Magento | Addobe Commerce 27 Dec , 2021 The process of developing the website – how does it work? Valdis Strautiņš Nowadays, almost everyone, a company oriented towards the profits of customers and the company, has its own website. Nowadays websites serve not only as a place for the distribution and advertising of products, but also as creators of image and reputation. They can both attract new customers and facilitate the return of existing customers and help in creating and maintaining a good image and reputation, or on the contrary. Another 10 years ago, websites, as a tool to attract customers, were rarely used and they were created very simple, without really thinking about functionality or design solutions, even less so for the user experience (UX). It has to be said that the standards of web development have also changed a lot, and most of the sites created 10 years ago have to be redesigned today, or at least restored. As the development standards rise and the qualification and professionalism of the developers grow, so do the prices of website development, which entrepreneurs are often shocked to say – but I made a website for 300Eur 6 years ago, why does it cost 800Eur now? In this article we will try to explain to you what the development process is, what exactly has changed as time goes by, and why prices are what they are. Stages of website development Professional website development is in line with the client’s company strategy, it is simple, well structured, attracts the attention of potential and existing customers, as well as creates a good user experience and helps website visitors to get the necessary information and perform the desired actions. To achieve this effect, the development process is divided into stages. Identification of claims Analysis of requirements Development planning UI/UX design development Developed design programming (front end) Functionality programming (back end) Communication Testing and corrections Commissioning, publication Maintenance, long-term support Identification of claims The stage of obtaining information, to a large extent, determines the entire course and result of the development of the project. In clarifying the requirements, a dialogue with the client is carried out in order to define the expected use of the website or online store. A very important step in the development of a professional website is the identification of problems and the definition of the goals of the site. At this stage, it crystallizes what actions users will be able to perform on the website from both the front-end and the back-end side (for example, user registration, adding content to the website, making purchases, filling in contact forms, commenting, etc.) and what user roles are provided for on the website (administrator, content editor, SEO manager.c, etc.). This stage helps to understand the competitive advantages of the customer in order to create the most suitable website for the company and its customers. Analysis of requirements At this stage, possible uses and scenarios of website users, visitors and content management administrators are identified. Alternative use cases and error scenarios are also foreseen. This is very important in order to avoid unforeseen problems before the development process, the whole development process takes place within the set deadlines and does not exceed the set budget. Analysis of requirements makes it possible to create a website development plan in stages and to determine the time and cost of developing the website. In this way, the client, already before the start of development, is provided with clear information about the costs and deadlines of the project. After the second stage, if the client is satisfied with the received offer, a contract is concluded and project planning is started. Project planning Without this stage, the process of creating a website would be chaotic and the result would certainly not be professional. As a rule, this process is carried out by the project manager – develops specific tasks, sets deadlines and task performers, as well as introduces all team members who will work on the project with the results of the first two stages. If we look back, about 10 years ago, one person worked on the development of the website, for the most part, then nowadays, in order to meet all the standards of web development, it is a whole team: Project manager – organizes work so that the project development is structured, communicates with the client and team, finds and offers the most suitable solutions for the client. UI/UX designer – develops not only attractive, industry-specific website design, but also takes care of the user experience in developing the design of the site. Front end programmer – programs the design drawn by the designer, all the visible part and the part with which to interact. The Back end programmer – something you don’t visually see – ensures that the software application’s main functional logic is developed and maintained to ensure the site works properly. Tester – testing takes about 1/3 of the project implementation, sometimes even more. The tester is responsible for ensuring that the software, system or site created works properly, pays attention to the smallest details, no smallest flaw should be missed. So, in order to create a professional website that will be both visually attractive, convenient for the visitor and perfectly functioning, at least five professionals are involved in the project. This is also a response for those who, many years ago, built their own websites at very low prices and are surprised at how much it costs to build a website at the moment. UI/UX design development Web design is associated with the creation of software products for the electronic environment. The web designer takes care of the desired feeling, determination of the color gamut, style and other design elements, so that the website leaves a professional impression and affects the operation of brands and companies as positively as possible, as well as the logic and structure of interactive elements, cro (Conversion Rate Optimization) principles are taken into account (for example, the search engine is on the left side of the upper bar and is marked with a magnifier icon). The UI/UX designer must navigate the peculiarities of the devices (screen size, functionality), know the target audience (who is the client), the behavior of the target audience, perception, potential usage scenarios, the technologies used, the design features, graphic design and other aspects. When creating a design concept, it is also necessary to determine the desired and most suitable style of the website, it can be minimalist or ultra-modern, etc. It is very important when creating a design to know the volumes of intended texts on the website, since the lengths of the headings and descriptions, affect how the dizians will look. Developed design programming At this stage, the design developed by the web designer is transferred to the front end programmer. Programming of elements visible to visitors is started. At this stage, cooperation between the designer and the programmer is very important, so that the outcome is modern, easy to use, as well as visually pleasurable for the user. Functionality programming Or back end, programming of the invisible part of the user. In order for your website to have all the necessary functionality, countless lines of codes are used that the visitor of the page does not see at all. This whole environment, as well as the content management system, is also the so-called back-end. A successful website is one where back-end processes are fast enough to respond to front-end requests– clicks, text input and the like. As time passes and web development standards grow, sites become functionally richer, so programmers need more and more specific knowledge to make the result professional, which in turn means a higher hourly programming rate. Communication The whole, above mentioned series of processes, has regular communication with the client in the middle. Groups for fast communication are created, for example, in whatsapp, the client is given access to the project management tool Jira or Trello. It is incredibly important that the customer is involved in the process of developing his website to the maximum extent possible, thus ensuring the most correct performance for the customer’s expectations. Throughout the development process, the project provider communicates with the client, and the designer of ui/UX – at the design development. Visual materials (for example, pictures, company logo, video files, if any provided for on the site), texts (descriptions of products or services, texts of various sections, for example, section “about us”) and comments after each stage have been developed will be required from you, as from the client, so that the necessary adjustments can be made in a timely manner. The speed of the customer’s reaction also has a significant impact on how smoothly the website development process will go forward. Testing and corrections One of the last steps is to test all functionalities of the developed site and correct errors, if any, during testing. Each link, script, code, website appearance, functionality and even website content must be verified in all possible ways. It is very important to check whether the website functions correctly and looks visually good on different devices, screen sizes and resolutions, as well as in different internet browsers (Google chrome, Opera, Edge, Safari, Mozilla Firefox, etc.c). Testing of website functionality is carried out – HTML and CSS validation, HTML syntax error check, database testing, input field testing in various forms of website communication. Check whether search engines can crawl a website, it is important that the website appears in search results, such as Google. In the security testing of the website, various penetration tests, Captcha testing, login security, https performance check,.c etc., performance testing tests the loading speed of the website, the performance of the website at heavy loads, the speed of loading the website from various Internet connections. The errors and shortcomings found are immediately eliminated. However, it should be taken into account that even a professionally designed and seriously tested website, when using it, may contain some error, which the web development agency, promptly eliminates, within the given guarantee. Commissioning and publication of the customer The most pleasant thing about the whole development process for both the client and the developer is the transfer of the page to the client and its publication. Adding the website to the selected domain and installing the site on the server on which the website will be held in the future is carried out. If necessary, the website is still being improved and customized based on real user experience. Maintenance, long-term support It would seem that the process of developing a website has ended with the publication of the website. However, this is not quite the case! In order for the website to correctly perform its functions, and the goals initially set, throughout its life, it must regularly update the content, eliminate errors and keep it safe. This is because technology is constantly evolving, versions of internet browsers are being updated, new ways of hacking websites are regularly devised, as well as new technologies are devised that allow you to optimize the code to make the site faster and more efficient. This stage should be one of the most important criteria when choosing a developer to whom you will entrust the creation of your website. This will ensure that all the necessary updates are made on time and support is always at your fingertips if you need to add additional functionality. We hope that in this article you learned something new and useful for yourself. Be sure to keep in mind that everything in the tech industry is fast moving forward and evolving. Sometimes it seems that everything changes by the hour – what yesterday was high standards and modern design, it is already outdated and forgotten today. And we must strive to live the time until, so as not to disappear and not be forgotten. If you have decided to develop a web project, feel free to apply for a consultation, and our specialists will find the most suitable solutions that will meet the latest web development standards.