No matter how big or small your Web project is, success can be yours if you develop it like the pros.
We've all seen Web sites only a designer could love - chock-full of artistic touches and eye candy. Or, for that matter, pages so focused on pure information retrieval that surfing them is as exciting and entertaining as waiting in line at the DMV. These sites may well suit their intended audience and justify their existence. But they appear to have been created in a vacuum.
Imagine, for a moment, two Web sites with two completely opposite approaches to delivering content online. One displays an artist's portfolio through a slide-show presentation. The interface offers you a linear path through a series of full-screen photographs. The other is a vast database of, say, information on airplane parts arranged hierarchically and coded by serial number. Each site has a very specific purpose and audience. Each takes a radically different approach to the organization and presentation of information on the Web. Yet a common thread ties sites like these together.
Draw a continuum from the most structural, informational libraries of information all the way over to pure expressions of art, the online galleries intended simply for the enjoyment of the experience. Naturally, it is appropriate for Web sites to fall at both ends of this continuum. But even at the edges, the fundamental techniques of good design are at play.
A good Web page, of course, will be a solid blend of presentation, structure, and interactivity. Put simply, the ultimate goal of a successful Web site is a smooth blend of design and editorial content with interface functionality and a solid backend system. Good design is much more than decoration, just as well-written code will take a confusing hierarchy of data and guide an audience through layers of information to the nuggets they need. This tenuous balance is invisible to the user when done correctly and painfully obvious when askew.
That's the expression of content on the Web. Couldn't you use the same formula for approaching a project in the first place? Building a team for developing a Web project is nearly identical to building the project itself. Carefully matching the disciplines of design, content, and programming - and managing that balance - can be as difficult as building the end product.
Sure, you're thinking, that's fine for the big Web site of some huge corporate interest. I just want to build my homepage.
That's the point. Thinking like a development team, even if you are a team of one, is the right place to start when you're approaching a new project, no matter what the scale. Rather than just throwing together a handcrafted exhibit of art or a structured presentation of data, step back and study the endeavor from all aspects of development. How can interactivity play a role? What is the aesthetic quality of the information? What are the goals of your users, and how can you help them be successful?
Now you can begin thinking like a well-developed production team, and the choices you make will be grounded in solid answers, rather than the assumptions you started with. Now get to work.
This article appeared originally in HotWired.
