Website scale

Website scale is a means of classifying websites in terms three parameters:
* Size: the effort needed to produce and maintain content.
* Complexity: the intricacy of the technology used for hosting and content delivery.
* Activity: the levels of traffic received.
Website scale provides a practical means for estimating the effort required to undertake the activities of Website management.

Websites of contrasting scale

Website scale can be used to represent almost any type of site. For example, Amazon.com can be described as a "large scale" website. That is because it has:
* Lots of content (Size: very big)
* Many hosting and content technologies (Complexity: very complex)
* Lots of traffic (Activity: very busy)

In contrast, a site that is small in scale has:
* Very little content (Size: small)
* Few hosting or content technologies (Complexity: simple)
* Little traffic (Activity: quiet)
There are many examples of "small scale" websites on the internet. Such sites are often called brochureware sites, though this is a misnomer. 'Brochureware' simply means that the site uses very basic hosting or content technologies, e.g. a webserver with plain text and images. In fact, some brochureware sites are quite large in scale, because they are very busy and hold lots of content.

Website Size

Website size is an estimate of the total man-hours required to produce and maintain all the content on a site. What is normally found is that a big website needs more support effort than one that contains only a few static pages.

* Small Website: Approximately 1,500 - 4,000 content production man-hours per annum.
* Medium Website: Approximately 4,000 - 10,000 content production man-hours per annum.
* Large Website: Approximately 10,000+ content production man-hours per annum.

Website Complexity

Website complexity describes the intricacy of the technology used for the hosting and delivery of content on a website. There are three main levels of website complexity:

* Basic Website: Uses a webserver to hold plain text with no interactivity.
* Dynamic Website: Uses a webserver and a database to publish large volumes of content with some interactivity, e.g. a discussion.
* Transactional Website: Uses webservers, databases and application servers to facilitate financial transactions.

Website Activity

Website activity is a measure of the levels of traffic received by a site. Some commonly accepted means for measuring activity include page impressions (or Page views), visits and visitors. The three levels of website activity are:

* Quiet Website: Between 0 - 100,000 page impressions a month.
* Intermediate Website: Between 100,000 - 1,000,000 page impressions a month.
* Busy Website: Over 1,000,000+ page impressions a month.

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