Here’s a breakdown of the stages of website development and explanations for each stage
1. Planning
- Defining Goals and Scope: Determine the website’s purpose (business site, e-commerce store, etc.), target audience, and specific objectives that it needs to fulfill.
2. Discovery
- Gathering Information: Conduct market research, user analysis, and competitor benchmarking. Create user personas to get a strong idea of who you’re building the site for.
- Sitemap and Wireframes: Outline the hierarchy and structure of the website with a sitemap. Create rough sketches (wireframes) to define basic layouts.
3. Design
- UI/UX Focus: User Interface (UI) and User Experience (UX) design bring structure to life. Consider visual hierarchy, branding (colors, fonts), and intuitive flows for navigation.
- Prototyping:Create interactive prototypes or detailed mockups of the website to get a sense of usability before coding begins.
4. Development
- Front-End Development: Coding the client-side of the website using HTML, CSS, and JavaScript to create the layouts, visual elements, and interactive components.
- Back-End Development: Building the server-side, which manages website data, logic, and functionality using languages like Python, PHP, or Ruby. Databases may be involved here too.
5. Testing
- Quality Assurance:Meticulous testing across different browsers, devices, and screen sizes to fix bugs, optimize performance, and ensure an error-free experience.
- Usability Testing: Observe real users interact with the website to identify usability issues and further refine the design.
6. Website Launch
- Deployment: Publishing the website to a live web server, making it accessible to the world.
- Post-Launch Maintenance: Keep the site secure, updated, and optimized with regular content additions and technical support.
