THE WEB DESIGN PROCESS

Creating your web design sounds like a simple task but people rarely realise what is actually involved in creating a complete web development.

Where do I start?

At the beginning of course! In order to create a successful design you first need to understand what you want to accomplish. What is your web site for and what do you want to convey to your clients, potential clients or the world?

In the beginning you don't need to bother with a computer. Start with a pen and paper and begin drafting out the basic structure of your website. No need to think about graphics at this stage or even the layout, you just need to get your websites structure down on paper. What pages do you need? Do you want an 'about me' page? Do you want a links page?

At this stage you could use simple square boxes for each page of the website and then connect the boxes with a line representing a link to that page. It only takes a couple of minutes to create and it is very simplistic, but I find it helps non-technical people to understand what the structure of the website is going to be. It allows us all to see what is going on without having to look at any code.

You may find that your scribbles turn into a comic book of ideas. Don't worry it all comes together eventually!

Wireframe web layouts

After you gain a good idea of the structure you need the next step is to create a wireframe. What is a wireframe? A wire frame layout is created to show the structure of a page, usually without any fancy graphics. It is just a representation of where all the blocks of data will appear on the page and is created as a mock up to give an impression of the layout of individual pages.

Wireframes are created so that you don't need to complete a full design before a review can take place. They are a quick way of seeing what works and what doesn't work.

You sketch out all the different sections of your page including where major sections are going to sit on the page. So you would sketch out where on the page you want your content, logo, menus, footers etc. Although it sounds like you are actually doing the design you should keep in mind that it is just a sketch and not a complete design.

Completing the web design

Once you have gone through the process above you almost have the beginnings of a working website. You have an overall structure and you have a basic page layout, now all you need to do is to add the bells and whistles. The things that make your website look impressive.

This is the creative part and the part that is difficult to teach. You need to choose colors and fonts and use them within your wireframe. You can complete this stage on your computer or on paper. It is entirely up to you but I would urge you to switch on your computer, it makes it much easier to test things quickly and make changes on the fly.