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Real-World Insights into Web Development from Dave Tanchak

Explore the practical aspects of web development with Dave Tanchak, a seasoned manager and educator at BCIT. With over 13 years in the web industry, he emphasizes the importance of user-centered design, effective communication, and the balance between business objectives and user needs. Discover key areas such as design, user research, information architecture, project management, and the essential skill sets required for both front-end and back-end developers. Learn how to create engaging digital experiences that meet evolving user demands.

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Real-World Insights into Web Development from Dave Tanchak

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  1. Web development in the “real” world Dave Tanchak COMP 1536 – Feb 16.09

  2. Me • Manager, Web Services, BCIT (2 years) • With BCIT since 2002 • Stints as Web Producer/Architect and Manager, Student Recruitment in MarCom • PTS Instructor, BCIT (10 years) • COMP 1850 • COMP 1955 • Web Professional (13 years) • Designer, developer, UX specialist, cmns strategist

  3. My world • Manage a team of 11 people: • Project managers • Designers • Developers • Administrate BCIT’s public web properties • Educate BCIT’s community of web publishers (200+) • Work with IT and MarCom groups to promote BCIT, recruit students and facilitate task completion

  4. Real world web development is: • Web design • User research • Information architecture • User experience design • Usability engineering • Writing and editing • Content management systems • Web server administration • Database administration • Software engineering • Project management • Network security • Search engine optimization • Measurement and analysis • A balance of business of objectives and user needs

  5. Developers often specialize • Frontend: • focus on the client-side, markup languages, ECMAscript and its variants (JavaScript, JScript, ActionScript), CSS and the DOM. • Backend: • focus on the interaction between server-side frameworks using PHP, Python, Ruby, Perl, JSP, or .NET and databases

  6. Be user-centred • The web is not about technology – simply a means to en end • Understand the value of user research and design to meet the needs of your customers • You are not your customer – don’t design for yourself

  7. Be a team player • No person is an island • Even if you freelance, you still have to be able to deal with clients • Work on your communication skills – need to be able to communicate ideas clearly, to both tech-savvy and n00bs alike

  8. Learn your layers! • Content: Learn your XHTML! • This is not an option. Learn it inside and out. • Presentation: CSS • Keep it separate from your content. • Behaviour: JavaScript • Keep it separate again from content and presentation • Much easier to edit, maintain, redesign; faster load time (CSS is cached) better SEO (content not watered down)

  9. Be a good thief • Learn how to reverse engineer a page • Content • Presentation • JavaScript • Understand patterns • Don’t recreate what you can steal and bend to your own purposes

  10. Case study • Whatwouldyouchange.ca (WWYC) • General customer demographics/needs are well known (or at least assumed): • Want to know what we have, how much it costs, how they get in, what the days will be like • People online today are increasingly: • Creating • Connecting • Collaborating • Critiquing • Consuming • We need to be more than a brochure

  11. WWYC business goals • To increase awareness of breadth of BCIT offering • Turn “suspects” into “prospects” and “prospects” into students • Build relationships through the use of technology that support face-to-face efforts • More than broadcast advertising or web banners

  12. Join or build? • We joined all the sites (Facebook, Twitter, Flickr, YouTube, etc.), which gets some breadth of coverage • Needed a place to send people that engaged them • bcit.ca was not equipped to handle the social networking, user-generated content, etc. • So we opted to build as well

  13. Process • In-house team had skill to build site – if we had a 3-4 month timeline • Utilized strength of the team Web Services for: • Site concept development • Technical and feature requirements definition • UX definition and design (wireframes, storyboards, etc.) • Interface design • Art direction and copywriting • System development and admin

  14. Collaboration • Sourced and signed two separate contractors within two weeks:: • Flash application development • Detailed Drupal development • Highly compacted development schedule: • Oct 5 – Nov 10

  15. Launch and maintenance • Soft launch Nov 5 • Flash app fixes and sign-up process corrected by Nov 10 • Web Services responsible for ongoing maintenance, upgrades and updates

  16. Final thoughts • Build stuff • Show it off • Get involved • Have fun!

  17. Questions? • dtanchak@gmail.com • Blog: http://www.tanchak.com • Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/people/Dave-Tanchak/129400053 • Twitter: http://twitter.com/sharpener • LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/dtanchak

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