About Goals

I believe that the best way to design web sites is to bear in mind the goals of the site and its users.

Hunt, Ben. Web Design From Scratch (2005). Design>Web Design>Planning

Designing Through the Storm

As designers, we all face the inevitable slump. That point where our creativity stagnates and we find ourselves at a dead end. Walter Stevenson offers suggestions on staying productive and creative.

Stevenson, Warren. List Apart, A (2006). Design>Web Design>Planning

A Practical Approach to Web Site Design  

Successful Web site design is accomplished by a team of professionals who: Define the business requirements for the site; Analyze the audiences; Collect content; Organize the site information; Develop a concept; Define the navigation system; Define the labeling system; Create blueprints and wire frames; Test the models; Create content maps. The matching of business needs to user needs should be your ultimate definition of a successful site.

Klepfer, Lori J. STC Proceedings (2003). Design>Web Design>Planning>Collaboration

Quick CSS Mockups with Photoshop

You need to make a set of web design mockups for your client. You'd like to find an easy way to show these mockups in clean XHTML and CSS code, because plain JPGs don't convey the full sense of the design, and sliced tables are evil. In fact, let's forget table slices ever existed. This article is for people who need to produce valid, standards-compliant mockups quickly, with the graphics tools they already use.

Voogt, Casper. List Apart, A (2007). Design>Web Design>Planning>CSS

The Quiet Death of the Major Re-Launch

Companies would often hire new outside firms to create and execute these new designs, abandoning the firm that made the previous design. The new firms would try to top the existing design with something dramatically different and attention-grabbing. After all, if you can't notice any change, why did it cost so much?

Spool, Jared M. User Interface Engineering (2003). Articles>Web Design>Planning

Setting the Stage: Planning a Web Development Project  

You have a potential project that has just dropped into your lap. The client (or your boss) asks you the deadly question: 'How much time is this going to take, and how much is it going to cost?' What is the first step you take in identifying the actual costs and timing associated with the project? How much information do you need up front in order to generate a realistic proposal? What other elements do you need to incorporate into the proposal to ensure you can say 'yes' to the project without getting into over your head? This handout has been developed to help you make the right decisions and organize your existing information in a comprehensive manner allowing you to properly identify scope, budget and timing to 'set the stage' before beginning an actual Web project.

Goto, Kelly. GotoMedia (2001). Design>Web Design>Planning

Site Planning Basics: What You Should Know Before You Design a Site

Good sites don't start in a web creation program, they start in your head. Before you even touch your web software, you need to get in touch with the reasons why you want to build a site and what you want it to accomplish.

Will-Harris, Daniel. eFuse (2003). Design>Web Design>Planning

Steps of Web Site Development

Development and maintenance of a good Web site implies many consecutive steps involving various actors. These actors all have their own objectives and understanding of the process, but all are supposedly commited to the same overall goal: building the best possible Web site given the set of constraints.

Dubost, Karl. W3C (2003). Design>Web Design>Planning

Thinking in the Right Terms: 7 Components for a Successful Web Site Redesign

Teams who focus on the long term are far more likely to create designs that really pay off for the organization. Short-term thinking gets the design done, but the team ends up doing it all over again months down the road. Long-term thinking deals with the inevitability of changes and turns the site into a living, breathing entity that grows with the organization's needs.

Spool, Jared M. User Interface Engineering (2007). Articles>Web Design>Planning

Web Design for Small Companies: Pretend that You Have a Programmer

Now that the World Wide Web is an established means of business communication and the technology has evolved with it, site designs are looking slicker than ever. You may find that your own website--homegrown or corporate--could use a 'facelift.' But facelifts don't always have to involve the newest technology; sometimes the extra stuff that the techies love actually interferes with good design. Remember the animated Flash intros that so many sites pushed on you upon first visit? It's impressive the first time you see it... and really annoying after a couple of viewings, especially when all you wanted to do was get some information and get out.

Flint, Kim. Carolina Communique (2003). Design>Web Design>Planning

Web Design: Define the Purpose

What's the 'mission' of your site? This is the first and, perhaps, most important question to answer before you embark on developing your site.

Tech-Writer (2001). Design>Web Design>Planning>Rhetoric

Wireframing With Patterns

Wireframes can comprise many different patterns, each of which is a discrete element that provides specific functionality and may include instructive copy, images, text fields, buttons, links, etcetera. Together, the patterns create a complete Web page. Of course, when wireframing in patterns, it always helps if there is a pre-existing library of patterns to draw from, but I have found that getting through the first wireframe reveals most of the reusable patterns.

Ellerby, Lindsay. UXmatters (2007). Articles>Information Design>Planning>Web Design

Your Goal

You are on this web site because you have a goal. You may be in the process of designing or updating a web site. You may be developing your professional skills. Either way, there is some state that you wish to reach.

Hunt, Ben. Web Design From Scratch (2005). Design>Web Design>Planning

Your Site's Goals

If you already have a web site, or you have a site project in mind, what needs does it fulfil? How many different needs are there? How strong are they? Your job as a web site designer is to craft a solution that meets all the most important needs.

Hunt, Ben. Web Design From Scratch (2005). Design>Web Design>Planning>User Centered Design

Your Site's Goals

Of course, the ideal solution is a win-win, where you achieve your goal at the same time as enabling your visitors to reach theirs. This section of the site introduces some tools to help find win-win situations.

Hunt, Ben. Web Design From Scratch (2005). Design>Web Design>Planning>User Centered Design

Gantt to Glory: Evolving from Project Management to Successful Web Operations

Is the sheer possession of a PMP intended to be the Holy Grail of successful web projects, known to fail at a startling rate, or simply a way to divorce oneself from whatever outcome may result from the web project?

Podnar, Kristina. Content Wrangler, The (2008). Articles>Web Design>Project Management>Planning