So, what is Website Design & Web Development?

Website Design or Web Development, is the process of building a website. It is usually done by a website designer or a web developer. Websites are often built using CMSs (Content Management Systems). A CMS is an application that consists of a hosted database, public facing views and an administrative interface.

Common Open-Source CMSs for Website Design & Web Development include WordPress, Drupal and Joomla. WordPress is currently the industry leader, powers 40% of the websites on the internet. Meanwhile Drupal is primarily preferred by governments and larger corporations. Custom CMSs can also be achieved using frameworks such as Laravel or Django.

What is the Web Development Process?

At Zedafrica, we employ design thinking in our processes. We also prefer AGILE, compared to the WATERFALL methodology. A typical website would go through the following phases:

1. Discovery

1. Conducting an internal stakeholder workshop. The goal of this is to understand your product vision and business goals.
2. Researching your industry, competitive landscape, user-personas and identifying pain-points.
3. Crafting a data-driven go to market or launch strategy.
4. Identify the metrics of project success.

2. Design

1. Designing your website or web application according to user-centered design principles.
2. Conducting brand discovery calls, user research and usability testing.
3. High-fidelity designs & prototypes.

3. Development

1. Creating the website according to the selected creative direction.
2. Database schema design, application back-end and front-end design.
3. Admin dashboard design, reporting tools.
4. We will provide weekly reports/ check-ins so you’re always in the know.

4. Deployment & Maintenance

1. Deployment to staging.
2. Testing, debugging, checking Security.
3. Training for application administrators.
4. Final deployment to production, maintenance.

How much does it cost to build a website?

At Zedafrica, the scope is really determined by the complexity and scope of the project. We prefer to first get a better understanding of the project so we can advise on pricing. Our typical projects range from $5,000 to $500,000.

Website Design & Web Development Best Practices

Some of the standards we apply at Zedafrica Include:

1. User-centered design: It is very easy to get caught in between what we like versus what users need. From the get-go, we establish our end-user personas and focus on them. We then design the product so we’re able to achieve the set business goals while providing an amazing experience for users.
2. Keeping Development Transparent: It is important for the client to be in the know of progress. Once the project begins, we keep close track of project milestones, expectations and deliverables.
3. Designing and Building for accessibility, mobility and responsivity: These are standards that we apply in all the work that we do.
4. Writing efficient, future-proof DRY code that is well documented: We don’t just write code for the current needs, we write code that is scalable. We always base our foundation on future-proof methodologies and tools.