“All architecture is shelter, all great architecture is the design of space that contains, cuddles, exalts, or stimulates the persons in that space.” - Philip Johnson
While an architecture becomes the shelter for family and friends, a website becomes the home for your business's daily events, products or services, philosophy, growth and changes. The activities you present online to your current and potential customers will allow them to develop more trust for your brand and know more about what your business has to offer. Trustworthy companies all have something in common and that's a well structured foundation that is both sturdy and flexible so it can withstand any types of pressure or be able to balance out the load for maximum performance.
After the necessary information is analyzed and design layouts are finished, the actual development of the building or website is next. What do you think happens during these stages?
3) Development Phase
Architecture
- Information from other consultants like structural engineers, suppliers, and constructors are given relevance for the physical aspect of the building
- The owner makes more decisions for the materials and smaller details of the floor plan such as where should the window be opened or where to place the gas stove in the kitchen, etc.
- Once all the details, materials, permits and designs are finalized, the house is built
- First laying out the foundation such as concrete blocks, cements, wood, etc and setting up the building lines for the form and materials for the flooring
- Next the walls are framed, trusses are built for the roof, windows and doors are installed and painted
- Once the framing is done, the interior features are connected such as the pipeline for water, electric outlets, insulation, air conditioning, ceiling, tiles, etc.
Websites
- While the designer generates the front-end look and feel of the website, the developer starts creating the foundation and builds pages discussed during the Discovery Phase
- Pages are filled with placeholder (Lorem Ipsum) contents and images
- From the previous blog post, the foundation of web programming consists of syntax, data types and values, variables, operators, and control statements
- The web developer can choose from different server side programming languages or Back-end code like ASP, JSP, PHP, Python or Ruby along with its accompanying database system (used to store the data memories) like MariaDB, MongoDB, MySQL, or Oracle
- Web developer figures out the best possible solution by experimenting with different tools or technologies to get the features working
- Custom features are coded using the foundation above and given a simple admin interface
- The development link is sent to the client to see the progress of their website
- Once the designs are approved, all the pages are themed and the features are given a creative Front-end user interactivity
- Front-end development consists of (X)HTML(5), CSS(3) and jQuery or Javascript used to code the presentational designs and interactions of the website
4) Quality Assurance and Contents Phase
Architecture
- The owner must make sure that everything works by getting a building or home inspector
- When everything passes the tests, interior decorating is added to make the house’s or building's atmosphere livable and warm
Websites
- Quality Assurance testing with feedback from the client for final changes on design and development
- Fill-in the placeholder contents with the real contents that supports the business's services, values and goals (recommend clients to create these contents during the Design Phase to streamline content migration)
- Transfer the website to the client's server for a soft launch
- Add images, videos, and/or audios
- Discuss any usability issues and concerns regarding maintenance and updates
- Add SEO capabilities, social media and other online marketing tools
5) Launch Phase
Architecture
- The owner can now fill the inside with appliances, furniture, entertainment systems, food and whatever the functions the building is supposed to be for
- Give all the keys and access to the owner so they can live in the house or use the building
- Manuals for the interior features are provided
Websites
- Make sure all the contents are in place
- Create a “Basic How To” document for the client to show how to manage their website
- Give proper permissions to administrative and user roles
- Finish everything and make it live
To build anything, the foundation and planning is very important. If the foundation is overlooked, the consequences when building a house or a website are terrifying. An entire family could be endangered if part of the house collapses or your business website could be hacked if it is not secure. A secure website is required if you have users creating accounts, leaving passwords and saving their transactions on your website.
The foundation includes wireframing (syntax), information (data types and values), designer and contents (variables), maintainers or web managers (operators) and its purpose (control statements). The development phase represents the big picture of building a website.
Another way to think of this is that the Front-end is what attracts your visitors, but the foundation / inner core or personality of your website is what will keep them involved in your business.
What do you think about these similarities? Were they surprising? Do you now understand what it takes to create and develop a complex website? From your own experiences, do you think you can improve any of the phases outlined above?
