Web development steps are the procedures taken to create a website with ease and care. Web development is not always about writing code in a code editor; there is more to it than that.

A carefully crafted web development plan makes the developer's job much easier because the process gives the developer a sense of direction, assisting him in avoiding all of the issues that may arise from not planning the project, such as frustration when things do not work out and failure to incorporate better visuals that correctly relay the website information in an easy and visually appealing manner to the website user.

This tutorial will walk you through some of these processes using realistic examples to help you get started with your project development process.

Prerequisite

• A fundamental understanding of HTML, CSS, and JavaScript (at least done one or more code-along website projects)

• A tech newbie who wants to start constructing projects on his own or freelancing to supplement his income.

The web development steps are divided into seven steps, as follows;

Define the website project

Defining a project is as simple as learning who the website is for, its business objective (the purpose of the website), target audience, and user goal (what the user will be looking for on the website).

This may appear insignificant, but it is critical in deciding the appearance and feel of the website you are attempting to create. This can be kept basic and should not be overly complex. For example, a website selling children's toys;

• Business goal: To sell toys for children.

• User goal: To obtain high-quality and safe children's toys.

• Target audience: parents with children between the age of 5- 11 years.

After going through the preceding example, you may already have an idea of what the site might look like.

Plan the project

We now start thinking about the project and what could be required to complete it based on the business aim, target audience, and user goals. This entails compiling all of the project's content, such as the terminology to be used on the site, photos, and components.

However, this content is normally provided by the client, but if it is not, you will create it but charge a little extra because it is a difficult process. While here, the project site map is also planned, which includes how many pages the project will have and how they relate to each other (content hierarchy is important in keeping users engaged and glued to the site), as well as how many sections each page will have and how they are related (again, content hierarchy is important).

Sketch the project layout and components

With the project plan completed, it is now time to get some of our ideas out of our heads by sketching them down on paper (design software such as Figma can be used, but as a beginner, I assume this hasn't been covered, so it's better to sketch on paper as it is very easy and requires no specific knowledge).

The sketches should be simple (ideally free-hand and without the use of a ruler because they should not be perfect but should only help jot down ideas that come up over time and refine until a final layout is completed).

During this phase, gathering inspiration by visiting websites related to the project is critical. Choose components that you like and sketch them. These could be cards, the layout, or even screenshots to be used later when coding the project. This is an iterative process, and not all sketches are conclusive; rather, they help you understand what the project will look like and prevent you from being upset when you begin building or coding the project due to a lack of direction.

Design and building the project

The project begins to take shape and come to life in this phase as all of the concepts created in previous phases are implemented in code using HTML, CSS, JavaScript, or a framework like React, with actual visual styling applied to the components.

The project is built based on the business aim, user goal, and target audience, and provides content, as these dictate the design and implementation of the project. For example, a children's toy website may use lively and bright colours to appeal to the target population. Consider incorporating the client's branding into the site because the branding usually gives the colours to be used and sometimes hints about the font to be used, making work a lot easier and more fun.

Test and optimize the project

After the site has been designed and built, the next stage is to test and optimise it. The website should be checked to ensure that it functions properly in all main browsers (Chrome, Firefox, Safari, and Edge), and its responsiveness should be evaluated on an actual mobile device rather than just in the DevTools.

Optimise the dimensions and size of the photos because huge images create a poor user experience and may frustrate website visitors. Also, address issues with colour contrast, text legibility, and line spacing.

Run a performance test on the website with the Lighthouse performance test in Chrome DevTools and resolve any issues that are found. Finally, you should consider Search Engine optimisation (SEO). This is a broad topic that involves the usage of keywords and predicting what the user could write in his efforts to find a certain product or service that might satisfy his or her purpose (user goal).

Launch the project

With the project completed, it is now time to host it on a hosting platform (such as Netlify or Heroku, among many others), choose and purchase a domain name for the project to make it easier for users to find while searching for it. Keep the project up to date.

When a project is launched, it must be maintained and updated, especially if blogs are involved. Consider adding analytics software like Google Analytics at this step, which provides website user statistics and comes in handy when fine-tuning the website because we can simply detect which pages are less visited and improve on them.

Conclusion

The web development process can be time-consuming, but it is broken down into seven steps: defining, planning, sketching, designing and building, testing and optimising, launching, maintaining, and updating the project. This makes it easier for a developer to walk through the process and create beautiful and appealing projects for the client that meet his or her needs and those of the target audience.

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