Upon completion of the prototype, the project branched into two concurrent phases, visual design and whitescreening. Whitescreening is the phase of the project where the site prototype is transformed into a fully functional, yet still visually generic, website that includes all of the benefits of the NewfangledCMS. We call this process whitescreening, because both the prototype and the fully functioning NewfangledCMS site follow the visually generic format of the prototype. Changing the background from gray to white helps distinguish the prototype from the working site. Once the whitescreen was complete, key contacts at New England Gas Company could access the site through the intuitive, non-technical NewfangledCMS interface and enter the site's content directly into the site. This is the one of the keys to transforming the traditionally slow and inefficient web development process. By allowing the client to enter their own site content prior to the completion of the web project, the entire development process is accelerated because both the client and developer are able to work simultaneously on content, programming and design rather than continually waiting for each other to proceed.

Meanwhile, as the whitescreening and content entry phases of the project were underway, Newfangled was creating the new visual design for the site based on the structure defined in the initial prototype.


Once approved, the visual designs were applied ("skinned") to the NewfangledCMS templates and the site was transformed into its finished state. Skinning is one of the most "magical" aspects of our process. Content can be entered into the site before the visual design is complete. Once the visual design is finalized we begin the "skinning" phase, applying the approved design to the site templates. This takes place even while the client continues to enter content. This phase can make for some interesting effects as the client begins to see the site change into its final state as they continue with content entry.


On the day prior to site launch, the staff from New England Gas Company was continuing to add content while we addressed a few remaining programming issues and tested the site in various browsers. The next day was launch day. In this case New England Gas Company was hosting their own site, so system administrators from Newfangled delivered the site and helped to set up and install it on the client's server, just 19 business days after the kick-off meeting!   next >