Rangpursoft

Development

Information structure

The flow of the information you provide will be a critical component in the success of your website. Systematic, logical information organization will ensure that you have a coherent, user-friendly and flexible site. Your site's information structure must be able to accommodate growth, taking maintenance issues into consideration as your company grows and information expands.

Plan your site on paper before your developers start programming the site. Taking into consideration your target audience, analyze the content that needs to be incorporated into your website and then decide how many sections it should be divided into. As your site grows, it's critical to have a navigation system that enables users to see where they are and how to get back at any point.

It may be useful to create user case scenarios in which a simulated session is created for each type of user from each target audience group. The purpose is for you to see how easy it is to find the relevant information or to perform a desired function, such as purchasing an item.

Interface design

While the information structure creates the framework for your site, it is the branding and design that your site visitors will react to and interact with. People are attracted to interfaces that are visually compelling and extend your business' brand. Ease of use and functionality go hand-in-hand with a well-designed interface, so that your visitors are led through levels of information and are able to quickly find their way to the information they seek. Interface design can have a big impact on the usability of your website, making the difference between a site that is user-friendly and one that is frustrating.

Content creation

The Internet is all about communication: finding and absorbing sought after information. People read differently from a computer screen, looking for snippets of information that can be used quickly and effectively. You'll have the most success with a website that is written to be "scanned". Your website should be brief and concise with links leading to deeper information. When the information structure is populated with well-written content, your site will encourage a positive experience and response from your visitors.

Photographs and images can add tremendous value to your website when used appropriately. High quality photos will present an image of quality, while low quality photos can have the opposite effect. It's important to be selective in the quantity and size of photos to be included, as pages tend to take longer to display when they feature large photos.

Technical build

Whether your site will be built internally or by an outside firm, the technology used to build the site will be dictated by the functionality and other parameters that you have set as goals for your website. Some sites are built using HTML while others are built on dynamic database systems and still others using online software. When the programming is complete, your site should undergo rigorous testing before it is deployed. For your website project team, the critical factors to manage are that the website functions properly, that promised deliverables are met and that the strategic goals of the site are accomplished.

Web content accessibility

When developing your website, why not consider how to make the content accessible to all audiences, including people with disabilities? Such disabilities might include blindness and low vision, deafness and hearing loss, learning disabilities, cognitive limitations, limited movement, speech disabilities, photosensitivity and various combinations of these.

It is useful to identify common barriers to accessibility in order to avoid designing a website that only serves a partial audience. To be as directly accessible to as many users as possible, web content must be:

    Perceivable, or available to some of the user's senses
    Operable, in that the user must be able to operate the interface
    Understandable, so that the user can understand both content and operation
    Robust, so that the user can access content by means of a variety of assistive technologies if needed. As technologies evolve, the content should still be accessible.

Some simple approaches that improve accessibility might include:

    Adequate contrast between text and background colour (colour contrast tools are available online)
    Section headings to make content easier to handle
    Descriptive titles or alternative text for images to be read by screen readers or for when browsers cannot support images
    Large text in a clear font
    Transcripts for video or audio
    Navigation that can be done with a keyboard only (for stylus users)
    Animation that will not induce seizures

Providing accessibility is the most humane approach possible to website design, but there is also a practical application: many people with disabilities use the Internet to conduct a wide variety of business transactions. It makes good business sense to ensure that, by complying with legal guidelines or international standards, your website can be used by all customers or people seeking information about your goods or services.

    Web Content Accessibility Guidelines
    Make your website accessible to all users, including those with a disability, by familiarizing yourself with accessibility guidelines that will help your content reach your full audience.