OK, the client has signed off on redoing their website or creating one from scratch. The bliss has subsided and now you realize the mountain ahead—weeks or months of content collection, internal and external status meetings, proofing every character/every link, beta reviews, soft launch, post launch testing, to infinity. Every web project seems to start the same way and have the same basic requirements; however, how you plan can make all the difference in the outcome! Here are a few things that I've stubbed my toes on that might help:
- Which version of Internet Explorer (IE) and Flash, please?
Get this information from the client's IT group. You can't just go by what your point of contact is using. Many clients that we see have old and new versions of IE and Flash within the same company. It is very hard for overworked, understaffed corporate IT groups to be able to go around loading the latest and greatest software on the machines at multiple locations on top of their other duties. So usually the folks with the newest versions are the newest employees because their machines were loaded last. Sorry old timers. - Are we designing the site with the right targets in mind?
Once you figure out what version of IE and Flash your client is using, then figure out what most of their customers are using. This will ensure that you build a site that is viewable to as many people as possible while keeping as many of the 'cool' elements as possible. - Mirror HTML version?
Ok, there are going to be some users that are not going to be able to see all the cool Flash elements because they are WAY behind in updates or don't have Flash at all. Your client has to determine how much they want to invest in those folks. You either give those users an automatic link to Adobe to download the version they need, or you create an exact mirrored HTML site. The client will just have to weigh for themselves how many stakeholders they think will be affected. Many of their corporate users/customers will not be able to download the "latest and greatest" since they have firewall and security protocols to contend with.