Question

I am running a small online-community. It’s all self coded and not a common CMS… After a few years I learned a lot and had to realize that I made many mistakes in the beginnings. Thats why I am planning a relaunch of the whole project, hoping to learn even more but also hoping to port most of code and the database.

That’s why my questions came up:

• What are the most necessary things to think about when planning a website like that?
• Are there design-patterns or structures I should use?
• Is there a good book, like a bible for website-design?

Thank you!

Answer 1

I am not sure whether you are after the frontend design or the backend design, but anyway:

What are the most necessary things to think about when planning a website like that?

In a nutshell:

• What is the aim of my website? Can I quantify?
• What architecture best supports my aims?
• Who will visit the site? How often? What for?
• How to optimize for that?

Once you answered these for the first time, answer them again with the knowledge gained by the first time you answered them. In other words: reflect and correct.

Are there design-patterns or structures I should use?

Back End:

• Patterns of Enterprise Application Architecture (POEAA)
• Gang of Four (GOF) Patterns
• Practical PHP Patterns

Front End:

• Patterns in Information Architecture
• Interaction Design Patterns

Is there a good book, like a bible for website-design?

Have a look around SO. I am pretty sure this has been asked and answered before. For software architectural patterns, there is books for the aforementioned POEAA and GOF patterns, explaining them in detail. They are pretty much the Bibles of Software Design Patterns.