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Subject:RE: Estimating web site design and creation From:"Tariel, Lauren R" <lt34 -at- saclink -dot- csus -dot- edu> To:<Liz_Vela -at- bcbstx -dot- com>, "TECHWR-L" <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com> Date:Fri, 19 Jan 2007 15:11:56 -0800
Liz,
You might have an easier time estimating your project time requirements if you break up the project into separate sections (or phases) and estimate the time required for those sections. I'll give you an example.
* Web Site Design. A template will require less time than a new web site design. You can also use a template for now and revise it later when needs change or when you have time to devote to a new design.
* Content Design. This may need to be developed before you design the Web Site, but if you use a template, your web site design will come first. How do you want people to access your content? Do you want a single list of links to pages? Do you want a document repository where you have documents grouped by subject and documents and pages are linked off of different pages? Do you need to set aside time to decide how you want users to access content and then have another block of time to create the design? Sometimes using the default setup in a web site template is sufficient for getting a simple web site online, like links and pages for Home, About, Staff, Links, and Help (or Support). Some companies have specific needs for their Intranets and the basic links will not suffice.
* Content. Using current documents will require less time than developing new content. Current documents will generally only require conversion to HTML or to whatever you plan to use, but new content will require writing time as well.
* Graphic Design. Do you plan to use graphics? Do you need to make some graphics? Buy graphics?
* Web Site Development. This requires putting all of the pieces together with links and such and will take longer if you are not very experienced with developing web sites.
* Testing. People seem to leave this one out a lot but your web site needs design testing to make sure that everything works like it should and usability testing to make sure that people will want to use it the way it is designed. You will also need to test with different browsers, resolutions, monitors, computer systems, and connections. This is true even when everyone at the company supposedly uses the same setup because you never know how people will change things.
* Revision Time. You should tack on a little time at the end of your project so that you can fix the things that come up broken during testing.
* Float Time. All projects require time to account for mishaps and misestimated timelines. Inflate your time a little but be prepared to make sacrifices if you find that you didn't allow for enough time.
You might have a different set of needs for your Intranet, but you should try to compartmentalize the different pieces that go into building a web site and then make your estimates based upon the individual pieces. In project management, you will look at these different pieces as phases and then build a list of tasks with dependencies for each of those phases. Total projects are difficult to estimate, but little tasks are easier to estimate and all projects are collections of little tasks.
A simple Intranet web site of 5 pages with or without a template will take me about 20 hours to get it to a nice and workable place if I have content or if I just use minimal content. If I use a template and not much content or I build placeholders for content, then I can probably get the site up in an hour, but I won't like it because it will be too plain. Things that add to the time are design, content, and functionality (like the web site gets complex or uses or drives applications). Ideally, I would want to build the basic site and then revisit it after users (and I) have had time to play with it. Kind of like baking a cake and then letting it cool before you frost it.
Lauren
________________________________
From: techwr-l-bounces+lt34=csus -dot- edu -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com on behalf of Liz_Vela -at- bcbstx -dot- com
Sent: Fri 1/19/2007 1:24 PM
To: TECHWR-L
Subject: Estimating web site design and creation
One of my tasks isto develop and construct an Intranet web site for my
company. I don't know how to estimate how much time the project should take
from design to completion. Does anyone know of a formula to use? Do you
think it might be similar to estimating an online help project?
Thanks for any ideas you might have.
Liz
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WebWorks ePublisher Pro for Word features support for every major Help
format plus PDF, HTML and more. Flexible, precise, and efficient content
delivery. Try it today! http://www.webworks.com/techwr-l
Create HTML or Microsoft Word content and convert to Help file formats or
printed documentation. Features include single source authoring, team authoring,
Web-based technology, and PDF output. http://www.DocToHelp.com/TechwrlList
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