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Designing a website is not a one-shot
effort like making a company brochure. websites are living documents
and constantly changing. They change based on opinions, goals, and
a myriad of other factors. If you plan to make a big push effort
to develop "the perfect website", stop before you even
attempt it. You should plan to develop your site in stages. Plan
your home page so that you have room and a method to expand it.
Break your website down into blocks or chunks and prioritize them.
Pick the top three or four blocks and start there. You may find
that once it is in front of you, you may not like what you have.
It may not look as good as it sounded when you started. You can
write down descriptions without end, outlining what your site will
look like. It may sound great on paper, but it may look very different
in front of you on the screen. If you develop your entire site in
one big push, you may have a considerable amount of rework to do.
As visitors start using your site, you
will get feedback from them. And unless you don't care about your
business, you will listen to what they are telling you. Keep one
thought in mind as your site develops. You have to put your pride
aside, and sometimes things that make perfectly good sense to you.
Remember, it is not your visitor's responsibility to understand
how to work your site. IT IS YOUR RESPONSIBILITY TO MAKE IT WORK
FOR THEM! Don't waste your time attempting to determine the intelligence
level, or the cooperation level of your visitors. Let me make it
easy for you. Just assume that ALL visitors are less than brilliant,
and are not willing to read or follow directions! Rest assured of
one simple fact. Every user will do everything they can (purposely
or accidentally) to use your site incorrectly, look in the wrong
place, misunderstand all of those phrases that you made sure were
crystal clear, and generally make a mess of anything that you try
to make orderly. Do not take it personally when you start seeing
comments on your new site. In general, bite off small chunks of
your development effort, and be prepared to make changes or even
start over.
© 2001 - Barry
Wroobel - Discovery Data Systems, inc.
(note: Set left and right printer margins
to 0.25" for printing)
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523-8153 (fax-24/7)
