The Process

Define + Design + Develop + Deploy

Web site design and development is typically a four step process: Define, Design, Develop and Deploy. Each stage is explored below in detail, and after reading this page you will have a fundamental understanding of what goes into making a web site and what you need to bring to the project.

Defining the Project
FORMULATE A CLEAR OUTLINE OF THE PROJECT'S PURPOSE, CONTENT, FEATURES, AND REQUIREMENTS.

Other than your choice of a web designer and developer, this is probably the most important aspect of your involvement with the web project. A poorly defined project will yield unsatisfactory results. So our first task is to develop a strategy with you and determine what you really want from the site, and who will use your site and why.

MRM Web Design gave me the clean and elegant look so appropriate for my gourmet chocolate business. It's so clear and easy to navigate. They had patience with my tight schedule and knew what I needed before I asked. I am so pleased!

Claudia Gilman
Trufflehound's
Ventura, California

If you have a more or less definite idea of what will comprise your site, we'll ask you to write-up a hierarchal listing (a site structure) of the pages you want to include. But don't worry if you are having trouble figuring it all out, we will help you through the blank spaces.

You should also start thinking about site content – text, photos, illustrations, etc. – and how it will be created or acquired. Will you or someone on your team write the text? If so, will the copy need to be polished by one of our copywriters? Have you adequate photos? or will you need to engage a photographer or acquire stock photos? We are a full service firm eager to help you with content development, copywriting, editorial services, and photography.

You should also put some thought into any special features and other requirements your wish to have incorporated into your site. These are always easier and less costly to deal with at the outset of a project rather than as an afterthought.

People often acquire a domain name and sign-up for a web site hosting account before they actually plan their site or start looking for a designer. This is not a good practice. Learn more about domain names, web hosting, and how to acquire them

Don't be too concerned if your vision of what your web site should include is patchy, we can help refine the project outline, and we will ask you a series of questions geared toward bringing the project requirements into focus. Once we have a reasonable idea of what your project involves, we will prepare a formal proposal for your project, describing the project and setting forth its costs and timeline.

Site Design
CREATING A PROFESSIONAL SITE DESIGN AND LAYOUT APPROPRIATE TO THE STRATEGY AND PURPOSE OF THE PROPOSED SITE AND IN HARMONY WITH YOUR CORPORATE IDENTITY OR PERSONAL COLOR SCHEME.

After the discovery, strategy, and definition stage, we set out to create the basic look-and-feel of the site.

We will carefully review competitors' sites, along with sites you particularly favor. If you already have a logo and a corporate identity, we can create a site design in harmony with your color scheme, branding, etc. Otherwise, we can create a logo for you and develop a suitable color scheme for the site. Also, before starting the design work, we will ask for a high-resolution image of your company logo and branding (if you have one), and, if you intend to supply photos and images, a few sample photos.

About 5 days later we will provide you with links to two or three sample web pages illustrating the look-and-feel, and the fundamental functionality, we have created for your site. We welcome your feedback and will strive to incorporate your revisions and suggestions into the site design.

Developing the Site
CONSTRUCTING THE ACTUAL WEB PAGES AND DEVELOPING REQUIRED FUNCTIONALITY.

During the development stage your site really takes shape. The actual web pages are constructed with your site content – text, images, photo, etc. – and any special features and functions will be programmed into the site. You will be able to monitor progress during this stage, and review pages as they are constructed, via links to our development server.

If you require a large eCommerce site, or a self-maintaining art gallery or content-rich site, your site will need much more behind the scenes programming than a typical "static" HTML site. This is because most, if not all, of your site's pages will be "dynamically-generated" from content stored in a database. For our "shopping carts" and CMS (content-management systems), we use the powerful PHP web language and mySQL databases. Additionally, we may use Javascript and AJAX technology for the development of any site. All "static" sites are currently developed in XHTML 1.0 Transitional with CSS positioning. Our development and commercial host servers have the current versions of PHP 5+ and mySQL 5+ installed.

Deploying the Site
UPLOADING THE WEB FILES TO YOUR WEB SERVER, TESTING THE WORK, AND "GOING LIVE" WITH YOUR NEW SITE.

Once you have approved the newly development web pages and we have implemented your final revisions, the final stage involves uploading the web files to a suitable web server, and performing a final test of all pages and functionality. We validate all code and test sites for compatibility with all modern browsers: IE 6+, FireFox, and Safari.

After the final test your site is ready to "go live", enabling web users worldwide to access it.