DEVELOPMENT CYCLE OVERVIEW
When
you begin your web develop project with Xclaim Design, it will be
helpful for you to review our standard development cycle below to
better understand the entire process as a whole and easily identify
where you are in the development cycle as the project moves forward.
While
we make every attempt to keep the development process as simple and
‘painless’ as possible, we will need your help along the way. It
will be your vision, ideas and concepts that we interpret to create
a site that is a ‘one of a kind’ unique representation of your
business that provides the content and functionality you have
contracted us to put in place using the most efficient navigation
methodologies available.
Design, Navigation, Content & Functionality
need to work seamlessly and efficiently with one another to ensure
your site visitors are able to view the maximum amount of content
possible during the duration of their site visit.
There are four primary development phases for your web
project...
I.
Creative Design Phase
II. Content Development Phase
III. Programming Development Phase
IV. Final QC (Quality Control)
Following is a brief overview of each development phase…
Creative Design Phase
Within 3 business days of receiving your signed contract - you
will be notified via email by a member of our design services team
that a Home Page Concept Preview has been created for you.
You will be asked to review the proposed design and provide input as
necessary until you are pleased with the design - a process that can
take from 1 to 7 days on average, but may take longer depending on
the timeliness of your feedback.
Once you approve the new design - you will be required to
sign a Preview Acceptance Agreement which authorizes us to
create the internal web pages for your website based on your
approved design concept which typically takes 3 to 5 days. Note –
while the home page design concept will be the design ‘template’ for
your internal pages - each internal page will feature a unique,
custom designed header image and a brief page content header
description that visually conveys immediately the nature of the
content for that specific page. These visual ‘cues’ help the
visitor to instantly determine they have landed on the page
containing the content they have chosen to review and help to
personalize the design of each visited page - giving each internal
page, and the website as a whole, a unique ‘look and feel’.
Content Development Phase
After
all your internal web pages are created - we next move to the
Content Development Phase which typically takes 5 to 10 days –
but may take longer to complete depending on the timeliness and
quantity of your content feedback (additions, deletions, changes).
If you already have an existing website – it’s typically more
efficient for us to transfer the content from the old website to the
new design allowing you to provide feedback on any needed changes to
content within the context of its new ‘look and feel’.
Programming Development Phase
After
your website completes the design and content development phases -
we next add programming functionality to your website by developing
and installing whatever programming modules you have purchased i.e.;
Database Driven Feedback Forms, Online Store, Website Content Search
Engine, Customer Login, Fly-out Navigation Menus, Content Management
functionality, etc., and/or any custom programming services for
which you have contracted us to develop (online reservation /
booking module etc.).
Up
until this point you will be able to 'see' the development progress
on your website at a special online preview URL during the
Creative Design and Content Development phases as you
work with your design services staff. Most programming
functionality, however, is added 'behind the scenes' so you
will not be able to 'see' much of this work until it is nearly
complete which can take 1 to 4 weeks depending on the number and
complexity of the modules being installed at which point all the
programming modules will be brought 'online' for testing and Final
QC.
Final
QC
Once
the programming modules are completed, installed, setup and tested –
a FINAL QC is performed on your entire website to correct any
layout, typo, spelling, copy formatting issues etc. It's more
efficient to make these corrections all at once, than to try to keep up with
required changes during the development cycle. The Final QC
process can take from 3 to 5 days to complete.
Once the website has passed its Final QC – we will ask you to review
the site to insure that we've incorporated all the features you have
requested and contracted for and of course we will make whatever
changes are required within the scope of the development contract.
Once you approve the site - we can go live anytime you choose within
24 hours.
Typical Development Timeline Estimate
Design
Phase – 3 to 10 days
Content Development Phase – 2 to 10 days
Programming Development Phase - 5 to 10 days
Final QC – 3 to 5 days
ETC (est. time to completion) – 2 to 4 weeks
Please note that all estimated completions times are entirely
dependent on the size and scope of your project and the
timeliness of your required input and feedback.
