concept phase
design phase
(optional) maintenance phase
information (sheet)
the objective of this worksheet (download) is to form a picture of what you desire in a website. what is the purpose of the your site? what do you want to communicate visually? how do you want it to look? what do you want the site to do for you?
example: www.buffaloteam.com is a small distance education program. they want their site to explain who they are and what they are currently doing with a buffalo/western/black hills theme. the more material you give me the better i will be equipped to build your site efficiently. included after each element will be an example of what i received from my www.buffaloteam.com clients – this may help you understand what i am looking for.
- domain name – this is the address (URL) someone types in to find your site. go to www.godaddy.com to see if the name you desire is available (e.g. buffaloteam.com)
- domain type - .com, .org, .us, .net, etc. “org” generally defines you as a non-profit and “net” as a business.
- color theme - pay attention to the psychology of color. visit my color sample pages to get some ideas (IMD had no preference, i chose browns and white)
- font - courier, verdana, arial, new times roman, etc. you want to choose a common font for your text since browsers can only display fonts they have on their computer. you can use exotic fonts on images (like a header i create for you) since they don't reference font files. (no preference, i used courier new)
- title tag - what browsers will display at the top of their page when viewing your site (welcome to buffaloteam.com!)
- meta description -a one sentence description of the site that many search engines display (Institute for Ministry Development)
- meta keywords - a list of key words related to describing the site, many search engines ignore these and search the content of the page directly – so don’t stress over the choice of words (institute, ministry development, imd, leadership, indian, black hills indian bible college, bhibc)
- note: meta descriptions and keywords are not super important because many website search engines look at the content (text) of the page over the meta data
- copy/content - the words you want on each page
- pictures - the more the better to work with (many digital pictures of buffalo were given to me to use)
- graphics – i can created custom graphics if needed (none were given, i created the brown granite spires above the menu)
- navigation menu - how people will access the pages of your site (ask, contact, contribute, history, letter, map, and spotlight)
- list of desired pages - generally the same as the menu, but individual pages may have links to additional pages
- a sketch - layout of pages or refer a website with a similar desired layout
- list of desired features - forum, feedback, receive our newsletter, polls, picture gallery, contributions or shopping cart, etc.
- contact information - names, phone numbers, emails addresses, fax numbers, mailing address, physical location, etc.
