Plan a website

Before building a website, take the time to analyze, plan, and design the entire system that supports the website. You must plan not only the website, but the web content system that manages the website and the infrastructure required for the system. You will also define in advance the roles and users involved in the website and install infrastructure.

1. Defining the project
   It is important to have an understanding of the objectives, deliverables, and scope of a web content system. Your project definition outlines the what, why, and who of the project and can be used throughout the life of the web content system.

2. Human resource planning
   These roles are examples of the type of work performed by the people who create and manage a website. A single person can be responsible for more than one of the roles outlined in this section. The roles you implement in the organization to support the website are determined by the size and complexity of the system being deployed. Not all the following roles are required for every website, but all aspects of these roles must be considered during any system deployment.

3. Create an analysis document
   An analysis document is used to record the information gathered from stakeholders that determines the design of the website, its content, and its features.

4. Design a prototype website using HTML
   Before we create a design document for the web content system, it can be useful to create a prototype of the site using HTML. This prototype should be based on the outline defined in your project plan and the data gathered in the analysis document. The site structure, design, and HTML code you develop for the prototype can be used as the basis for many of the items defined in the design document.

5. Create a design document
   After defining the project and creating an analysis document, we define the requirements of the web content system in a design document. The design document outlines what types of content will be needed for the site, how they will be structured, how content will be authored, and what the final website will look like.

6. Road map to building a web content system
   To build a web content system you need to deploy hardware, configure servers, design an authoring system, configure a delivery environment and enable syndication. Get an overview of the steps required to build the web content system. Keep in mind the analysis and design documents developed during the planning phase of a project as you review the road map.