How your "Sizzler" web site is designed.

The "SIZZLER" Design Process

Following is a discussion of what goes into the creation of your "Sizzler" website. We are always looking for better ways to do it. We are always open to suggestions on how to improve our products, brands and processes.

The "Sizzler" web site is designed to be a high quality, moderately priced option for the small business. But regardless, there are still those who still don't quite understand what goes into the design of the "Sizzler" web site.

After completing the Website Planning Worksheet, some very important decisions are made. One of the most important decisions you can make is your choice of domain names. You want to choose a domain name that reflects favorably on your business and is easy for your prospective visitors to remember. If you need help determining a domain name for your website, feel free to ask a TCA representative.

Another very important thing that we need to do before we begin the actual design process is to determine the purpose of the site. Is your site being used as an extension of Public Relations? Will it be used as a marketing or advertising tool? Should it be designed to provide useful industry, product or decision making information to the end-user? Perhaps the main purpose of your site should be to provide support or technical information to your customer. One of the reasons that many websites don't get the results they want from their web site is that they haven't determined a clear cut purpose for their site that differentiates the site from others on the crowded Internet and that makes your site compelling to proposed visitors. The Website Planning Worksheet asks several questions designed to assist us in determining the overall purpose of your new website.

When designing your "Sizzler" web site we use a basic "waterfall" software lifecycle model.

Phase 1/Problem Definition and Concept Exploration-In this phase we begin by completing a Website Planning Worksheet. Because your website will be one of the most important media your business will ever have, it is important that you complete this first step as thoroughly as possible, thereby building your web site on a good foundation.

Phase 2/Requirements-Analysis-Specifications-During this step we analyze the uses for the site. This will determine the technical specifications required.

Phase 3/Design Prototyping-During this phase we will create preliminary drafts of the website.

Implementing and Unit Testing-After we complete preliminary designs we begin to build the pages. As each page is completed it is tested. This is especially important if the pages are dynamic (I.E. use .asp or .php technology, have flash movies, etc).

Integration and System Testing-After we have completed building the entire site we test the entire site for functionality and usability. We make any changes or adjustments at this point.

Release, Operation and Maintenance-Once the site has
passed inspection, it can now be promoted to your targeted visitors.

DESIGN CHECKLIST for the SIZZLER

Following is a checklist of what goes into the creation of your "Sizzler" website. We are always looking for better ways to do it. We are always open to suggestions on how to improve our products, brands and processes.

-Complete the Website Planning Worksheet.
-Choose a domain name.
-Determine the purpose of the site.
-User Analysis-Who is the audience?
-Review design options and choose design.
-Select a web hosting service.
-Quote is given to customer based on completion of development cost
worksheet.
-Background research.
-Choose a web authoring tool.
-Collect existing media.
-Logo Design, if needed.
-Review all existing media for quality.
-Initial Graphic Designs.
-Storyboarding and initial client presentation.
-Purchase photos, illustrations,artwork and/or have them produced.
-Movie and Video files purchased and/or produced.
-Flash movie purchase or production-Building preloaders.
-Audio content purchase or production.
-Animations purchase or production.
-Purchase all intellectual rights, if necessary.
-SEO, tagging and keywords.
-At this point we create the first drafts/prototypes of the website.
-This is followed by a review of the drafts with the client and the making
of any revisions.
-After this the website is built. Each page is tested as it is completed.
-Once the entire website is built, it is tested for functionality and
usability. We also test the quality of the coding. At this point we make
any necessary adjustments and changes.
-After this is done, the site is released to be taken live to the internet.