Our Custom Development Process

This page discusses some of our process for building your bespoke website and site components.

Application Framework

We build our websites on top of a rapid application development framework. This means we can realise the components of your website, and make revisions, quickly and efficiently. Our RAD framework of choice is Concrete5. Concrete5 is an amazing foundation for any website, with numerous technologies that are significantly abstract enough to channel into literally thousands of directions and purposes. This works to the advantage of Commotion, the developer, and you, our client, by giving us a place to begin that is far from ground zero, which saves lots of time, in turn saving lots of cost.

Wireframing

If your project is significantly complex, we will build a set of wireframes to quickly map out the whole project, page-by-page, charting the functionality of every component, its relationship to other pages and components, and the technology that drives it. Revising wireframes is lightning quick, and will save lots of time and money before the real coding and development even begins.

Project Specifications & Content

Many people want to build a website, but have given very little thought to what content should be on that site, or how it should be structured. This is a common delay in project progress and completion. Before we begin a project, we should have at least a general idea of how your site is going to be structured, and what sort of content will exist on each initial page. You can add as many pages to your site as you want later using your content management system, but we must have a basic set of initial pages on your website before it can go live, which is usually the primary milestone of project completion.

If you don't know what content you want on your site, or how it should be structured, we will present you with some worksheets that will help guide you in the process of thinking these concepts through. If you need additional assistance from our team, we can also provide consultancy. Once these worksheets have been worked through, we will take your work and translate it into the pages of your site, we will layout the general content and content relationships that have been specified, and then we will build your layout, user interface design, and site technologies around this pre-existing architecture. This will ensure that project completion becomes a reality on a reasonable timeline.

Too busy to fill out some worksheets? Can't afford consultancy?

Not to worry. We also have some basic page sets and template site structures that you can choose from, which are already laid out and will get you started quickly and easily, with no additional work or budget required.

User Interface

The user interface is everything that your visitors interact with to explore your site: the look and feel, how it is laid out, the positioning of menus, size of text and headers, colours, etc. If we've created a wireframe for you, we will use the wireframe as a guide for this process, laying your user interface out in the manner agreed upon in those documents. If no wireframe was created, a designer will have some initial discussions with you about your preferences, tastes, and needs.

Using the information we've gathered through wireframe development and/or discussions, we will create a fully fleshed out user design interface in image form. The functionality will not yet be there, but for all intents and purposes, it will be your final website in visual form. This is called a "mock-up", and in this form it is quick and easy to make adjustments to the design.

Our bespoke development projects typically allow you two revisions rounds during this process, but you can request more. This means that once we submit the initial interface design to you, you can submit a single list of changes. (We discourage requesting one or two changes at a time, as this can be highly counter-productive, and can quickly add time and cost to the project.) We will then make the changes you have requested, and submit a revision to you. At this point, you have an opportunity to submit one more list of changes. If you decide to do so, a second revision will be submitted for your approval. Before the first revision, you can also request a complete redesign of the interface, and we will sit down and discuss a new direction with you.

Bespoke Functionality

Commotion has a large library of pre-existing code, so we can fulfill a wide range of needs without having to do any bespoke coding. If you do have a need for functionality that we don't have pre-existing code for, we will be happy to sit down and discuss your needs in detail, and provide an estimate of time and cost.

Examples

Examples of our bespoke web design work can be viewed in our portfolio. Some exemplary case studies are Riad Reviews, Duresta, and College of St. George - Windsor Castle.

Free Inital Consultancy

Arrange a free consultancy session where we can review your ideas, discuss your branding and look at ways to  develop a successful on-line strategy geared towards driving new business and sustaining your long term growth. Call David Egerton on 01442 382563 or 07969 516614. Alternatively email us at info@commotion.co or complete our on-line enquiry form