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• Information that will not become outdated in a short period of time, as well as updated content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 incases 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