Section 14. About Planning Your Site

14. About Planning Your Site

BEFORE YOU BEGIN

Just jump right in.

SEE ALSO

15 About Focusing on What You Want to Present

The hardest work you'll do building a website comes well before you ever touch even the smallest bit of HTML code. It has nothing to do with the Internet, and nothing to do with computing. In fact, it has nothing to do with technology at all. It has to do with first deciding on why you want to build a website, and then determining what you want to present on it.

It sounds simple, but in fact it's very, very hard to do. You've probably come across dozens of websites that confuse you or that don't ever quite come to the point. The great odds are the problem wasn't with the designers or codersthe problem was that the people creating the site weren't quite clear on why they were creating it. The next time you come to a website that you don't think is particularly good, take a few minutes to examine it and see why. You'll probably find out it's because the site has a confused focus, and no clear point or message.

You don't want to fall into the same trap. So before you do a lick of work, stop. Then start thinking. Take enough time planning your site, and building it will be a breeze .