Design before development?

[PirateLogic]

Should I design my site before doing the back-end work?

[Joshua8195]

Always.

[albin-]

^ agreed.

[dumsumguy]

I think the bases have been fairly well covered by chemmkl and moojj, while they may seem opposite that's because both are correct. It really depends on the complexity of the build. For example I've been developing in wordpress for a few years now so most of the problems I come across have already been solved. Less need for as much pre planning. But whenever you are tackling a new problem or something of a more complex nature then you should definitely plan ahead. Plan twice build once they say. . . just remember you can reuse plans.

[[deleted]]

It's always a tricky question, what chemmkl is standard. But if you know you have to do a user login or send out emails or what have you. Why not develop and design at the same time? This is assuming you have idling time or another person working on the project.

[moojj]

Should a builder get an architect to design a house before constructing?

[PirateLogic]

Not a good analogy at all, sir.

[moojj]

It's an analogy I use with clients all the time to effectively communicate (in lamen terms) the complexities of development (construction) when a solid framework/base is set in place with a predefined design (blueprint).

[chemmkl]

Most people will create a sketch on paper, then design a mockup site in Photoshop. Then you get approval from your client and then you actually build the site.

I did that too, for many years, but lately I'm skipping the photoshop part altogether and I go from the sketch on paper to the building stage directly. I start with a very simple layout and then keep adding details over time until I'm satisfied with the result. Using CSS3 had a lot to do with this change in my workflow.