While you may find that there are countless strategies, there are 5 general steps in building your Web site***.  They are:

• Planning.  Use the planning phase to gather information to define the site's goals, profile the intended audience, determine the technical requirements, and begin to outline the site organization.

• Design.  Using information gathered in the planning phase to help you design the content, navigation, and special features of your site.  Here you will create sample pages that include the major screen elements--the page layout, colors, fonts, and navigation.

• Development.  Now that you've got it laid out, go to work!  This is the phase where you will make the most changes.  You will find plenty of unforeseen obstacles and improvements that you can make to your original plan.  Don't hesitate to make them!  Many developers work from a template once they begin this phase, and add new pages from the template.

• Publishing.  It's built, and you're ready to post it on the Web.  Possibly the simplest of the five steps, it is still very important.  Understanding FTP or your Web authoring software's directions are critical.

• Maintenance.  This step doesn't need an explanation, but that certainly doesn't make it any less important.  Recently I found a Web site that was incredible!  It described the Web, explained how to use it in the classroom, included quizzes, lesson plans, the whole shebang.  I hurriedly bookmarked the site and started printing.  This was good stuff!  Then as I really started to read through the information.  It was dated March, 1997.  Roundfile.  Don't overlook this step.

One of my favorite projects in E-commerce was to get students to build a Web site for a real business.  While there is certainly no right or wrong way to do this, if you would like some suggestions on how I did it, feel free to take a peek at the capstone project.  Meanwhile, let's examine the five steps through one of those projects, and take a look at how the Web sites were developed.