Web Development Lifecycle: A Step-by-Step Guide

What is the Web Development Life Cycle?

Since the 1990s, a few things such as F.R.I.E.N.D.S and Pokemon have remained ordinary. One such timeless thing is the internet. Many new inventions have been made, and many have passed with time; what remains forever is the internet. Today, we live in a technologically advanced world where website development is a fully-fledged role that a developer plays and earns a living. It can be said that website development is all the rage today! 

Website development is building a website from scratch and bringing it together. Be it for small-size startups or large enterprises, businesses owning a high-functioning website has become the need of the hour. With thousands of aspects given due importance while designing and developing a website, it becomes imperative to stick to a web development structure to minimize complexities. 

A web development life cycle talks about all stages, which lead to forming a highly-scalable website. From drafting a blueprint to writing codes and designing a website’s layout to maintaining it, web development is critical to ensure optimum results and high conversions. 

Phases of Web Development

Here is a detailed outline of how the phases of web development work. If you’re looking to achieve a fully-functional website, follow these top 7 steps of web development. But before diving into the actual website designing process, understanding the client’s short-term and long-term goals is essential. Without a plan, getting closer to the end product isn’t easy. 

1. Information Gathering

The first and foremost step while designing a highly intuitive website is information gathering. This step includes all the research which needs to be done for the efficient web development process. In this step, make sure you have the answers to questions like – 

• Expectations about theme and color pallet 
• Adequate demand for the service
• Services provided by the client 
• Timeframe for every phase
• Targeted audience
• The goal of the website
• Competitor analysis
• Budget estimation
• Resources required 

Once you have these answers, the web developer will clearly understand designing templates, writing codes, and formulating content. In the first stage, the team gathers all information they want to reflect on the website. 

2. Planning & Analysis

After research comes to the planning and analysis stage, in the planning stage, the website developer makes scalable strategies regarding all aspects of the website. These include technology, content, design, and marketing. In the first stage, informed decisions are made on the basic research done in the first stage. 

Some of the significant actions involved in this step include designing the website template, choosing the right technology stack, wireframing, etc. Other crucial parts of the planning stage have estimating timelines, allocating resources, creating a blueprint, and defining deliverables. 

3. Website Layout Designing

Website layout designing is the third and the most fun part of the entire website designing process. This step brings out the creative UX-UI designer in the front row. The layout involves sketching the website in a rough way to get the feel of the website before it’s ready to go live. 

Keeping the target audience at the top of the head, your website developer chooses the suitable template, color theme, and structure so that it caters to your targeted customer’s preferences. 

4. Writing Website Codes

The next most important but the most complicated step in the entire web development lifecycle. As a website developer, you should write easy-to-understand and efficient codes. There are tons of coding languages such as Python, HTML, JavaScript, CSS, and so on to write codes. Almost all website developers generally go for this language to formulate websites. Note that this is the most time-consuming part of website development. 

Once the most complicated part is done, writing codes is also essential to give enough time to build back-end and front-end site designs or templates. Starting from the website’s theme to fonts and the databases and servers, a lot needs to be adequately analyzed. 

5. Testing The Website

By this step, the website is already designed and developed completely. But that’s not all! Before making your site live, performing quality checks to ensure it’s working is essential. 

Rigorous tests are performed to detect any loopholes and find reliable solutions. Besides testing the website, SEO optimization and plugins are essential for easy and smooth deployment. 

6. Maintenance of Website

Here comes the last and the most crucial stage; the maintenance of the website. Designing and developing the website is not enough if you’re not maintaining it properly. Working on continuous feedback and making necessary changes can bring a huge difference.