What Type of website?:

We are often asked to respond to a document outlining website requirements as part of a tender process - it is quite possible that there may be several companies competing for the business, based upon the same facts.

If your company is used to constructing these, and has a good grasp of the web and the various Internet technologies then great, but if you're not quite sure where to begin, here are some things to consider.

If anything here is overly technical do get in touch and we'll be happy to explain...

Site Content

* What type of content will the site contain?
o Brochure site of simple text and images?
o Front end for database-driven applications?
+ Will these need third-party development or are they already built?
o Updatable content (using a content management system)?
o Videos and audio for people to download or watch in a streaming player
* What kind of visitors will you be receiving on the site?
o Existing clients/customers may only need the services and contact details
o New clients/customers will want to know more about the company ethos, background, what you do etc.
* How will the site facilitate contact between you and your customers/visitors?
o Live chat?
o Email newsletters and signup page?
o Build your customer/visitor database through the site, or is this already in place?
o Discussion forums? (Great way to build a community, but can involve considerable time to monitor for inappropriate messages etc)

Look and Feel

* Are there any sites that you feel are similar in function, colour scheme, layout etc to what you would like to achieve?
o Does this new site need to match a “house-style” of your company’s other sites, in terms of font, layout etc?
* Do you have a company logo already for this project or will this be an extra requirement?
* How Internet/IT-savvy will your customer base be?
o This has implications on the language and layout of the site – experienced web users know where to look for things on sites and how to use search facilities, user accounts and the like, whereas certain demographics who are newer to the Internet need a simple layout with lots of guidance to usage of the website.

Technical Considerations

* Do you have the chosen domain name already?
* Will email be required through the new domain?
o If so, will this be a simple MX record pushing to your mail server, or separate POP3 accounts/Google Apps For You Domain email?
* Current hosting specifications?
o Windows/Linux servers in-house?
o PHP/MySQL/MS SQL Server installed?
o If a content management system is to be used, can this be hosted outside of your company servers?
* Security – do you require passworded areas of the site?
o If so, will this require that people can access only certain information relevant to them, or will the password be to restrict access to a few certain pages to prevent public viewing?
* Do you need this site to be found through the search engines?
o If so, this is reasonably easily addressed, but has design implications from the outset with regards to how the site will be built.
o If the address will only be used by people who are directed to it by your company, then SEO (search engine optimisation) can either be ignored, or the site can be restricted from search engine listings.
* Is there a requirement for the site to be printer-friendly?
o There is potential to create a print-only style sheet, so that visitors' ink is not all used up, and to ensure the text fits on the printed page.

Other Considerations

* Do you have a budget in mind?
o Websites can really be built to meet most budgets, but we have found from bitter experience that huge amounts of time and money can be saved with clear budgetary guidance from the outset.
* Do you have a timescale requirement?