done during the time of maintenance.
Once your web site is operational, ongoing promotion, technical
maintenance, content management & updating, site visit
activity reports, staff training and mentoring is needed on
a regular basis depend on the complexity of your web site
and the needs within your organization.
Input: Site/Application,
content/functions to be updated, re-Analysis reports
Output: Updated
application, supporting documents to other life cycle steps
and teams.
The above-mentioned steps alone are
not strict to web application or web site development. Some
steps may not applicable for certain tasks. Its depend on
the cost and time involved and the necessity. Sometimes if
it is a intranet site, then there will be no site promotion.
But even if you are a small development firm, if you adopt
certain planning along with this web engineering steps in
mind, it will definitely reflects in the Quality of the outcome.
See the flowchart "How
we do web development in Macronimous?"[PDF format]
|
