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♦ What are the visual design constraints? If you’re building a page for a small business, it probably has some kind of visual identity (through brochures or signage, for example). The business owner often wants you to stick with the company’s current branding, which may involve negotiating with graphic artists or advertisers the business has worked with.

♦ Where will I put this thing? Does the client already have a domain name? Will moving the domain name cause a problem? Does content that’s already on the Web need to be moved? Do you already have hosting space and a DNS name in mind?

Understanding the Client

Often, a larger site is created at the behest of somebody else. Even if you’re making a site for your own purposes, you should consider yourself a client. If the project is going to be successful, you need to know a few things about the client, as described in the following sections.

Ensuring that the client’s expectations are clear

The short answer to the question of whether a client’s expectations are clear is, “Not usually.”

A client who truly understands the Internet and knows what it takes to realize her vision for the site probably doesn’t need you. Most of the time, a client’s own concepts of what should happen on the site are vague, at best. Here are some introductory questions you can ask to get a sense of your client’s expectations:

♦ What are you trying to say with this site? If the Web site has a single message that can be boiled down to one phrase or sentence, find out what that message is.

♦ Who are you trying to reach with this site? Determine who the client expects to be the typical users of the site. Find out whether she expects others and whether the site has more than one potential type of user. (For example, customers and employees may need different things.)

♦ What problem is this site trying to solve? Sometimes, a Web site is envisioned as a solution to a particular problem (getting the schedule online or keeping an online newsletter updated, for example).

♦ What kind of design framework is already in place? Determine whether the organization already has some sort of branding and design strategy or whether you have freedom in this arena.

♦ What is the time constraint? Find out how quickly the client needs the site completed. Does the client want the entire project at one time, or can it be phased in?

♦ Do you already have a technical framework in place? Determine whether the project needs to work with an existing database, Web server, Web site, or domain name and whether you have complete access to those resources.

♦ Are there security concerns? First ask whether you will be asked to post data (personal information, credit card numbers, or Social Security numbers, for example) on the Internet that shouldn’t be there. Run from any project that requires you to work with this potentially dangerous data, unless you’re extremely comfortable with security measures.

♦ How will you get the copy? Any professional Web developer can tell you that the client usually promises to make the copy available immediately but rarely delivers it without a lot of pleading. If the content is available, it’s often incomplete or incorrect. You need to have some plan for getting the material from the client, or else you cannot proceed past a certain point.

♦ Does the client have a remuneration strategy? If you will be paid for your work, find out how you will be paid and whether it’s hourly or by the project. If you have a business arrangement, treat it as such and write out a contract. Even if the page is written for free for a friend, a written contract is a good idea because you don’t want to ruin a friendship over something as silly as a Web site.

Delineating the tasks

Building a Web site can involve a lot of different tasks. Your contract should indicate which of these tasks is expected. This list describes the potential scope of the project:

♦ Site layout: Determine which pages the site has and