Questions for a new web site

When creating a new web site, these are some questions you should ask yourself before getting started.

Demographic

• Who is going to use the web site?
• What devices will they use?
• Which web browsers will they use?
• Do we have to accommodate users with disabilities?

Description

• What problem should the site solve?
• What will the layout of the site be?
• Which fonts shall be used?
• What is the color scheme?
• Do we have a logo for the site?
• Should users login to the web site?
• Should it be a Single Page Application?
• Should it be responsive?
• Should we use HTTPS?
• Should it be in multiple languages?
• Do we need to consider Search Engine Optimization?
• Do we need a Content Management System?
• Should the site have ads? How much?
• Should the site have a search feature?
• What will the navigation look like?
• Do we use cookies and if so do we have to disclose it (EU law)?

Development

• Which browsers do we have to support?
• What server side framework should we use?
• What client side framework/libraries should we use?
• What Content Management System should be used, if any?
• Should we use a reset or normalize style sheet?
• Should we use TypeScript instead of JavaScript?
• Should we use SASS instead of CSS?
• Should we use semantic markup?
• Do we need an XML sitemap?
• How should the robots.txt look?
• Do we have a favicon?
• Where in the html should stylesheets go?
• Where in the html should scripts go?
• Should we minifiy and bundle stylesheets?
• Should we minifiy and bundle scripts?
• Does it have to be translatable?
• Is there and existing database the site should use?
• How should exceptions caught in Global.asax be handled?
• Should we implement logging in addition to the web server logs?

Deployment

• Where should it be deployed?
• What type of database will be used?
• Do we have a domain name ready?
• Should we use staging when updating the site?
• Should we use a CDN?
• Should we use compression (gzip, deflate)?
• Should the site be monitored in some way?
• Can we add security headers? Which ones?
• Do we need to account for sudden traffic spikes?
• Who will make updates to the content of the site?