For example, if somebody is more visual and has no background in development, they might not realize you are working on developing functions behind the scenes and when they look at the website they may get the impression that their website is not progressing as quickly as it needs to be. This is a fair concern but one must realize when investing in a web site there are always going to be two phases to development; design and back-end programming. Most people see their website in a visual manner; graphics, contact forms, buttons, shopping cart page etc. A developer sees things in terms of structure and patterns. So if a client tells a developer “I want a website with a product slider and some featured products as well as a product review form on the product page”.
To the client who makes this request, this is pretty clear cut and they will expect to see this. For the developer, their mindset will be different. They will probably want to know what products and categories load a product in the slider, how many products show up instantly in the slider when you first view the page and how many products are loaded into the slider in total. Then they are going to want to know how the reviews work – do they have a star rating system or not. Do they only allow registered users, or all visitors, to review. They will then want to know many variables as well as ‘logic rules’ that apply. I know that might sound crazy if you are not a developer – what is a ‘logic rule’? Well, consider having an e-commerce site that sells products and you want to have unique ways to calculate shipping. What rules would apply? Here are a few examples:
1.) Free Shipping On Sales Greater Than $100
2.) No Shipping To XYZ Countries
3.) No Sales Tax For ABC States
4.) No Shipping For These 3 Product Types
This is how a programmer thinks. Those are ‘logic rules’ – rules that apply to what a client needs and the logic involved is what determines how you work with all of the variables and, in this example, we have 4 for this shipping module request. If a client tells his programmer “I Just want to ship to xyz states and that should be fine” the programmer will be literal with that request and give you that. Unless you tell them “It also has to be smart enough to do the following 3 things” they will not act on it. This is why communication is critical.
Failure to communicate the difference between the back-end programming and the front end functionality can cause problems that do not need to exist in the first place. Should everything finally come together, though, the work is not done. There is one more important aspect to web development that requires the full attention of both client and the development team:
Planning:
When I talk about planning, in this context, I am referring to having a detailed outline of what every key function will offer the user and how they need to behave. I suggest creating an outline for the most important aspects of the website which are usually the front-end (where the customer views the product and places the order), the back-end (Where the e-commerce site owner views his orders, fulfills his products) and the post-order process (The email receipt and ‘thank you for your order’ page).
It is always best, if you are looking to have a website built for you, to first focus on how you will fulfill a product. This is because if you cannot deliver on this, you are going to be out of business. Make sure you understand how your back-end admin section must look so you can quickly navigate through orders, full products and update the status of orders. The second phase to focus on is the post-order process such as the welcome email (if they create an account) the order receipt email and the order confirmation page. You must make sure that if you are offering a downloaded product that the product is made available instantly both in the ‘thank you’ page and via email. If you are shipping a product then you must make sure they understand how they will be able to track their package as well as confirm everything they ordered from the shipping total, tax and final price. All you have to do is take some time to visualize how all of this will look for you and detail it in a list that breaks down each major component (view order page, email templates you will send a new customer etc). The next step is to outline the front end of your website.
The front end of a website is easy to take for granted as well as obsess over. I don’t think either of those methods are ideal for web development. Don’t assume that a product display page, or a category page that lists out related products, and a product view page is all that you need to run a website. You also shouldn’t over analyze things and worry about the psychological impact of your color scheme unless you are a director of an ad agency. What you should do, instead, is only focus on the user experience. Here are some things to focus on when planning your website:
– How Many Clicks To Order A Product?
– How To Present Key Benefits of Product Without Scrolling?
– How Easy Is It To Order?
– How Consistent Are Product Pages From Different Categories?
You want to make sure that you never confuse your visitor and that you give them as many ways to order while giving them as few options to get to the order. You want to make sure that it is an easy experience, self explanatory and give them plenty of ways to contact you. This should be part of your planning. If you can work with your developer and are both capable of delivering the plan, while communicating each step of the way, then the development process will be smooth. When this happens, there is only one thing left to do…
Testing
Test everything. Test often. Do not slack off in testing.
Testing, to me, is critical because you never want to assume everything works just because things may look good on the surface. If you run through a website and do not see any code errors or if no links are broken, it is easy to assume that the site is 100% functional. Until you realize that you do not ship to Canada and the option to do so exists. Or you find out that the product slider on the homepage is only adding products of a certain category when in fact you want it to filter between for product categories. This is one of many examples that one can encounter in web development.
Summary
This is where communication and planning come in. Take the time to outline the entire website – front end, back-end and post-sales sections. Even if it takes a few weeks. Believe me when I tell you, it is worth it. Then take another week to meet with the developer, hand out the outlines and ask if they have any questions. I cannot stress enough how important it is to follow this advice when it comes to building a new website because the time, money and stress you save are impossible to quantify but the value is felt when you can sleep well at night knowing that your website does everything it needs to. That is why it is so important to communicate, plan and test until you are ready to go live.
Magento Development Lead
