Web Site Development - Web Development and Design Foundations with XHTML - page 406

The site map and page design prototypes are usually approved by the client before the
team can continue with the Production phase.

Production

During production all the previous work comes together (hopefully) in a usable and
effective Web site. During the Production phase, the Web developers are on the critical
path—their work must be done as scheduled or the project will be late. The other project
members are consulted as needed for clarification and approval. Common tasks of the
Production phase follow:

● Choose a Web Authoring Tool. The use of a Web authoring tool such as Adobe
Dreamweaver or Microsoft Expression Web can greatly increase productivity.
Specific productivity aids include designer notes, page templates, task management,
and Web page check-in and check-out to avoid overlapping page updates. The
use of an authoring tool will serve to standardize the XHTML used in the project
pages. Any standards related to indentation, comments, and so on should be
determined at this time.
● Organize Your Site Files. Consider placing images and media in their own folder.
Also, place server-side scripts in a separate folder. Determine naming conventions
for Web pages, images, and media.
● Develop and Individually Test Components. During this task the graphic designers
and Web developers create and individually test their contributions to the site. As
the images, Web pages, and server-side scripting are developed, they are individu-
ally tested. This is called unit testing . On some projects, a senior Web developer
or the project manager will review the components for quality and standards
compliance.

Once all components have been created and unit tested, it's time to put them together
and begin the Testing phase.

Testing

The components should be published to a test Web server. This test Web server should
have the same operating system and Web server software that the production (actual)
Web server will be using. Some common site testing considerations follow:

● Test on Different Browsers and Browser Versions. It is very important to test your
pages on commonly used browsers and versions of those browsers.
● Test with Different Screen Resolutions. Although as a Web developer, you may use
a very high screen resolution, not everyone uses 1920

1200 screen resolution.
The most commonly used screen resolutions at the time of this writing are
1024

×

1024. Be sure to test your Web pages on vari-
ous resolutions—you might be surprised at the results.
● Test Using Different Bandwidths. If you live and work in a metropolitan area,
everyone you know may have broadband access to the Internet. However, many
people still use dial-up connections to access the Web. It is important to test your
site on both slow and fast connections. Images that look great over your school's
T3 line may load very slowly over a 56K modem.

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