Stages involved in creating a great website.

The stages are:

(1) Specification Stage.

At this stage, the client (the person who needs a website done) tells the designer or developer the functionalities and features they want their website to have. This stage is crucial because if the designer doesn't get the specifications correctly, he might end up designing something out of the spec of the client. The client also needs to be realistic at this stage with the specification, no voodoo or magic feature requests. Once the client and designer are on the same page, the specification stage is then passed.

(2) Design & Development

At this stage, the designer / developer takes the specification from the client, uses it to design the website. Some developers create wire-frames, some do not (I do not) , I always create the site from my understanding of how the site should look like and the layout agreed in the specification from the client.

(3) Testing & Feedback

Once the designer believes he’s done with the site, he sends the link to the client to take a look at it. Once the client sees it, he may have some changes or updates he wants on the website, at this stage – he tells the designer the changes he wants (this is also called feedback) , while checking for little errors and ensuring the website is on par with the specifications submitted initially, the client is also testing the links, pages and how responsive the website is.

(4) Iteration & Deployment

Once the designer gets the feedback from the client, he takes it and implements the changes. Sends the link of the updated website to the client and when the client is 100% happy, the designer deploys the website and it goes live.