Creating a site is a simple matter if you use online designers. But they are all of the same type, that reputable firms have to look for webmasters or contact IT companies. At this stage of creating the resource, it is extremely important to specify the work of the wizard, that is, to draw up a technical task for the development of the site.
Why waste time on this?
No matter how educated a person is, he still remains a person and by any means tries to facilitate his work. Therefore, customers do not always understand why to write technical specifications for website development. After all, it’s much easier to ask webmasters to make a “website in blue with the company logo on the main page”. But when the time comes for the delivery of the project, the customer sees not at all what he wanted. And the webmaster has to redo the resource again and again.
The terms of reference are not “bureaucracy”, but a rational act that saves time, nerves and money. Here, for example, a certain company needs to develop a presentation site for a period of two weeks. And if you spend 2-3 days creating a sample technical specification for website development, then at the end of the term you can get a finished product. It will meet all the requirements that customers in the heat of rush could forget to mention. On the other hand, the terms of reference for the development of the site is a guarantee of remuneration.
The wisdom of the past
If the customer is faced with the task of developing technical specifications, he does not have to reinvent the wheel, it is better to turn to the sources, which are verified by many years of practical experience. That is, you must write a sample terms of reference for the development of the site according to GOST. It would seem unrealistic to apply the 1978 standards to modern websites, but in the Soviet Union some things were able to do perfectly, and the development of standards is no exception, and besides, they are still relevant. Particular attention should be paid to such standards:
- Requirements for the content and design (GOST 19.201-78).
- Terms of Reference for the creation of an automated system (GOST 34.602-78).
The first document is suitable for regular sites. It describes how to properly execute TK, and also indicates the sections that should definitely be taken into account when preparing the technical specifications for the development of the site. These include:
- Introduction, which indicates the name of the customer company or resource, its brief description and scope.
- The grounds for the creation. Here you need to identify the topic, indicate documents confirming the need to create a resource, the name of the organization that approved this document. For example, the results of market research show that most users are looking for products through the Internet, this will be the basis for the creation of the site.
- Destination. The functional purpose of the resource is indicated. Informing, selling, etc.
- Resource requirements. This is the largest section where the customer writes all his wishes regarding the future web product. Here you need to specify the functionality, determine the level of reliability, describe the operating conditions, content, design, etc.
- Software requirements.
- Technical and economic indicators. That is, wishes are indicated regarding the level of conversion, advantages over competitors, economic efficiency.
- Stages of development. The customer sets the deadlines for the assignment.
- The control. Types of verification are indicated.
The second GOST is suitable for creating portals with complex functionality. In general, the main goals and points are not much different from the first document, they just have more extensive characteristics. Based only on information from documents according to GOST standard, you can create a full-fledged example of technical specifications for the development of the site.
Features of the compilation of TK
How to draw up technical specifications for the development of the site? The most important thing when compiling a ToR is to constantly think about the main goals of a future document: it should be written in a language that both developers and customers will understand.
Most often, when compiling an example of a technical task for the development of a site, the following are considered basic:
- Information about the customer. It is necessary to briefly describe the scope of activity, the history of the company, make a list of the main competitors. This information is unlikely to be useful to programmers, but for designers and copywriters it is needed.
- The purpose of the site. In this block, key information should be concentrated, allowing you to understand the structure of the future resource, functionality and the general direction of design. It also describes the main target audience.
- Resource requirements. The largest section, in which you need to indicate your wishes regarding the structure, functionality, design, software, hosting, etc. It is also necessary to attach page thumbnails and the site layout here.
- Action plan. Any template for a technical assignment for the development of a site should include in its description the stages of development, a list of works that will be carried out at a certain stage and the deadlines for completing the order.
- Control and reception of work. The sample technical specifications for the development of the site should clearly describe how the compliance of the finished site with the specified requirements will be checked. It is important to carefully approach the implementation of this work in order to avoid misunderstandings with the customer.
Having worked through all these points in detail, you can quickly learn how to thoroughly draw up the terms of reference for the development of the site.
Who should do this?
In fact, a sample of technical specifications for the development of a site can be made by anyone. For example, the owner of a beauty salon needs a business card site. This is a technical task, but whether this TK will be useful is another matter.
Usually a good technical rear makes up the performer. Still, the web developer understands the creation of sites more than the owner of a beauty salon. But this does not mean that the client is absent throughout this entire process. Following the basic rules of the technical specifications for the development of the site, the customer must:
- To familiarize the performers with the company, its products, services and the target audience.
- Explain for what purpose he needed a site.
- Share your wishes for a future resource.
- Show examples of sites that he thinks are good.
- Answer the questions of the designer and web developer (if they arise).
The customer can independently sketch TK, but, as practice shows, such amateurish drafts are usually discreetly thrown into the trash.
Accuracy and Uniqueness
Everything that is written in the examples and samples of technical specifications for the development of the site should be clear to the client and the contractor. Such concepts as beautiful, modern, unique and others cannot be used, because everyone perceives them in their own way. This also applies to language that can be ambiguously understood. Everything must be clear and precise. You can’t write that the site can withstand more load, because it is unclear how large they are. It is necessary to immediately deny a misunderstanding, clarifying that the resource is able to withstand 50 thousand visitors at a time. Any wording should be supported by numbers and precise characteristics.
Other nuances
When planning work on creating a site, you need to notify all participants in the development about what the company is doing and who its main target audience is. You also need to specify the purpose of the site and describe the functional preferences so that you do not get an entertainment blog instead of a serious online store.
In some cases, a glossary is included in the terms of reference for the development of the website. All complex terms are described in plain language, so that an uninformed customer does not have questions about what and how they will do with his site.
Be sure to clarify on which hosting the resource should be. Also, respectable performers will indicate in the terms of reference such an item as “work requirements”, where they indicate that the resource should be displayed in all browsers. Of course, this requirement is already understandable, but it is better to register it so that the client is protected from unscrupulous performers.
In addition, the customer discusses the structure, design and layout, for clarity, the customer can draw a block diagram. The client needs to explain what each page of the site is intended for and what elements can be on it.
If you have to make a resource with a complex and non-standard interface, it will not be enough just to show the thumbnail and page structure. It is imperative that the entire development team and the customer himself understand how the average visitor will use the site. Therefore, it will be necessary to develop a scenario. Its layout is very simple:
- User action.
- The response of the site.
- Result.
Content and Design
It is also necessary to decide in advance who will be responsible for the content. In some cases, the developer can immediately make a website with content, attracting professional copywriters to work, but then the cost of the resource will be more expensive. It is necessary to agree on this in advance and indicate all the wishes regarding the content.
True, it will be difficult to objectively describe the content, since as for the interesting and useful, everyone has their own concepts, it is easier to write that it will be unique. This is easy to verify, and there will be no unnecessary claims. This problem also applies to the description of the design. The best solution would be to write in the terms of reference for the design of the site what color scheme the customer wants, what type of font the labels will be made, etc. That is, indicate all the positions in which the accuracy appears. Perhaps this is all the rules for creating technical specifications for the development of the site. Now you need to put them into practice and try to create competent TK on your own.
Website design specifications template
In this TK, the first page provides a table of terms so that everything is clear what will be discussed. It is worth noting that the term designation is not copied from Wikipedia or other resources, but written by the person who is developing the technical task. The list of terms may include concepts such as:
- IP address
- www (world wide web).
- The administrative part of the resource, administrator.
- Alternative signature of the figure.
- Web interface
- Link, link.
- Website design, page design template.
- Dynamic and static page.
- Domain name.
- Meta tag.
- Content
- Part of the resource is publicly available.
- Backup, databases, file structure.
- Hosting
- Content management system.
After the glossary is created, you can start writing the points of the technical task directly. First of all, general information is written. This item is conditionally divided into four subparagraphs:
- Purpose of the document. The terms of reference for the development of the site is the main document that governs the process of creating and receiving a resource.
- Customer data. The following coordinates are indicated: company name, contact details, legal address, actual address, email, website (if rebranding is done), contact person, contact phone number.
- Brief information about the company. For a sample technical specifications for the development of the site, consider the company LLC Fortuna. LLC Fortuna produces (goods) for the Novosibirsk market. The company carefully monitors the hygiene of production, the purity of raw materials and the quality of products. The company carries out certified control over the quality and safety of manufactured goods on the basis of the principles of the international HACCP system.
- The basis for development. The basis for the development of technical specifications is Agreement No.__.
Purpose and purpose of the resource
The site is designed to increase the market share of the company and increase the image of the company on the Web. The resource is created in order to increase the flow of new customers, create a favorable image, increase the popularity of the brand of LLC Fortuna. Also, this resource will act as an additional platform for advertising campaigns, attract new customers and bring additional profit.
Under the main objectives of the resource is meant to provide the user with complete information about the product and service. The main target audience is retail buyers, in particular women housewives and wholesalers.
The site should have a convenient admin panel, page loading should be optimized for different devices. The resource must be protected from external attacks, use the elements of promotion of goods and services. In addition to the complete product information, the product card requires the presence of supporting documents, such as quality certificates.
Site Technical Requirements
The site should be accessible on the Internet under a domain name (at the option of the customer) and should be an information structure consisting of interconnected sections with clearly defined functions. To maintain the site and its operation, personnel should not be required special skills and knowledge in the field of software.
In the resource management system, it is important to have a mechanism for backing up information that will work automatically.
Site information is publicly available. Depending on the extent of access rights, users are divided into three groups:
- Visitors - have access exclusively to the public part of the site.
- Editor - has the ability to amend sections materials.
- Administrator - can appoint editors, add or remove sections.
Access to the administrative part of the site should be protected with a username and password.
Technical functionality should comply with the recommendations of search engines. Firstly, pages should have the same encoding. Secondly, click through links must be implemented using the tag "A". Thirdly, in the HTTP headers you must specify the encoding, and when accessing the site via the site.ru link, you need to install a redirect 301 to the www.site.ru domain.
The resource must function in all modern browsers, so it is necessary to test in:
- IE 11
- Safari & Chrome for iOS 9.0-9.2.
- Chrome 48.
- Firefox 44.
- Safari 9.
- Edge 13.
- Opera 34.
If the visitor uses an outdated browser, a window should appear asking you to update it.
The site should have a logical distinction between user and administrative parts. The first is responsible for providing information, the second is for filling the resource with content. Static pages consist of heading, text, and illustrations. The customer can edit them at his discretion, since this information should not be related to the site configuration.
Hosting, content, structure
The following describes the necessary system requirements, indicates the development language (PHP with databases or plain HTML with CSS).
As for the content, the customer provides the developer with all the necessary materials that correspond to the list of mandatory content. Based on the data received, unique content is developed and posted on the site.
At the next stage of TK development, the site structure is developed. First, the main page and the main menu items are described. After each, a list of sub-items is added. This can be depicted graphically, but it will also be necessary to describe each section, what should be there and what goals it will pursue.
For example, on the main page of the site of LLC “Fortuna” there is a section “Production”. It is important here to reveal the advantages of the company against the background of competitors and explain to the consumer why the company Fortuna LLC is better. The information on the most purchased goods shall be determined in separate subparagraphs with its photo and video materials. Other sections are similarly developed.
Design and functional requirements
If the resource is being improved, it should be noted whether the icons, fonts and color scheme are changing. For a new site, all these positions are registered. For example, the color yellow-green is # 9ACD32. It is better to provide the customer with a palette and prescribe a color code in the statement of work in order to avoid inaccuracies. Each resource should be equally well displayed on all devices and dynamically adjusted to the screen size.
Each site has dynamic and static sections. The administrator can change dynamic ones independently, and static ones remain unchanged. Prototypes of the main page are necessarily provided in the TOR. - . , .
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Benefit
The terms of reference are useful for both the client and the contractor. The first ones understand why they pay money, can immediately see the competence of the contractor and insure themselves against unfair work. In turn, TK helps the contractor to understand what the customer wants and thus hedge himself against sudden changes. This is especially true when the project is almost finished, but the customer wanted to change something, because of this “something”, he would have to redo all the work.