Production and Proofing

Samples of the writing and production workflow

sample A: 1 writer, 1 editor, 1 designer/production department
sample B: 2 editors, 1 designer, 2 production deptartments

Production

Some of the biggest production challenges include:

• keeping track of what's finished and what's not
• maintaining site-wide updates
• managing multiple production folks
• deleting files

A spreadsheet or project management software (or a really big paper sitemap) is essential for the keeping track of what's completed.

Dreamweaver's check-in and check-out system is very handy for sites which are being produced by 5 or so people. But it's essential to implement site-wide updates when no one is on the system. If you're updating templates be sure to plan on using your nights or weekends. On a site with a production staff of more than one it's also helpful to have everyone download the site fresh on a weekly basis to get rid of pesky "we've deleted that file 3 times already!" files that keep coming back.

All production staff should have a copy of the design style guide and the writing style guide you've created for your site.

If you're changing file or domain names, be sure to set-up redirects to your new pages. Even better alert anyone linked to your site of the changes in advance.

Proofing Checklist

Now you're ready to launch!