Building your Identity on the WWW

Abstract

A developer considers any small work as a project. Any development should be planned in advance. Plan, organize and control are three key aspects in any achievement.

Software Development has its own life cycles. There are five to six basic steps to follow.

1. Scoping (Mapping feasibility)
2. Analysis & Design
3. Construction
4. Test
5. Deployment

These five steps are collaborated through project management techniques.

To introduce business, company portal on Internet is necessary. It helps your customers and partners to know about you. Current update helps your investors to invest in your business. Your portal or website is your introduction to the world.

Now the question arises is “How to create an excellent company’s portal?”

Scoping

Why are you creating a website?

Probably answers are: –

1. Introducing your company.
2. Introducing your products & services.
3. Introducing your key clients & projects.
4. Providing company profile, annual reports and infrastructure details.
5. Easy contact
6. Job openings
7. Investment & Investor details
8. Spreading & inviting for Branches & Franchisees
9. To sell on line (Business to Business (B2B) or Business to Customers (B2C))

Whom to cater?

Know your audience.

Every report speaks different language. Are you looking for a professional website? Do you want to make creative one? Is your business requires funny website?

Your audience can be your possible customers, investors, established clients, job seekers and so others. A detail on each page use different language.

Your customers are looking for products. Take an example. You are selling flowers bouquet. Your product page will be very attractive, beautiful and rosy with all colors.

Your investor searches for all financial data and information. Page is thick of numbers rather flowers.

Clients need details on their current projects & work. They need details of all past transactions. Current users of a product or service looking for upgrades, enhancements, changes in pricing, guarantees, warranties, schedule, personnel, facilities, locations and customer service.

Thus know your audience. You need to know how to integrate different audience on one address.

Analysis & Design

How will you construct your website?

You can use scripting for validations, server pages for server management & database management.

Basically you start with simple static pages with HTML. You can make it more dynamic with DHTML and Server pages.

Structure

Any portal is made up of home page and linked pages.

Designing Home Page

Home page is welcome gate of your website. So it should be attractive and linking the whole portal at single point. It is a center point.

Work out brainstorming on:

1. Look
2. Basic template
3. Color schemes
4. Graphics
5. Text
6. Margins

Space management is one of key activity in web designing. Drop down menus can be used to save space.

Pondering on Linked Pages

Navigating through home page, a visitor visits linked pages.

Key linked pages

1. Vision & Objectives of a company
2. Product & Services
3. Clients & Partnerships
4. Investor
5. Career
6. Contact

Other than linked pages, so many other things are linked to your portal.

To design an excellent portal, it is suggested to analyze & study successful websites.

“It is better to add least links rather than many broken links.”

Construction

To create a play a writer uses storyboarding technique. A writer puts down different pieces of situations on storyboard. Then he tries to arrange & rearrange to make an excellent flow of play. Designing a website is also something like creating a play.

Other techniques like “Mind mapping / clustering ” and outlining are key techniques to prepare structures.

Content management

1. Create your own checklist.
2. Decide navigation flow.
3. Add detail for clarity.
4. Delete unnecessary screens or writing
5. Use simple word and phrases
6. Emphasis on information at most you can provide to your audience

Technicality

1. Correct errors
2. Build feed-in forms. Like guest book, order forms, complain forms or address for free newsletters.
3. Manage navigation. What clicks what? Work out Hyper linking
4. Manage space
5. Work out headings & font styles.
6. Write necessary scripting to avoid unnecessary and false information.
7. Provide enough securities.

Test

As earlier said, check out proper functioning of your website. Make sure it works.

1. Check out openings of your website in different browsers.
2. Internet Explorer and Netscape are most widely used browsers. Opera is also available.
3. Check out graphics & content margins.
4. Ensure no spelling mistakes.
5. Don’t create any functional blunders and duplication of information.
6. At least enter correct contact addresses and mail id.
7. Check out auto responder.
8. Ensure load testing to check out time to functions any pictures, audio – video file and downloading file.
9. Feed in all forms to test database management.

Deployment

Your website is ready.

1. Get your domain name (an address to your website) and space.
2. Upload your contents on server.
3. You can use any FTP software like Cute FTP to upload your files easily.

Maintenance is an activity, which is left forever. Believe in updating your site.

To promote your website you can use number of techniques. List your site with top search engine like Google.com, Yahoo.com, Looksmart.com

Hot Chilly

Don’t forget to add your website URL and mail id on your ‘Visiting Card’.