Build It - Getting started: University of Leicester Web Centre

3. Build it

Getting started

Summary
Anyone tackling building a Web site, whether it be for the first time or the tenth, will proceed through a series of stages in the development of that site. Ask a bunch of Web site developers what order they do things in when making a site and after a short while you can see a picture building up of what these stages are. Clearly, not everyone builds sites the same way, but what follows is a skeletal outline of five logical steps that site builders will find they go through.

Setting up a Web folder
In this stage the person building the site puts in place the most basic elements of a Web site - a folder to have the site in, sub folders to keep resources, a blank Web page and a CSS document linked to the blank Web page.

Building a blank page(s)
In this stage the site builder's Plan and Design are turned into a reality as the first blank page(s) of the site is set up - including column layouts, headers and footers, navigation bars and menus, meta-data and titles, and basic elements of the design.

Pause, test and show
With a rough page or pages ready it's time to have a pause, test what you've done by adding dummy content and show your work to the client or colleagues to get initial feedback - you do not want to start adding actual content to the site unless everyone is happy with it and it works properly.

Adding text, images and links
If you feel confident that your test site is suitable for the use to which it will be put and meets with general approval then you can start to fill the site with content including text, pictures and links.

Uploading and validating
With your site in almost complete state it's time to upload it to the Web and then run it through the various validation procedures that it will need to pass before it can go 'live' - namely Accessibility, Corporate Identity

and HTML Validation

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