Applying Software Design Techniques to the Web
By Scott Baker
The days of static Web pages are coming to an end. More and more developers are populating the Internet with increasingly complicated sites, built with the help of scripting languages, dynamic HTML, Java applets, and a number of other complex and esoteric technologies. As Web pages become more like multifaceted Web applications, it's crucial that anyone creating large Web sites learn solid software design techniques.
Software design is not a new term, although traditional software programmers may be more comfortable calling it software engineering. The idea is the same—break down a problem, model the possible solutions, and create the final application. On the Web, where development cycles are incredibly short and sites often change from day to day, it's especially important to build well-designed applications that are efficient and can be updated with ease.
The Process
You can apply software design techniques to your Web application at the project's conception. In fact, the software design process should begin the moment your company (or your customer) provides you with a description of a desired Web product. Your objective at this point is to break down the end product into individual pieces that will be used to generate a solution. In the programming world, these individual pieces are typically objects, packages, and modules. On the Web, the individual pieces are often scripts and HTML documents.
From there, you should create a model that outlines the various interactions between the pieces of the application.
