Book review of "Web Design On A Shoestring" (free)
Carrie Bickner's book "Web Design On A Shoestring" is being much talked-about as a good blueprint for techniques, technologies and processes to get maximum-quality web sites on a minimal budget. DMXzone staffer Bruce Lawson reviews the book, and as a bonus, you can read chapter two of the book "The Pound Wise Project Plan".
Functional Requirements for the Something Blue Web Site, Version One
The Something Blue web site has possibilities that are broad and exciting, but a few of these are too ambitious for the initial launch. Taken all at once, the potential requirements would result in a budget that exceeds the resources at hand. We have boiled them down to a few complementary requirements that can be achieved within the current budget and timeline. Some of the more expensive requirements that did not make it into this proposal should be saved for a second iteration of the site.
Possible Requirements for Next Phase of Web Development
Requirement |
Notes |
Cost |
Users must be able to click on a small version of an image to see a larger image. |
This is an economically viable alternative to the desired pan and zoom technology that would allow users to zoom into each image. It will not allow users to zoom into such detail as paint strokes, but it will afford a nice size of viewing area. The larger image will be about 600 pixels wide, a size that accommodates most computer screens. An added benefit of this alternative is that users with slow Internet connections will not be forced to view the large image unless they choose to. |
$ |
Users must be able to quickly scan all images by scrolling through a strip of small thumbnail-size images. |
$ |
|
The site must be quick-loading and easy to use on a slow Internet connection. |
$ |
|
Users must have quick access to contact information. |
$ |
|
The site must have a search engine. |
This could be expensive and might not be necessary now because you are working with such a small number of images. But you can make this an item for another phase of production, perhaps when you add many more images to the site later. |
$ |
Note this well: If you can't get your client to scale back the requirements to fit the budget, this is your chance to walk away. Nailing down an unambiguous vision of what will and will not be on the site is absolutely essential. If you can't get there, everyone will be unhappy in the end. You will work long hours that you will not get paid for, and your final deliverable will not satisfy your client.
I can't emphasize enough that the most important factor in creating a site on a shoestring budget is to consciously restrict the scope to include a limited set of achievable functional requirements. Remember that less is more; it is much better to do a few things well than to try to do too many things and fail.
Spinning Straw into Gold
Even with a big budget,
you will find it hard to include every item on a client's wish list. Knowing
which requirements to table for the short term will help you deliver focused
sites on time and on budget. The items that you table for a second iteration
might butter your bread later. A happy client might call you in the future
when she has more cash to expand her site. Many freelance web professionals
are staying in business these days by working with long-term clients who
provide a steady, if small, stream of work. Help yourself develop a list
of clients like this, and you might begin to enjoy a little stability.
Every time you are asked to expand or change the scope of your site, pull out the functional requirements document upon which you and the client agreed, and discuss how you might best modify this list to accommodate the new request. You might need to drop one requirement for another. Let the client know about these trade-offs, and ask her to help you evaluate them. This is also your time to talk about the additional resources that are necessary to add to the list.
As discussed earlier, the scope of your site might change as work progresses. If Mary the artist tells you at the halfway point that she also wanted to sell art from the Something Blue site and now she needs a shopping cart, you will be able to show her what this change means to her bottom line.
Each time a client change compels you to modify the functional requirements document, give the document a new version number. Keep the older versions of the document so that you can see how the project is evolving (or devolving). If version four of the document differs significantly from version one, make sure you have the resources to carry out the project as it has come to be defined.
Often the new ideas that clients and bosses come up with will be easy to accommodate, and you will not have to ask for more resources. Update the document anyway, adjust the version number, and make sure your client or boss sees it. If you do this consistently, the client will at least understand that all changes to the scope of the project must be acknowledged formally. This will also discourage frivolous changes and help keep you from having to pay the price for scope creep.
Bickner, WEB DESIGN ON A SHOESTRING, ISBN: 0-7357-1328-6,
Reproduced by permission on Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as New Riders
Publishing.
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
Ian Blackham
Following a degree in Chemistry and a doctorate in Scanning Tunneling Microscopy, Ian spent several years wrestling with acronyms in industrial R&D (SEM with a side order of EDS, AFM and TEM augmented with a topping of XPS and SIMS and yet more SEM and TEM).
Feeling that he needed a career with more terminology but less high voltages, Ian became a technical/commissioning editor with Wrox Press working on books as diverse as Beg VB Application Development and Professional Java Security. After Wrox's dissolution and a few short term assignments Ian became content manager at DMXzone.
Ian is a refugee from the industrial Black Country having slipped across the border to live in Birmingham. In his spare time he helps out with the website of a local history society, tries to makes sure he does what his wife Kate says, and worries that the little 'un Noah is already more grown up than he is.
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