Methodologies and website development: a survey of practice

Website development work is a growing aspect of the IT activities within many organisations. However, the manner in which website development actually takes place within organisations is still largely uncertain. In this paper, we examine the results of a research exercise involving case studies in 25 UK organisations aimed at investigating the way in which website development activities are currently carried out within UK organisations. In particular, this paper discusses the activities that are typically involved in website development projects, and the techniques and standards actually used for website development found within 25 organisations studied. One of the main findings of the research project was that in 25 organisations studied there was only limited use of formalised website design techniques (mainly hierarchy charts and storyboards). However, roughly half of the organisations studied did use some form of website layout standards. Website documentation was only produced in roughly a third of the organisations and only roughly a quarter of the organisations had any formalised website testing procedures in place. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.