4. Designing your Web Application

Before you Start

The most important things before you start developing is to have a clear understanding of what you need to deliver. To do this you should be able to answer the following questions:

What does the site need to communicate and do?

Who are the target audience?

Am I designing for phone, tablet and/or desktop?

Do I need to be able to run offline?

Do I need a login for secure access to the website?

Does the web application need to interface with any other applications?

Do I need to access and/or maintain a database?

What volume of data do I need to process?

Are there logos and corporate color schemes I should use?

Also think about web applications you have loved using and those you have hated.  What makes them good or bad respectively?

Now take a look at:

4.1 General Design Guidelines

4.2 Using a Web Page Template

4.3 Responsive Design