Website Design Preparation

I remember the first time I tried to design and build a website. It was a disaster but a lot of fun. I did end up with a website, but it wasn’t really the one I envisioned. I learned there are important steps that should be taken before any code is done. In fact, this realization led me to eventually enroll in software engineering and... well that’s another story.

Website design - Who is the end user?

The first question you must ask yourself is who will be using the website and why are they there in the first place. Is it a mother looking for cloths for their kids or a teenager looking up Call of duty stats? Both have a question that your website must answer. Think about the end user and not necessarily the client who hired you to develop the site. Going back to the mother looking for cloths for their kids, if the mother finds the cloths and the kids love them then most likely they will return.  

Website design – Define the websites purpose

Now that we know who the end user is we can define its purpose. How are you going to help answer the question the end user has? A Patient may visit a doctor's website for many reasons. To get a prescription, to book an appointment, etc. What are you trying to achieve? If you are trying to get patients to contact the office or sign up for a newsletter. Write out a bunch of scenarios to see what make the most sense. Once you have a promising idea write it down as a purpose statement.   A purpose statement brings together your end user and purpose in a couple sentence like a mission statement.

“This website helps elderly patients book appointments as easy as possible.”

Website design – Outline

So here is where a bit of research is going to be needed. I always ask my clients to tell me about what inspires them if there is any. Spend some time surfing the web and take note of what you like and what you don’t. Remember to keep your purpose statement in front of you. It will help you answer some important questions. There is a lot of great literature about website design patterns, most of it really breaks down to common sense and what is best for the user. Grids organize information neatly; Hierarchy brings forward what the user should focus on.  

There are some great tools out there to help outline your site but honestly, I am a huge fan of pencil and paper for web design. I can scribble ideas, make notes quickly which is mostly perfect for me.

Once we have a solid understanding of the layout and that it is functional, we are ready to create a website content page. I know there is a lot before we start coding.

Website design – Content Outline

One of the last things I feel is important to do before moving onto the development stage is to create a content outline.  Collect the text and description of each page you want to build and put it in a simple document. This helps with assuring everything you are putting on the page is consistent with your purpose statement, it will allow you to edit easily, and help with SEO if that is something you are writing for at this stage.

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