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Nancy Hoft's Web Development Methodology
Although my seven-stage development cycle may seem formal, it has been tested and taught worldwide. It does not add time and in fact it exists to expedite Web development. My philosophy is that we should all know exactly what the Web site will be like before I sit down and start coding. I also try "to milk" the Web for all it can offer, and hence the focus on goals, purpose, and primary and secondary audiences. Note that phases overlap and your involvement is most important in the beginning and end phases of the development cycle.

  1. RESEARCH

    2. Define purpose, goals, primary and secondary audiences, people and technical resources. Gather design and content ideas from existing Web sites. Start creating a style guide for the Web site. Note that style guides are "living documents" in that they are iterative, evolve over time, and are very much a collaborative effort. Start thinking about technical and editorial/stylistic review cycles and who might serve in one or more roles.

  2. STORYBOARDING

    3. Create an architecture for the Web site. Use the architecture as a tool for testing corporate goals, Web site purpose, advantages and disadvantages for primary and secondary audiences, and so on. Another possible deliverable here is a prototype of a reviewed and revised storyboard, but this depends on time.

  3. INFRASTRUCTURE DEVELOPMENT

    4. Establish file naming conventions and create the skeleton of an intuitive and scalable directory structure.

  4. CONTENT DEVELOPMENT

    5. Collect, create, and/or edit existing content as necessary (textual and graphical), develop new text and graphical content. Establish a formal review cycle with review suggestions for content as well as suggestions for deadlines. Develop a list of technical reviewers (subject matter experts, also known as SMEs) and editorial/stylistic reviewers (this might be only me or could include others as well). Apply the review cycle for all content.

  5. DESIGN AND DEVELOPMENT

    6. Create HTML templates for Web page types, annotate templates with tutorial-like instructions, test templates, populate templates with content, and create and test hyperlinks.

  6. TESTING

    7. Develop a test plan that assesses the Web design against browser types (Internet Explorer, Netscape, AOL), computer monitor types (low and high resolution, display size), access points (domestic and international), and download speeds (28.8, 33.3, 56K). Upload the Web site to the host, invite people to play, and solicit comments.

  7. REVISION

    8. Collect comments and review them with the Web team participants. Incorporate approved comments. Retest. Update the style guide as appropriate.

Then, announce your Web pages to the world!

Additional end-of-project discussions should include the development of a maintenance plan, identifying a maintenance contact, and a post-mortem review of our collaboration.

| Michigan Tech Home | Department of Geological Engineering & Sciences | Remote Sensing Institute | MTU Volcanoes Page | Volcanic Clouds Web Site | Total Ozone Mapping Spectrometer (TOMS) | Volcanic Ash Advisory Centers (VAAC) | Smithsonian Institution | Alaska Volcano Observatory |
http://www.geo.mtu.edu/volcanoes/vc_web/misc/nhmethod.html -- Revised: 02 NOVEMBER 2000
Copyright © 2000 MTU Department of Geological Engineering and Sciences. All Rights Reserved.
Email questions about the content of this Web page to: Nancy Hoft