Site Planning

Questions To Ask Yourself

1. For whom is your site designed? Are you making it for just yourself to enjoy? Many programmers (myself included) do have private sites only they ever view. Are you making a family intranet-style website, to keep people in your house up to date with each other? Maybe you want to go global with your extended family becoming your viewing audience. Or perhaps you aspire to bigger dreams and want strangers to come and view your work. No matter whom your audience will be, deciding that is the first vital step.
2. How much time do you want to spend on your site? Maybe you want to spend just a few days creating it and getting it online, then update it rarely. That would be a completely different site than one created over weeks or months and updated daily. You need to make a realistic contract with yourself for how much time you want to spend creating your site and then how much time you want to spend updating and maintaining it. And do be realistic - there is no one judging you on planned dedication.
3. What sites have you seen that you really like? Now is the time (if you haven't already) to start keeping a favorites/bookmark list just for design ideas.