Ten questions to ask a web designer

Frame 1 · Before the meetingYour half of the brief

business.gov.au’s first step in setting up a business website is deciding what the site should achieve. Its examples include being a digital shopfront, reaching a global audience, increasing customer engagement, targeting new markets, improving the brand, and sharing stories about products or services. It suggests checking those goals against the business plan, the marketing plan, the digital strategy and the needs of the target market.

Goals give a designer something to build to. The questions below give you a way to see how they plan to build it.

Frame 2 · The questionsTen questions, and what a full answer covers

1. Which version and level of WCAG will the site meet?

   WCAG success criteria sit at three levels, A, AA and AAA, and the W3C encourages using the latest version, WCAG 2.2.

   A full answer names the version and the level, and says how it will be checked. Sheet 01 has the background.

2. How will you check accessibility, and who will you check it with?

   The W3C says automated tools save time but cannot do every check, can give inaccurate results, and should not be relied on too heavily over the real experience of people using a site. It describes involving people with disability throughout design and development.

   A full answer covers manual checks as well as tools, such as the W3C’s Easy Checks, and whether people who use assistive technology will try the site.

3. Will the site have an accessibility statement?

   The W3C suggests a statement includes at least a commitment to accessibility, the standard applied, and contact details for anyone who meets a problem, written in plain language and easy to find.

   A full answer says who will write it and where it will be linked.

4. Can I see the sitemap before the design?

   business.gov.au puts planning the structure before creating content: a sitemap showing how pages relate, built around customers’ tasks and grouped so pages are easy to find.

   A full answer is a drawing of the pages and how they link, with the addresses each will have. Sheet 04 shows one.

5. How will the site behave on a narrow phone, and with text zoomed?

   WCAG 2.2 asks that content reflows at 320 CSS pixels without scrolling in two directions, and that text can be resized to 200 percent without loss of content or function. Google recommends responsive design.

   A full answer says whether the site is responsive and how it will be checked at those sizes. Sheet 03 has the detail.

6. Will every button and link be easy to tap?

   WCAG 2.2 sets a minimum pointer target of 24 by 24 CSS pixels, with listed exceptions such as links inside a sentence.

   A full answer refers to that minimum, or a larger one, for buttons and menus.

7. How will you measure speed: in the lab, on real visits, or both?

   Google’s Core Web Vitals targets are LCP within 2.5 seconds, INP under 200 milliseconds and CLS under 0.1. web.dev recommends measuring them at the 75th percentile of page loads, and says lab tests are no substitute for field measurement.

   A full answer names the tools for both, and when the real-visit numbers will be looked at after launch. Sheet 02 explains the numbers.

8. How will images be prepared, and who writes the alt text?

   web.dev asks for width and height on every image so the page does not jump; Google asks for <img> elements, a fallback src for responsive images, descriptive filenames and useful alt text.

   A full answer covers sizes, formats and file names, and who decides each image’s purpose and alt text. Sheet 05 covers this.

9. Will anything cover the content when a page opens?

   Google suggests banners that take up a small fraction of the screen instead of interstitials that cover the whole page. The W3C notes that sticky headers, footers and cookie banners can hide the item a keyboard user has focused.

   A full answer lists every pop-up, banner and sticky element planned, and how each behaves on a phone and with a keyboard.

10. What will you test before launch?

    business.gov.au’s testing step includes checking that customers can navigate the site and buy products or services, checking for broken links and menu items, trying the site on different browsers and devices, and a final review of all content.

    A full answer is a list you can see, with the browsers and devices named, and who signs off the content.

Frame 3 · After launchThe questions keep going

business.gov.au’s last step is to maintain, monitor and measure the site: keep its information current, ask customers for feedback, and use analytics to see whether it is meeting its goals.