Web design methodologiesg

Web design is a pretty complex process. It doesn't happen overnight and needs a lot of thought into the process. As your website will be the face of your organisation, design of your website cannot be considered as child's play. It requires expert advice and planning and inputs from several minds. Web Design is a subject to be handled purely in conjunction between the designers and the clients. A website can not be designed by either party alone. Both the designer and the client will have to come up with a commonly accepted design brief for the website. Web design methodologies and processes that any design consultant will embark upon are generally similar in pattern.

Web design usually always starts with the design brief. This requires an in depth conversation between the client and the designer where the designer has to understand the nature of the clients' business, company's business objectives, target crowd and services to be provided. Any company will want it's website to be unique and better than their competitors' and hence surveys in that regard will have to be done. This will create a clear picture on the purpose and expected features of the website.
Once the design brief is complete the designers start work on the website, creating new ideas, mock ups etc. and sending them over to the client for feedback. Simultaneously content developers work on specific aspects such as text content and search engine optimisation. Content has to be emphasised here as improper content can mess up a website. SEO consultants are usually employed for the content preparation. Even this is optimised to suit the design theme of the website and required editing and proof reading is done. Other content like images, videos or audio files are selected based on the page requirements and included in the design phase.
Once the designers have done their work, the programmers enter the scene. They start coding away to make all those design ideas work on the computer screen. Parts like databases and forms have to be coded and the whole setup has to be debugged using various debuggers. The coded pages are also trial run and feedback for design or usability is obtained.
After the coding is over, the webpage is tested on several browsers for usability and compatibility. Similarly the project teams will run the websites checking to ensure that the design brief and client requirements have been met. User friendliness is of utmost importance here. Any changes to be made are done here. Mock runs are done on test servers to ensure the pages can be viewed online and several parameters like quick downloading on a standard internet connection are checked for. There is no point in a fancy website that takes a millennium to download!

Once the website has been cleared all requirements, the client will review the website and with a final clearance the website goes live on the internet. Web design methodologies at any design firm generally follow this frame of events.