Web Development Process: Effective Web Content Drives Web Page Design
Quality web development efforts focus on a target audience, and impact design. Write2it builds value into your web site by using a development process that recognizes the needs of your information customers in creating useful web content.
EFFECTIVE WEB CONTENT: Effective web content evolves from a user needs analysis that defines the demands and search methods of your information customer(s). Web development progresses to a content feasiblility study, and...
WEB PAGE DESIGN: Web design is set out in web page "documents" using HTML, or hyper text markup language, and web publishing standards to develop a design that conveniently and effectively presents web content to your information customer. HTML organizes and presents this web content. An effective web development process generates new content to update the old "stale" web content.
Target Your Audience for Success
THE DEMAND FOR VALUABLE INFORMATION:
The World Wide Web technology allows for very convenient information access on demand. The value of the information proposed for web content must be established. A needs analysis ultimately determines whether meeting the demands of your information customer(s) justifies the expenses related to making your information fit into and work well with current web technology.
The Write2it web development process looks at who will access what information and why, and how and when they will do it. Good web content stems from efforts to determine these factors prior to the start of any other other web development, programming, or design efforts. Your final web site content and web page design develops progressively from these information needs.
CONTENT DEVELOPMENT:
The feasibility and cost-effectiveness of converting these needs into effective web content must be looked at. Can the whole wish list that you derived from your needs analysis be made available on the World Wide Web? Priorities? What about organizing web content? And 24/7 access for all? The list can be daunting. With its convenience, the Internet will never be lacking in the many forms of web content:
stories, biographies, jokes, business proposals, product or service specifications, assembly instructions (build your own web site?), infomercials, advice (good or bad?), training manuals, educational material, press releases, articles, editorials, conspiracy theories, political platforms...
Ease of entry and a lack of an internet "police force" have led to a floundering mass of web documents that seem to lack rhyme or reason. Again, a certain audience may value a certain type of web content. Write2it possesses both the writing skill and ability to convert your web content into web pages that are organized in a professional web publication format.
WRITING WEB PAGE DOCUMENTS:
Web documents are a universal method of information organization and presentation; they create a unique publication that uses the World Wide Web for distribution. Web document files contain HTML -- hyper text markup language -- a standard internet "code" that web browsers (Netscape or Explorer) can locate, read, and then convert into the "web page" information that the people browsing the Internet are looking for.
Without getting too technical, the HTML code or commands are written in pure ascii text. These commands control the "look" of the web page. Commands can be hand coded using a basic "text editor" program such as Simple Text (Mac) or Notepad (PC). I use BBEdit Lite, which has more features that I find useful. Then there are the "HTML Editors," which are programs designed to minimize or eliminate the need to hand code by doing the necessary HTML command coding for you.
Still it's necessary to adhere to the unique style of writing and web page design demonstrated in professional web publishing practices. Write2it is committed to developing you information into web page content that leads to a professional web site publication.
WEB PAGE PUBLICATION:
The web servers that "host" your web page content, the web browsers that locate and read your pages, and the World Wide Web network that connects them to each other all combine to make the Internet a great publishing tool. Right now, one of the biggest problems in successful web publication is getting your web site's location, and a description of its contents, into the hands of your information customer.
People find the Internet content they're interested in by using the computerized word searches and indexes that are a part of each of the major search engine services (Snap, Alta Vista, Netscape, others). Web marketing and building awareness of you web content through any other means (mail, advertising, etc.) is relatively expensive and remains unproven in its effectiveness.
Search engines exist to offer a "locater service" for those seeking quality content. It's essential to give them something of value if you expect them to help you. The web development process must consider effective search engine submissions and strategies for marketing web content to the intended information customer. Web site promotion is key to a successful web development effort.
EDITING WEB CONTENT:
In view of all the millions of web pages that just languish unused or are inaccessable due to poor web development practices, web content that generates feedback and suggestions from information customers is an obvious success. There is tremendous competition for your web customers' time. Use and value their feedback in your web site design.
Unlike more traditional types of publications, your web page content can readily and continuously be edited, updated, and upgraded to reflect current conditions, serve more needs, and develop additional information customers.
ADDING "FRESH" WEB CONTENT:
Fresh web page content is a necessary element in bringing back old, and bringing in new, information customers. Just as feedback and suggestions affect web content, so does new and changing information. Additional areas of content are readily incorporated into your web site, making it a convenient resource containing the most recent information available.
This also means that it must be properly maintained. Web documents containing old information can be stored and easily accessed for reference by using a text search of content type (keyword) or date.
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Last Updated 6/22/00
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