In recent years, web design has become both simpler and more sophisticated. While testing and customizing for different browser engines used to be a tedious and time-intensive task, nowadays web projects are far more demanding. This has less to do with design issues than with the fact that websites are no longer to be used solely for simple presentational purposes, but are deeply integrated into complex corporate workflows with their own dependencies.

Website Checklist

Anyone who requests an offer for a new website or a redesign should make sure that the following requirements are also covered:

  • You never know how people will access your website – responsive and mobile-first design is mandatory.
  • Your audience is aging, at least in older industrial nations… Visitors might be visually or otherwise impaired – keep your website accessible (Accessibility).
  • If your website could not be found in search engines, it doesn’t exist. On setup, a new website should be well prepared for search engines bots to be indexed (On-Page SEO).
  • Think about slow mobile connections – short loading times help to speed up your website and is a ranking signal for search engines.
  • If your websites targets EU citizens, it must be GDPR compliant to address data protection and privacy law in the European Union and the European Economic Area.
  • Of course, “security by design” is important – your website also should have an SSL certificate for encrypted connections and a firewall installed.
  • How about sustainability? Will the installed software solution still be supported in a few years?
  • The service provider or web agency should provide a basic training for employees to edit content on your website.
  • Hosting websites in data centers requires a lot of energy. Some hosters offer climate-neutral hosting by balancing their CO2 emissions with certificates or their own green projects.
  • Every website needs maintenance to keep the software always up-to-date. Regularly backups to restore the installation are an essential.