A Web Development Methodology Explained

My research took me to a Web site maintained by John December, http://www.december.com, and in particular his web development methodology, http://www.december.com/web/develop.html It was from this web site that I was introduced to the book "The World Wide Web Unleashed", by John December and Neil Randall, within which, John December elaborates, in great detail, his web development methodology.

December's web development methodology is a user-centred and continuous design methodology. (See a diagram). It is user-centred in the sense that satisfying the user needs is the principle goal, and continuous in the sense that the development processes are never actually finished. Rather, it is continually reviewed and updated.

The methodology consists of five design stages ("processes") and six key pieces of information ("elements"). December gives an overview of these at http://www.december.com/web/develop.html along with examples, but I shall now describe these twelve components in slightly more detail. The text book is also full of practical tips concerning web design, which I will not discuss now, but mention in the documentation of the ICS web development.