Web Development - Project Plan
Multimedia Applications Development, Year Two
David Foley (20016998)
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User Analysis
1.1.	Defining the Purpose

The purpose of the “Foley Insurances” website is to advertise the types of insurance that the business offers. As the business my parents run, goes by the same name, and as they will give my some desired and needed input during this project, I will, at the end of the project give the website to the business for full usage, if it is good enough.  But for the duration of the project is a purely fictional business  Using some other insurance websites as guidelines, I can improve the content that I hope to include in the overall website, keeping it simple for the average user to make use of. The site will include an area to explain any areas that are confusing the user, to lay out in plain English the different types of insurance that are offered and to have the desired are for input of details in the hope of getting a quote
1.2.	Defining the Target Audience

The target audience for the finished product is any present customers and any budding customers, mainly in the west Wexford area, but not limiting itself to that area.  Some customers may live abroad, and as such this may be an easy way for them to get in touch with the business, the site will be mainly directed towards the Irish.  Also, as some people would and will be working themselves during office hours, it is hoped, internet access granted, that they could make use of the website.  The business has the ability to attract individuals and other businesses such as in the construction industry, willing to insure their machinery and vehicles. The emphasis of the business is mainly to get new customers and to keep the old ones, although their will be effort put into just explaining details to the customers, and not expecting any return form it.
With the real business already up and running a way to get some people interested or at least few the website, would be to include it on the business cards and any other items baring contact details for the business. Hopefully from this, news of the website could spread from word of mouth.  As not everybody interested in taking out some insurance will have access to the internet, the website is not expected to take the bulk of custom. 
1.3.	Audience/User Profile
I am sure the that the audience for the website can be of varying age, just that proper usage of the site will depend on the users knowledge of the internet.  The main areas that are going to be offered to the user are;

Quote Related – Getting a quote for dealing with the business/ for reference against insurance companies
Definition Related – Explanations of terminology/benefits of different types of insurance

These are the areas that the website will aim at being most user friendly, and there shall be information and basic rule of insurance, that deal with claiming and the starting of a contract.
The user experience will always be at different levels, as new users find the site (begin using the internet) and the previous users come back (used to using the internet. The site will always be as simplified as possible, as if it is aimed towards the new internet user and not the seasoned user.
The information that the visitors most require on the website will be:
- Insurance services provided
- What is the difference between different types of insurance 
- How to make a claim
- How to get in contact with us

Even though the site is for anyone to use, I expect people from 16-17 to maybe the mid 30’s to actually use the site.
I will ensure that the site will be accessible fully through most browsers including Internet Explorer and Mozilla Firefox mostly. I will test the other main web browsers. I do not expect an audience through mobile or hand-held devices. The site will be made very accessible through use of alt-tags on all images, and designed to fit comfortably on most computer screen resolutions.
My plan is to make the site as accessible as possible to all people. I hope for the website is to have a distinct navigation bar to navigate through the website, and a distinct design outline, and finally a distinct content area for each particular page within the site. This way, I find that anyone who has any experience what-so-ever, will be able to fully browse and interact with my project.

Competitive and Market Analysis

2.1. Competitors

As my project is based on an insurance broker, it has been simple enough to find competitors, the way of finding these brokers was simply by asking those who run the bus I am doing this site for.

1) Hooper Dolan Insurances Ltd - http://www.hooperdolan.ie
2) Creane &  Creane Ltd. - http://www.creaneandcreane.ie
3) Wrights Group Wexford Ltd. - http://www.wrightgroup.ie

2.2.	Rating of Competitors Sites

1)	Hooper Dolan Insurances Ltd - http://www.hooperdolan.ie/

	An insurance brokerage based in Waterford, Ireland. The websites purpose is given in the title of the page, that being 'Insurance quote Ireland insurance broker ireland home motor commercial travel property insurance quote ireland', it may be a bit long wined, but it gets the point across. The site is set into a rectangle surrounded by a light blue, with the navigation on the left side of the rectangle, and the content to the left of the navigaton bar. Their logo appears in the top right of the rectangle is clearly noticeable from the opening of the first page.
	The navigation bar on the first loading of the main page, looks tidy and easy to use. But once clicking for a different part of the website a few new ifems are added in, upon clicking any of the areas in the navigation bar from the main page, you will now have added in at the top of the navigation bar, a 'Home' link, whick probably should have been there all along for continuity. Also, for new links apear under the 'Insurance Services' link. This could be slightly disorientating for some users. The 'Associate Offices' link, gives adds more the navigation bar, which in this case as opposed to above, is some what excuted in the right way, atleast the user knows where the new links are coming from. 
	The site overall is quite nice and tidy, with every thing working at exceptable standards. It does waht it sets out to do. I would give the site a 3/5

2)	Creane & Creane Ltd - http://www.creaneandcreane.ie/

	An insurance brokerage based in Enniscorthy, Ireland The business has been around for more than 60 years, and so it is guarenteed that they know what they are doing. The site is tidy, with a watermark in its background, which gives a taste of autenicity. The logo that they use - which is also the watermark on the background - is a castle, with the year that the business was established, beside it, is the name of the business. So there is no mistaking the site for another.
The site pupose is also made clear form its title 'Creane and Creane Ltd Insurance Brokers based in Enniscorthy Co Wexford, provide advice and assistance with motor, home, travel and farm insurance,  and all types of commercial and business cover'. Its navigation bar is different, to that of Hooper Dolan, it is more clear and concise. With no additions to it unexpectedly. It is divided into two levels, the first being the differnent typed of insurance that they offer and the second, a few helpful links to do with the site.

	The site deisn overall is good, with a friendlt interface. I would give the site a 4/5.

3)	Wrights Group Wexford Ltd.  - http://www.wrightgroup.ie/

	An insurance brokerage based in Wexford. At first glance the site the site is easy going, colourful and easy to navigate. A banner with their logo and name is at the top of the page, the navigation bar is directly under it, going across the page, with pretty much the same as the previous two in content, as would be expected. Upon seeing this site, I have realised that not much thought or inovation goes into the creation of pages for insurance brokers, not that it is needed, but it would be refreshing to a point to have something new. This site atleast has a video that can be viewed at the users discretion. There is nothing on the site that makes want to go to them with my custom. that being said, I feel the same way about the other two, but have neglected to say until know.
	
	The site title makes nothing clear, just the name of the company and where they are based.
	
	I would give this site a 3/5.

Upon rethinking the fact that it is quite hard for an insurance broker to attract custom, purely based on a website, and even just by addvertisement, I have changed my ratings for the sites. Whether the rating went up or down does not matter. The ratings are now final.

2.3.	Rating of Competitors (In other sources of Media) 

	The competitors, that use other sources of media, I have found to advertise depending on their size locally or nationlly. The big companies having the money to spend for radio ads or television ads, whereas the smaller ones, generally tend to get a spot in a local newspaper.

	The selling of insurance is pretty big, I had known previously of the competition of brokers and agents - agents selling insurance on behalf of one insurance company, as opposed to the broker who sells on behalf of many - from secondary school, form doing business, but though research I found the competition to be more indept, with even the insurance company themselves looking for a piece of the action and to cut out the 'middle man'. There are more and more adverisments for the insurance company and so some might think it better to deal with a faceless company, rather than a broker that you can talk to face to face, if there is the need. This could be more appealing and in itself is an advertisment for the work of the insurance broker. The advertisments can range from a small ad in a newspaper to sponsoring a local sports team. There will always be some one looking, and some business waiting to take their cusom.
	The business offers insurance for both indivuals and businesses, I would hope not to neglect either of them.

Strategy
3.1.	Project Strategy
I want the website to be welcoming to everybody and anybody who wishes to use it, to whatever end. I will make sure to have full explainations at hand for any insurance jargon that is used, and I am thinking of emplenting two versions of each part of the heavy insurance jargon text, one with and one without, the one with would still have the explainations nearby, if some would like to learn some new words. There is no need for this site to be flashing and to have bells on, I just want it to get its point across, and to offer help where needed.
3.2.	Strategic goals
These are the following questions I’m going to ask myself throughout the development of the project, and will finally review once the project has been fully completed. 

1	Is the website pleasing to the eye?
2	Is the website quick to load?
3	Does the website fit comfortably onto a variety of different sized monitors? (15”, 17”, and 19”)
5	Does the website fit comfortably onto a variety of different screen resolutions?
6	Is the website compatible with browsers including Internet Explorer andMozilla Firefox?
6	Is the website fully W3C-Validated?
7	Is the website free of broken links and images?
8	Is the website easily accessible and easy to navigate?
9	Is it clear, concise, and interesting?
10	Is it an appropriate marketing tool to sell these companies products and services?
11	Is the website found in most search engines under the appropriate searches?
12	Am I happy with how the website turned out?
Content 

4.1.	Suitable important content

I am going to spend a lot of time trying to clearly establish what is the appropriate content for the site. From looking at other good and bad competitors websites, I have a clear idea of what I want to achieve at the moment. I’m hoping to develop the site with a simple navigation and as previously mentioned, a category and sub-category system. The website is going to be divided up into 5 main pages. Some of these pages, with the exception of the homepage, will have sub-categories where more information will be available. These are the 5 required categories in my opinion, and when the website is fully developed, I may want to put more sub-categories into these whether for fun or project purposes. The proposed categories and sub-categories include:

  	1) Home
  	2) About
  		- Foley Insurances
  		- David Foley / A bum of a life-style

  	3) Insurance Services
  		- Private Motor Insurance
		- Commercial Motor Insurance
		- Home Insurance
		- Holiday Home Insurance
		- Farm Insurance
		- Trade Insurance i.e office, shop public house etc
		- Travel insurance
		- Marine insurance
		- Public & Employers liability.

  	4) Get A Quote
		- Private Motor Insurance
		- Commercial Motor Insurance
		- Home Insurance
		- Holiday Home Insurance
		- Farm Insurance
		- Trade Insurance i.e office, shop public house etc
		- Travel insurance
		- Marine insurance
		- Public & Employers liability.

  	5) Contact
  		- Contact details
		- Help 

Development Tools & Technologies

Macromedia Dreamweaver MX 
This is a web authoring tool which will be used to create, modify, and update the project as a whole, and It’s individual pages. It is also known as a WYSIWYG Tool (What You See Is What You Get). It is created with a drag-and-drop style fashion and is very simple to use, and can make time spent creating a website very productive and successful. It converts what you have done into HTML and then you can preview and publish your site with it also. This will also be used for FTP Management.
Adobe Photoshop CS
This is a pixel-based graphic illustration tool which will be used to create the graphics and design for the website. It has a feature where you can slice up the interface using a variety of grids, and slices; once the design has been completed. This will be very handy, and is very effective if time constraints are an issue. The program gives you the option of compressing graphics using JPEG, and GIF formats along with many others. You can also save your work in photoshop format to be worked on at a later date without destroying the layers or channels you’ve created.