Setting Project Requirements

Step One The first step in creating a website is to define the Purpose

Target Audience Who will be using the content of your website Consider the following characteristics: – Age, occupation, gender, education, residence, ethnicity and computer literacy

Target Audience Consider the following questions: – Who will be the users of the site? – How would you describe the users? – Why will the users come to the site? – How will the users access the site?

Content Developed once you have identified the purpose, goals, and audience of the website Should be relevant to the purpose and appropriate for the target audience

Relevant Content Characteristics Well-written, interesting and unique information Links that point you to other parts of the site, which include well-written information Information that will not become outdated in a short period of time, as well as updated content

Copyright Law Intellectual Property – Refers to creations of the mind and may include copyrights, trademarks, patents, industrial design rights, and trade secrets Copyright – A category of intellectual property providing protection to the authors of “original works of authorship” including literary, dramatic, musical, artistic and certain other intellectual works

Copyright Law Derivative Work – A work based on or derived from one or more existing works (previously published) – Must differ sufficiently from the original or must contain a substantial amount of new material Publication – Distribution of copies of work to the public by sale or other transfer of ownership, or by rental, lease or lending.

Fair Use Doctrine Allows copyrighted work to be reproduced for a variety of reasons including news reporting, teaching, parody, and research Simply recognizing the source of the copyrighted information is NOT a substitute for getting permission, and except in cases of fair use, you must obtain permission for all protected material you want to use

Website Accessibility Standards Checkpoints – Standards created to make the Internet accessible to individuals with disabilities – Organized around four principles of accessibility: Perceivable Operable Understandable Robust

POUR Principles If any of these principles are not true, users with disabilities are not able to use the web

Perceivable Content Information that is not invisible to all senses The content is presented in a manner that permits users to comprehend it despite their disability Provide text alternatives for all multimedia and nontext content Include text that describes images

Operable Content Any user, no matter the disability, is still able to operate the interface and use the navigational elements

Understandable Content Giving the user the ability to navigate the interface and ensuring that the information is comprehendible Provide labels and instructions where input is required Use the same navigational elements from one page to the next in a website

Robust Content Users should access robust content through the various assistive technologies Robust content should continue to work even as these assistive technologies improve

Screen Readers Can read certain elements in a web page to assist those users with visual impairments In the Accessibility section of the Preferences dialog box in Dreamweaver, you can set preferences that will prompt you to provide accessibility-related information for images, media, tables, form objects and frames as you add those elements to a web page

Accessibility Standards Why do they matter to the target audience? – Members of the target audience may have disabilities; if the web site is not accessible to them, your website will be useless to that user – It is important to create a web site that will be efficient, easy to learn, and satisfying to all users

Accessibility Standards Why do they matter to the client? – A web site that creates customer satisfaction should translate into increased sales and revenue, which in turn will meet the needs of your client

Delivery Requirements When designing a website, you should consider the relationship between end-user requirements and the design and development process Therefore, it is important to identify page elements that may affect delivery requirements

Considerations Connection speed, screen resolution, operating system, browser type, and use of plug-ins

Key Terms Deliverables: – The items identified to show design concepts or progress of the project Wireframe: – A basic visual guide that suggests the structure of an interface and the relationships between its pages – Serves as a design layout or blueprint that defines each web page’s structure, content & functionality

Wireframes Created before any design work is started Used during planning stage to help you outline page elements that may be affected by the end user’s technical factors Helps to identify new requirements and questions that may not have been considered during the initial planning stage

Wireframes, cont Should contain all the important elements of a web page – Navigation, logo, content sections, search function, areas for users to log in, rich media content, tables, use of JavaScript, specific technologies that require plug-ins (Flash, QuickTime, Adobe Reader, Real Audio)

Planning The most important part of any successful project

Planning Process Stage 1: Planning and Analysis – Define goals, target audience, content and style and delivery requirements – Most crucial stage Stage 2: Scheduling – Create a schedule with due dates based on deliverable identified in stage 1 – Identify a plan of communication

Planning Process Stage 3: Building – Develop a sketch of the layout (design comp) which meets the needs defined in Stage 1 and is approved by the client before moving forward – Develop a storyboard to show navigation elements

Planning Process Stage 4: Testing – Test the project to ensure that it works properly – Verify for accuracy before showing final product to client Stage 5: Implementing or Publishing – Once the final product meet’s the clients satisfaction, publish it to the medium for which it has been designed