Jasmine Web Starter

Ever been told that "YOU" have just been given the enviable task of getting the company website redesigned?

Where do you start with this task?

Firstly we have to ask ourselves "Why has the company decided to redesign?"

• Maybe its implementing new branding like colours and logo.
• Perhaps introducing a new product, service or new company focus.
• Simply looking to roll out a fresh new look to the website.
• Possibly your current software or systems are not working for you anymore.

Once the areas are defined for the redesign its a good idea to get a bench mark for the current performance and outstanding issues.

A quick way to form a list of actions is to lighthouse each page and record the findings.

The good news is that nine out of ten times a redesign does not mean starting again from scratch, mostly you would only need to do this if moving to a new CMS (Content Management System) or Website builder.

Action plans

Once the "why & what for" of the redesign are worked out you'll need to form an action plan.

But before starting that, it's best to check if you have new graphics available yet or are you going to have to make them?

From here you can write a list of actions per page a lot will depend on the reasons for the redesign.

You could start with what needs to be updated in the HTML and CSS to meet the redesign goals, followed by what issues you found in the benchmark stage maybe missing headings, page description or contrast of colours.

Now that you have a working list you need a copy of the current website to make the changes against. Once the changes are updated you can test the website again with lighthouse to make sure that you have improved the website and delivered the redesign goals.

If everything is ok and you get the approvals that you need to go forward, the last stage would be to replace the current live hosted website for the updated files, and retest to make sure everything is still working as it should.

Wonderful, so now you have completed your tasks and got the website ready for its next working stage.

But you didn't say much about moving CMS

Well this is a huge topic with many start and finish options, and to be honest we really don't know how many CMS's there are available across the web and even if we did, this number would likely be out of date in a few hours. But talking generally its a case of:

Exporting the current data and recording page details for each page on the website

Then install the new CMS and pick a new theme

Import the data export

Then work your way through each page to make sure its a close mirror to the pages on the current website making sure to check title, description and alt tags.

Finally look to make updates to the theme and style to match your design goals.

Now you can run tests to make sure the pages are working for use and are higher than the benchmark figures you got before you started.

If happy, you can push the new website and new CMS live and remove the old versions.

A Final test is always a good idea too.

Documentation & Back up's

So now the one job left is to write new update documents for updating the website pages and images. Also you will want to make sure to check the back up and configuration, once this has run you will want to test the restore features too. Its always good to know that it works before you need it.

We hope you now feel empowered to take on the redesign task and not just hide under your desk hoping it goes away.

A helping Hand

As always if you would like more information on any of these steps let us know using our Contact form.

If the redesign is a little too much to handle alone we are always happy to work with you to achieve your goals Contact us with an outline of the tasks you require, as we will be very happy to define a quote to cover those tasks and then get working with you to publish the new version of your website.