Cost

The development cost is a function of the complexity of the project and the CMS that we are using.

The range is somewhere between 45 and 160 hours for a moderate sized site ( 50-200 nodes, moderate functionality/interactivity ). The hourly rate depends also on the CMS, the designer ( see notes ) and if there are any fancy things that require specialized programming. But should be in the range of $50-$100. That means on the low end $2,500 and $15,000 on the high end.

There is probably also a $500 - $2000 solution ( possibly using Wordpress or similar product ) but this requires designing to a preexisting template.

Development Process ( medium sized site )

1. Planning ( 1 day, 4 hrs )

   1. Determine requirements ( see questionnaire )

   2. Chose a CMS

   3. Choose a web layout ( theme, template )

2. Build Prototype ( 1-2 weeks / 10-40 developer hours )

   1. Designer should produce a basic design(s) as .psd template ( or HTML with images if possible ), Editor should create an initial site outline.

   2. Developer should setup the CMS, create test domain, user accounts, email and construct the initial template(s), and create stub content

   3. Editor should add initial content to the CMS

   4. All QA

   5. Review prototype with client

      1. identify design/technical/content issues

      2. scope next round

      3. determine delivery date for next revision ( determine work hours )

3. Alpha ( 1-2 weeks / 10-40 developer hours )

   1. Designer should revise graphics, font styles, .

   2. Developer should add any functional components, revise templates and CMS configuration.

   3. Editor should review/produce next rev of content

   4. All QA

   5. Review version with client

      1. determine final list of updates/bugs/enhancements

      2. scope/schedule

4. Beta ( 1-2 weeks / 10-40 developer hours )

   1. Designer should finalize graphics

   2. Developer should address bugs, setup analytics, and SEO setup

   3. Editor finalize content

   4. All QA.

   5. Soft launch to client and friendlys

5. Production (1-2 weeks / 10-20 developer hours)

   1. All address and review feedback/bug reports ( on daily/weekly basis)

   2. Developer monitor analytics and error logs, address issues, SEO review

   3. Final review with client, and approval to go into maintenance mode.

6. Maintenance ( monthly / 2-10 hours )

   1. Review logs, analytics

   2. Review SEO

       

Choosing a CMS

The first step is to determine which Content Management System to use. There are several choices from extremely simple to powerful and complicated. But a CMS is pretty much mandatory for clean and controlled development ( even if there is extensive Flash within the site ). The answers to the following should assist in choosing a CMS. ( Of course if a client has a legacy system or a preference this would be unnecessary ).

Questions

1. Users

   1. How many end users will there be ( optimistically ) ?

   2. Can users login to the site?

   3. Can users contribute content?

   4. What are the primary user cases ?

      1. Finding information about a product, service, organization

      2. Purchasing

      3. Collaboration/Forums

      4. Other

          

2. Editors

1.  

   1. How many editors of site content?

   2. How technically proficient are they?

   3. How frequently will edits be made?

 

2. Content

   1. What different content types are there?

   2. ( e.g. Pages,Blocks,Blog Entry,Newsletter,Product,Media, Video )

   3. What is the estimated amount of content?

   4. What is the intended content growth rate?

    

3. Design

   1. How many different layouts are there

   2. Is the template fluid or fixed width

   3. Are there dynamic menus

   4. How does the design degrade for small screens

   5. How frequently will the design be updated

    

4. Technical

   1. What is the ISP? Is the setup the developer's responsibility?

   2. Is there a current site to be migrated

   3. Is there a current content/user database

   4. Are there third party API's or databases to be interfaced (e.g. Facebook,Twitter,Blogspot,Flickr,YouTube,Salesforce,AdWords,Google Ads … )

    

5. Budget

   1. What is the project budget for development

   2. What is the monthly maintenance budget

Notes

The biggest issue in development is the Design-Developer battle. Where the designer feels cheated because the product doesn't look like the design, and the developer has to do a lot of extra work to satisfy the designer. The solution to this problem is to realize that both are designers and developers and the submission of both to :

• CMS templates

• W3C web accessibility guidelines, and standards

• the project's budget

Often the designer is unwilling to make compromises to facilitate development and expects a literal translation of static design into a dynamic medium, this can be reinforced by the client who has likely seen the static design. This seems course de rigueur, but it does add to the development time and headache, and expense, as we make 100's of little images for everything from buttons to titles. If the design is templatized up front the development can proceed more efficiently.  There are projects, where graphic design and web development and content development are equal.