Turning a interactive website idea into reality

Originally posted by: andyfash

Hello everyone

Does anyone know the first steps to take in turning an idea for a "first-rate" website into reality.  I'm an accountant by profession, and will like to find out about websites in general, potential costs, and how to find website developers. 

I'm also interested in learning how to maintain the website once it has been developed as it may well need regular "minor" updates after it is implemented and finances are bound to be tight in the early days of the business.  How complicated is it to learn the technology required to maintain the website? 

Hi Andy,

A good place to start would be to draw up a functional spec for the site. This is a non-technical description of what the site does. So if you were drawing up such a spec for YouTube, you'd list all the things a user can do, how they'd be able to interact with other users, how many users the site needs to be able to support etc.

You can then take this to a web development company, and talk to them about how feasible it is, how much it might cost etc. It'd be a good idea to discuss it with a few different deveopers, and get different people's take on it.

As far as updating the site, that really depends on what you mean. If you mean updating the content (text, images, pages), then you should be looking to have a full content management system built as part of the development project. This would allow you to maintain all the content in-house.

As for updating/modifying the site's functionality, that's a different kettle of fish. You basically need to become a developer, and would need to put in at least a year or so to get to grips with the basics.

HTH
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www.symworks.com

0845 009 8230

UK web solutions

Hi Andy,

I would possably pay a web designer to put a content managment website up for you as a CMS (as we call them in the trade) is very easy to edit (All you have to do is log in to an administration side to the website and change/ add text to suit your's or the business needs.

I can provide you with webspace and a CMS install very cheap, I can also design it to suit.

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ASH
Web: http://www.Ash-Group.co.uk">href="http://www.Ash-Group.co.uk">http://www.Ash-Group.co.uk
Email: Alan.Harrison@Ash-Group.co.uk

Hi Andy,

good points above, especially the one that ASH mentioned about having a CMS system installed.

As a shameless plug I will quickly point you in the direction of a special summer deal we are doing for just such a site. You can find the full details here:

http://www.worthingmedia.com/special_deal.html

Hope that helps, and feel free to drop me a line with any questions that you may have

Regards,
David