It seems like such a short time ago, all a web developer had to worry about was making sure their websites looked good and performed well in Internet Explorer (IE). After all, for close to a decade, IE totally dominated the web landscape. This is however no longer the case. READ MORE
Website Design and Development
Our website solutions go beyond basic website design and integration with comprehensive website solutions and over a decade of experience.
Our process for designing a website generally includes branding, integration, programming, deployment and post-launch services. This general process of website design may also be repeated to create a mobile version of your website.
Here is what you can expect during the design and development phase of your website:
Planning
- Site Map Planning/Information Design
- Technical Planning
- Design Planning
Design and Production
- Interface Design (Site Branding)
- Production and Programming
- Testing and Troubleshooting
- Beta Launch
- Testing and Troubleshooting
- Final Launch
Post Launch Services
- Post Launch Technical Support
- Website Updates
Each step included in the design and development of your website is followed by a quality-control process by our web development experts, and also by you. This process ensures that the project is evolving in the direction you envisioned.
While we offer complete website solutions, from planning to launch, we can also help your organization with any of the individual steps of the process if required. Let our team of talented and enthusiastic creative experts take your website to the next level.
Let’s take a closer look at each of the individual steps:
Planning
At this very initial stage, the content of your site will need to be written (or selected) and organized. In most of our projects, this task is accomplished by our clients themselves. However, in certain cases, we can offer our services to help you define a clear and precise site map, as well as assist you to organize the content you want to include on your website.
Since not all websites are created equally, a thorough review of your project’s technical requirements is performed by our team in collaboration with your company’s IT department (if you have one). At this stage, our team will determine how best to implement your website so that it runs as quickly and efficiently as possible. We will also help determine how best to integrate any of your existing applications into your website as required. By the end of our analysis, we will have a good idea of how your website will be built, its hosting requirements, and what will be required to make it all happen.
At this stage, a careful overview of your company’s existing media and visual content is conducted. If required, we can also review the media and visual content of your competitors and/or partner’s websites to gain an understanding of what to avoid, improve upon or emulate from their website designs. Finally, a series of open discussions between your organization and our designers are conducted to capture your vision for your website. Please note that if your company has as existing branding guide (for printed and/or electronic media), we will comply with it by staying true to your color scheme as well as font style and size, whenever possible.
Design and Production
Interface design, or site branding, means drafting what your website is going to look like. With the guidelines established in the Design Planning stage, we proceed with Site Branding. One or several drafts of your new Home Page are designed in Photoshop and presented to you as JPEGs for your review. From this initial design, a back-and-forth process (between yourselves and our designers) is maintained until a final Home Page design is approved. The Home Page design includes the design of the main menu, header, side menus (if required), text boxes, bullets, arrows, search box, and any other element that is present on the screen.
Once the Home Page is approved, a similar process is initiated for the secondary pages of your site. Usually, two to four templates are enough to serve all the pages of your site. Once the Home Page and the secondary pages are given final approval, we can move on to the next stage.
The first step of site production and programming is to create HTML versions of the Home Page and the secondary pages that were created in Photoshop. A working version of the Home Page is built to let us test out the page elements such as the menus, links and mouse-overs. All of our pages are built with code-compliant HTML and/or with whatever code requirements your IT department may have. Once the Home Page and secondary page templates are all approved, we can proceed with the full-scale production of your web site. The site architecture is built, the menus are programmed and activated, and finally all the pages are constructed. Following this build-up, any additional elements that require special attention, such as search engines, forms and/or polls are programmed.
Please note that this stage is slightly different if the site will eventually be maintained by a Content Management System (CMS).
Once the whole site is built and active, it is made available to you on a development server. This temporary site is private and is only available to you (and whoever you want to give access to). The site is then thoroughly reviewed and tested by you and your team. Based on the results of the review and testing, the site then goes through a process of corrections and troubleshooting. The above steps are repeated until the whole site is free of errors and functions perfectly.
Once the Beta site is given final approval, the final site can be launched. Depending on your requirements, we will work with your IT team or hosting provider to transfer the site to its final destination. If your site has special hosting needs (such as database management or other advance functions), we will address these by advising your hosting provider to put these in place before the final launch. Once your site is transferred to its final destination, it is checked and tested again to make sure no transfer errors occurred and that the site performs well on the server.
Congratulations….your site is now live!
Post Launch Services
After your website has been launched there is typically a period where you will receive feedback from your colleagues and the online community about what they think of your website. This is a critical period where fresh eyes will provide constructive criticism on your content, site functionality and the overall aesthetic of your website. Our team and resources will remain available during that time for any website modification requests.
After the initial site is deployed and the days, weeks and months pass, the content of your site will likely have to be updated. We have several options available for this purpose. For an hourly fee, you can send us any updates, and let our professional webmasters update your site. Alternatively, if you estimate that your site’s content will change very frequently, you may want to consider a CMS. We have several CMS options available including Expression’s own FireFly.
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Can I buy your product while sitting on the beach in New Zealand? Mobile gains in e-commerce reigns
By: Chandal Nolasco da Silva Posted: Nov 22 2011
By: Chandal Nolasco da Silva Posted: Nov 22 2011
I remember when it was a very scary thing to purchase anything online. Putting your credit card on the internet was the equivalent of leaving your purse in those cubby holes before you get aboard a rollercoaster ride. However since the invention of buy-sell sites like eBay followed by purchasing platforms like PayPal, online consumer purchasing discomfort has subsided. READ MORE
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