Making a Side Project, Part 8: Site Planning
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The best laid plans of mice
Have you read Part 7 of the Making a Side Project series?
Before I jump into building Deaton, I like to think about the totality of that I’m trying to build.
This means considering the sitemap, wireframes and how people will interact with different features and how they’ll navigate between different parts of the site. I also like to think about the overall technical architecture and consider what if any external resources I’ll need.
Sitemap
“A site map is a list of pages of a web site.”
— Wikipedia
I try not to go crazy here, there will a number of static pages that will be easy to add, I’m more concerned with pages that include functionality in them that I need to build.
The MUP for Deaton is pretty small, and so the number of pages I need to build is pretty small too.
You may notice that I’ve also left of some fairly standard pages. Change password, account settings, etc. They are standard pages I know I have to build. They do not contain Deaton specific functionality so I don’t worry about them for now.
Wireframes
“A website wireframe, also known as a page schematic or screen blueprint, is a visual guide that represents the skeletal framework of a website.”
— Wikipedia
For the MUP I try to keep the layout of the website pretty consistent. There are typically 3 layouts I consider. I had also considered building a custom landing page, but the Product Hunt Upcoming page is doing a splendid job so that will save me some time.
Marketing Page
In many respects this is the most important page of the website. It is typically the first page that a new user will see on your website. It is very important to make a good first impression.
