From: Kirk Haines <khaines@...>
Date: 2006-03-27T05:15:58+09:00
Subject: Re: web site development methodology

On Sunday 26 March 2006 12:18 am, colonel.ender@gmail.com wrote:

What you are asking for seems to be a difficult thing to pin down with 
precision, as all of the things that you ask about can vary depending on 
details not mentioned.  However....

> I'm having trouble with things like ... when to hand the web views over
> for graphic work, should the graphic designer figure out the layout of
> the views even though the developers will be doing the initial work on
> implementing the views, how to continue back-end work while the visuals
> are being done (if they can be done in parallel), etc...

There should be no reason why this can't be done with a substantial amount of 
parallelism.

Put as many of the details about the layout as possible into the 
stylesheet(s), keeping the HTML as simple as possible.  Have the graphic 
designer work with the developers to lay out the basic structure of the site 
and of whatever specific pages need to be addressed.  Once that basic layout 
is done, you developers should be able to work on whatever code that they 
need to work on for the dynamic, functional bits, while the graphic designers 
continue to refine the details on the look of the site.

The details regarding exactly how this works may vary depending on the 
technology that you are using to build the site, but the general concept is 
the same -- by using the technologies available to keep different interests 
separated, they can be worked on in parallel.

And before you get to that point, there is still developer work that can be 
done on data models and areas of business logic that are going to be 
necessary regardless of interface details.

>> I'd also like to get ideas on how to draw up and present the site to
> the client, what to present in the beginning, etc...

The graphic designer should start with conceptual mock-ups of a page or two of 
the site in order to work out the details with the client on how the site is 
to look.  Functionally, just work off the requirements for the site.  Even if 
a lot of the details are still fuzzy, you can lay out a general flow, a high 
level storyboard showing how the pieces fit together.

Your requirements exist to guide the project, so make sure you use them and 
refer to them.  If you don't yet have a good set of requirements documents, 
start there.  It's hard to do a large project efficiently if you don't even 
really know what it is that you are expected to deliver.


Kirk Haines