When designing any computer program (or doing any coding what so ever), some basic principles apply. One of these principles is known as RADITM.
RADITM represents each stage of a project. It is a waterfall model (which in simple terms means that each stage can be followed downwards or upwards in the chain depending on necessity).
R – Request
This stage is where a prospective client asks for a particular project to be completed.
A – Analyse
The analysis stage is where the developer and/or designer must determine what the client wants the system to do.What are the constraints of the system? Must it be run on one particular operating system, or do they want a website that works in every single browser? Are there any special conditions or needs that must be met?
What are the inputs that the client wants? What inputs are actually needed? Does a user need to be able to log in, for example? There is a difference between what is wanted and what is needed, and as a designer/developer you must determine this.
What are the outputs of the project? Exactly what does the client want to produce? Are they producing greeting/gift cards? If so, do each of the cards have a different appearance? How will you code the project to output such a thing?
D – Design
How will you create such a program? What is the look that the client wants, and the users will need? (Consider both the front-end and the administration sides for this aspect). The developers at WordPress have perfected this stage: the front-end of a website can look drastically different from that of the administration back-end, yet both easily meet their purposes.
The design stage will often include “drafts” of the design and function. A designer will start to create templates and themes for visual appearance, whilst a developer will determine coding languages, software and the tools needed.
I – Implementation
Now its actually time to start coding! Write, code, draw, do whatever you want. This is the stage where the program is actually built.
Not all programs are built from scratch however. Many people will create a website based on a Content Management System such as WordPress. The majority of functions are already present, and only smaller customization and tweaks must be performed. Using free, or purchased, software is often far more efficient than programming from scratch in a majority of occasions: there is customer support (even for the coders!), reliability, security options and more.
The next stage often goes hand in hand with the Implementation stage.
T – Testing
Testing is a vital stage of any project. If it doesn’t do what it is meant to do, then its no good! Test it yourself. Get your mum or family to test it. If you can afford it (or your company can afford it), get a group of people to test it.
Testing in each stage of development can help a program be effectively designed.
Eye tracking software (and hardware) allows designers to determine what parts of the monitor and software is seen the most, and help them to appropriately plan advertising, important alert notices, and more.
Testing during the implementation stage has its benefits too; often programmers will find that users do not use a feature and thus can focus their skills and time on improving features more commonly used.
M – Maintenance
Finally, after the product is created and launched, it is important to maintain it.
Firstly your program might have bugs that you didn’t notice in the testing stages. The more people you have testing your software, the more likely bugs are likely to show. People use software differently from each other, and you cannot test different combination of button presses!
Secondly, the capability of hardware develops. For example, if you created a website in flash, there might be developments in popular devices like the iPhone and iPad that doesn’t support Flash. You might need to update your own code to support these other devices.
Thirdly, other software will get developed and updated even. This is particularly important if your project is reliant on third party products.
Unfortunately the maintenance stage is often over looked, by both designers and developers. Many people will create wordpress themes, release them, and then allow them to sit statically even after bugs develop. A good designer/developer will respond to customer/consumer feedback, resolve bugs within their software, and release updates.
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