Saturday, January 24, 2004

Rapid Production with Web Standards

Next week is going to be a test of using web standards to rapidly produce a website in a drastically different manner than traditional web design practices. Here's the situation. I have the basic information design, information architecture, the target audience and even the copy (in Dutch, to be translated into French for the bi-lingual site). What I don't have is the art from the print marketing campaign that will be driving traffic to the site. So, given the order in which I have received the materials and the impossible deadline (they won't even have the domain name in time), I have been left no choice but to use a web standards based method of production:

  1. HTML production, build all the pages in symantic HTML with minimal div's and id's. Link them to empty stylesheets and javascript files.
  2. Build forms and send them the back end programmer.
  3. Let copy editors and legal review do their thing.

The following can now be in parallel with steps 2 and 3:

  1. Build the basic layout stylesheet before above mentioned people completely freak out.
  2. Code the DOM scripted expanding/collapsing navigation.
  3. Now, finally open Photoshop/Fireworks and call in the other front end guy to help design the site and logo based on the print design that has hopefully arrived by mid-week (it was due Friday last).
  4. Use CSS to integrate the new logo and graphical design of the site.

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