Website technical specification: a template and an example

A website technical specification describes why the site exists, which sections it has, what it does, which systems it connects to, which languages it needs, and when and on what budget it has to launch. To get an accurate estimate you do not need a huge document: a one- or two-page brief is enough. Below is an 11-section template, a filled-in example for a corporate website and the mistakes that make estimates grow mid-project.

Brief vs specification

You write the brief in plain words, without technical terms. The developer turns it into a detailed specification after a call: pages, features, integrations and how the work will be accepted. For complex products — customer accounts, services, apps — the spec comes out of a separate stage: our discovery and prototype starts at ₸190,000 (about $420) and takes 1–2 weeks.

The 11-section template

Copy the table into a document and answer in your own words. If you have no answer yet, write “don’t know” — that is useful information too.

Example: a corporate website brief

This example is hypothetical. An air-conditioning installer in Almaty wants a website instead of an Instagram page.

• Goal: enquiries for site visits and installation; calls come second.
• Audience: flat owners and office managers searching from their phones in Russian and Kazakh.
• Structure: home, four services (installation, maintenance, repair, sales), prices, projects, about, contacts.
• Features: must-have — an enquiry form, a WhatsApp button and a price list; nice-to-have — an installation cost calculator; later — a blog.
• Integrations: enquiries go to amoCRM and to a manager’s WhatsApp.
• Languages: Russian and Kazakh at launch; the client writes the Kazakh texts.
• Timeline and budget: launch in May, before the summer heat; ₸500,000–700,000.

What this adds up to: nine pages with forms is a corporate website, from ₸320,000 (about $710) and 4–6 weeks. The Kazakh version adds ₸95,000 (about $210) and a week. Sending enquiries to amoCRM is one integration, from ₸160,000 (about $360) and 1–2 weeks. In total: from ₸575,000 (about $1,280) and roughly 6–8 weeks, within budget. The calculator is a nice-to-have, so it can be priced separately and added later.

Common mistakes

• Describing design with adjectives (“modern, stylish”) instead of links with comments.
• Forgetting integrations — the main reason estimates grow mid-project.
• “Like our competitor” without saying what exactly you like.
• Not deciding who prepares the content, so the launch slips by weeks.
• No budget, so proposals from different studios cannot be compared.
• Every feature marked “must-have”, so the first version cannot be trimmed.
• Leaving the domain and hosting in the contractor’s name.
• Writing a 50-page spec before the first conversation: a short brief and a call work better.

Summary

The client writes the brief; the developer writes the specification together with the client. For an estimate, a one- or two-page brief covering the 11 sections is enough. Name integrations and languages up front, even if they come later.

See what projects look like: a landing page from ₸160,000 (about $360) in 2–3 weeks, a corporate website from ₸320,000 (about $710) in 4–6 weeks. All options are on the website development page, and the calculator gives a rough figure. When you are ready, fill in the brief on the contact page and we will estimate the cost and timeline within one business day.