Somewhere, someone has made the decision to give birth to a Web site, or give it a facelift, or grow it into a more comprehensive creature. Staff members and/or consultants determine the goals, discuss the budget, and gather information to determine the needs for the Web site, ensuring that there is a real need to do the project. A real need is to add value to the business or organization and consequently serve its customers and staff better. Getting started takes research, making an analysis, and creating a comprehensive strategy that includes an action plan to close the gaps of current needs. At the end of the analysis, the action plan should clearly explain why a site is being created, redesigned, or expanded. If this can't be done, then maybe it's better to stop and reconsider before throwing time and money into a project with no sense of purpose. It's easy to daydream about the pretty visuals such as the navigation buttons, colors, pictures, and animation, but don't let them make you forget about meeting visitors' needs and making your site simple to navigate.
A good web site is the product of a good planning and design process. This section takes you through a 5 step process to help you create a good site.

The planning process should be a group process for departmental or organizational web sites. It is important to include the web developer, as well as key people within the department or organization.
The following should be considered during the planning process:

1. What is the purpose of the web site?
2. What is it that you are trying to accomplish by offering a web site?
3. Is it informational, is it to gather data, promote your services?
4. Who is the target audience?
5. Who are you expecting to use this site?
6. What information do what to offer?
7. What information is already available and what needs to be gathered?
8. Who is responsible for the information?
9. What kind of look and feel should the design offer?
10. Is the site professional or personal? (The answer to this question will dictate the style of design that should be used. A professional site should have clear and concise language and proper graphics. A personal site could have more of a friendly tone and use fun graphics.)

Once the plan has been created then the graphical portion can be started. The planning group should still be consulted when making these decisions.
1. Create a site outline - An outline will help develop the file structure and give a sense of where and when information should appear on the site. The outline will show the layers to the site.
2. Develop the file structure - Once an outline has been created the file structure can then be developed. Information should be grouped together based on the outline. Files and folders can be created, so as pages are ready to be worked on the files already have a home. See Suggestions for naming web files and folders for further information.
3. Decide on the page layout - What kind of layout style will accomplish the purpose for the web site? Will there be different layouts for the different layers or different sections? There should be, however, some constant that links the individual pages to the entire site. Will any of the layout be done using Cascading Style Sheets.
4. Decide what type of coding, scripting or other technology will be needed to create the design. - Will you be using HTML or XHTML to accomplish your goal or will you need to use Javascript, ASP, Flash, or other scripting languages? Be sure to use these technologies to enhance a site, not just because they exist. Consider what metatags you need to use so search engines will pick up your site.
5. Decide on the graphic design - What is the color scheme? Pick colors that compliment each other and try not to use too many. The background should not interfere with viewing the text and the font of the text should be a standard font, so that it will appear nearly the same on every computer. Are there any graphics or logos that will be used and is there a particular spot on the page that it should appear. Much of the graphic design part can be applied by using Cascading Style Sheets.