We Take Care of the Details

DL Digs into the DetailsMany people at DefinedLogic write design documents for our clients’ web sites.  These documents are written for new web sites and for web sites that require change. They describe, in great detail, the design for functionality that will be implemented on the new or changed parts of the web site. HTML programmers use our design documents as a guide when they “build” the web site.

The people at DefinedLogic are experts at writing these design documents. We’re good at thinking about details and asking the “what if” questions that help reveal the best design.

Peeling Back the Onion

Consider the example of this field on a screen, which is prompting a user to enter their zip code:

Zip Code: ______________________

Seems simple. Our design document should just say “There will be a field labeled Zip Code, into which the user will enter their zip code.” Right? Not really.

It’s our job to ask all the questions that need to be asked to learn all the details that the HTML programmer will need to know. Things like:

  • Can a user type anything into that field? Or are only numbers allowed?
  • A zip code can be represented as 07704 or 07704-3031. Will the field reject anything less than five characters? And if it does, what type of error message will display? Will a message pop up or will a red note appear at the top of the page?
  • Can the user choose to leave this field blank? If no, should it be marked with an asterisk to indicate that the field is required?

And that’s the easy stuff. We also have to think about:

  • Should the entry in this field be compared to a list of valid U.S. zip codes so the system can reject any entries that are not “real” zip codes?
  • Will this web site be used by people who live in countries that don’t use zip codes?
  • Has the user entered a zip code elsewhere on the web site that we could use to prepopulate this field and save the user some work?

The Payoff for Our Clients

For many projects, one of the most significant costs is changes and fixes to the original design. The work DefinedLogic does taking care of the details during the design process saves our clients time and money when they build their web sites.

Are you getting the details right on your project? Or are you going back to the drawing board late in the game?