Our process | Square Eye

Our process

We’ve been building websites for clients like you since 1999.

Which means we have a pretty polished and battle-tested process, which enables us to deliver our work in an efficient manner, for affordable prices.  The process includes:

1. Discovery & education

First, we clarify your exact requirements, discuss design tastes, research your market and the best solutions, brief you on issues that may arise later in the project, and end up with a detailed working script from which our team can work efficiently.

2. Content

We pull together as much as possible of the text, imagery and other assets for the new site at the start.  If copywriters or photographers are needed, we get them working straight away.  And we help you organise your context into a structure that it is both user-friendly and optimised for search engines.

3. Wireframing

Wireframing is an iterative process of rough sketches of the different layout templates for your new site, in which we agree with you – in rough terms – “what goes where”.  This phase generates important discussions about key text messages and functionality requirements.  Changes can be made quickly and easily while decisions are still being taken.

4. Prototype website

Now we set up a prototype, design-free website using the WordPress platform, our recommended toolkit of functionality plugins, additional customisation and additional features you might need.  We flesh out pages, news items, profiles, publications, the website menu and more, and add working functionality.

5. Design

Our designer now has the original brief, your key content, the imagery, the signed-off wireframes and a working prototype in front of her, and can go to work on the layout designs in Photoshop.  Through another iterative process, emailing you designs as JPEGs and asking for feedback, we work on each template until you are entirely happy.

6. Layout coding

We then turn the signed-off designs into mobile-friendly (or ‘responsive’) webpages, and test them on leading browsers and mobile devices before merging with the prototype website.

7. Content and changes

We add the remaining content, and implement changes you request now the site is largely complete.  At this stage we’ll also give you documentation and training on editing your own content going forward.

8. Quality assurance & testing

We conduct a round of quality assurance processes, to make sure the site is accessible, mobile-friendly, legally compliant, optimised for search engines, technically sound, functional and most of all user-friendly.

9. Launch

The launch phase includes migrating the site to its long-term hosting, backing up your old site, attaching the domain name to the new site, tidying up WordPress to remove traces of the development site, installing an SSL security certificate, registering you with search engines, installing Google Analytics, and testing things again.

10. Ongoing support

And finally we implement any agreed ongoing support and marketing services, setting you up with scheduled reports, technical scans, security measures, additional backups, automations and and anything else you might need.

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