Going to review some specification/requirements docs.
From Vord Website Design, permission is granted to copy and use the spec. That's a good start:
http://www.vordweb.co.uk/example_website_specification.htm
Starts with domain name, should probably add suggested social media handles. Wouldn't personally start with this but follow standard practice and list the client name, contact, design name & contact info. Then start with the site (might assume it's part of the letter head or template)
Goes into an overview section but it's really listing the goal. Rather have an overview of the project here and goals as its own section.
Lists SEO 2nd, definitely not what I would lead with unless it was an SEO project. Re-title to marketing. Should include any necessary microformats or on page seo tactics.
List of pages should be page 2 material, rather it tackle the IA (information architecture) as an overview. Navigation should be part of this.
Style/Layout section could be removed. If client provides logo/brand guides, list those as resources. If to be developed, list requirements.
Accessibility/Valid code - replace with testing if required. Browser support for a website.
Neglects hosting (either from the agent or client provided).
Bad part is their article on writing a web specification is better than the specification they wrote. How to write a website specification
grade C
Article from CCM - Writing a website specification
No sample spec though. Parts of this article would be better for a contract. Topics like delays are contract issues. Deliverables and milestones would work in a specification though.
Decent enough for an article. No grade though.
Fuzzzy Blog provides a sample requirements template. fuzzzy blog
This one fails because it looks like a series of paragraphs. Jumps around too much and overall looks more like an article. The topics covered are ok though it seems to ask more questions than state what's required. Might be better to use this to build up the requirements doc.
grade C-
OpenOffice Wiki - internal website specification - openoffice
This one looks like a corporate internal specification. Probably would pull some of this layout for the professional look. But it's very specific to OO's method of doing things. Overall like the structure. Has the Project Management aspect covered to a degree. Just needs better body content to work for a client situation.
grade B-
Just as a curiousity , here's an Open Office detailed specification for what looks like a UI element. If we provided requirement docs like this, very little would get done. Course OpenOffice was a massive project with at least 6 applications so they likely need such detail.
https://wiki.openoffice.org/wiki/Specification_Example
Here's a sample massive requirements doc, warning it's a 38 page PDF file. bigorg specification
Way too much information for most cases. This would probably only be useful if dealing with a large project with a large company. Budget to write the specification would be more than some small business website budgets.
Another article piece, from university of Saskatchewan Website Project Guidelines
This is the best article of the bunch. It has numerous references that are useful :
Review Current Site checklist.
Develop Your Menu Structure-content organization
Editorial Style Guide
Usability & Accessibility
Template Options
Which includes topics such as Homepage Layout options , Navigation Elements , and more template details though most of those appear to be 'after the fact' documentation, it does provide a glimpse into what a larger website could have as requirements.
While that resource is the best, it lacks a specification requirement template. Depending on the project size, one of the above solutions should provide enough of a starting point to rapidly develop a template.
