Is there anything more frustrating than thinking something will be a quick fix (30 minutes) but is 2-3 hour engagement due to testing and quality assurance requirements? As a website owner, it is important to understand that quality changes take time and practice patience when it comes to requesting changes.
As professional Ballina web designers and developers, we’ve seen many clients baulk at the 10-15 hour estimated times to make changes/fixes (usually custom ones) without knowing what is really involved in the process.
The more you understand about the process and what’s involved, the more effectively you can manage your time expectations.
What Factors Contribute to Your Web Design Taking Time?
There are many factors that contribute to quality web design taking time, which include:
- Custom design – If you want a stunning web design, your team will probably stray away from a template and create a completely custom design which can be time-consuming.
- User experience – In order to rank high on Google results, your website needs to be created with the user experience in mind. This means paying attention to detail, which means taking up more time.
- Content is king – Creating engaging web copy to be added to your website is no simple task, and the creation of this copy can add on additional hours. Changes to web copy can also take time.
- QA testing – This is a topic that we will delve into a bit deeper later in the article but QA testing is probably the most time-consuming part of the process, but it is also the most beneficial as it will ensure that your website runs flawlessly!
- SEO – You want a fully optimised website, don’t you? In order for your website to be optimised for SEO from the get-go (which is advisable), there will need to be additional time invested into the design and development.
What Can You Do To Speed Up The Process?
- Know what you want- when you have a clear vision for what you want, you are less likely to want 100 changes when you see the final web design
- Go with a respected web design company- by choosing a reputable company and getting your web design done right the first time around, you’re more likely to be happy with the final result. A reputable company is also more likely to give you realistic time-frames than fake promises
- Do your research; by reading articles like this, you gain a greater understanding of web design and the processes involved, and you’ll be able to better communicate with your web design team
Understanding that QA Testing Adds Additional Time to the Project
A website form design and implementation may look like a 2-3 hour project. However, the testing and QA beyond the style and implementation stage adds additional time. This stage is very important as it ensures that everything on your site will run smoothly and without any flaws. You don’t want to release a website until you’re 100% certain that it’s up to scratch.
QA (Quality Assurance testing) goes a step further than the usual web tests, and a QA team’s job is to detect any issues that may hinder the successful performance of the site. While QA testing is highly effective, it is definitely very time-consuming as there are many different tests that need to take place, including:
- System testing
- Unit testing
- Performance testing
- Integration testing
- Security testing
- Test planning
- Regression testing
In addition to these steps, there are other areas in which the QA team needs to be involved.
In Part 2 of this series, we’ll dive deeper into the details of QA testing so that you’ll gain a better understanding and insight as to what’s involved in the process of QA testing. The QA testing process is very interesting and has proved to be vital for web designers and developers alike.
While QA testing takes time, it is this process that is responsible for allowing developers to deliver their work on time, as without these processes, major flaws may go unnoticed.
At the end of the day, what clients need to realise about web design, developments, and making any support or developmental changes is that quality design takes time. Just how you wouldn’t expect an artist to rush a masterpiece, you wouldn’t expect a web developer to rush your changes.
Looking for an excellent web design company that will give you accurate time estimations when it comes to website design and specific changes? Get in touch with the team at Big Rock Graphics today!
