Requirements
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What Are Requirements
Web site requirements describe the features, functions, and content of the site. They are a list of what the site must have and what it must allow users to do.
Requirements might be general features and functions, such as search or contact us.
Or requirements might be specific features and functions for your site. These could include an online grants application, database retrieval, products purchase, e-mail alerts sign-up.
Requirements might be specific content or content areas that your site must cover, such as:
- reports of research
- articles on health for the general public
- lists of funding opportunities
- links to other related sites
- reports of meetings
- press releases
Developing Requirements
Site requirements should reflect your users' needs. Review the your user scenarios that should describe the 10 to 30 most important and most frequent tasks users will want to do on your site. Extract the requirements from each scenario that describe the features, functions, and content required for users to successfully complete each scenario.
Requirements can begin as a phrase or one-sentence description of what the site must have or must allow users to do. As you move through the process, you will develop the more detailed requirements.
Eventually, you may want to use the requirements to write Use Cases. Use cases describe in great detail how users will interact with the site to accomplish the scenarios.
Using Requirements
Requirements only tell you what the Web site must have and what it must allow users to do. Requirements do not tell you how to design or develop the site to have those features, functions, and content. The other design steps help you figure out how to make sure that the site is organized, written, and designed to satisfy the requirements.
Next Steps
To organize the Web site, begin by conducting a content inventory of your current site to identify what items you already have and which items you will need to add based on your Web site requirements. A content inventory is also helps you to begin organizing your site in a way logical to your users.
