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Whenever starting a web project, I used to always begin with the tedious process of creating the basic framework structure for the site. This included creating folders for CSS and images, downloading and including jQuery, and adding a CSS reset, among other things. I’ve been trying to figure out a way to somewhat automate this process, and now I’ve found it in the form of Project Deploy.

Project Deploy* is an unbelievably simple new web app. In its own words: “Deploy* is a free, open source, web application which allows user to quickly deploy a web project framework with valid XHTML and CSS in only a matter of seconds.”

So basically, all you do is fill in a bunch of radio buttons to tell Deploy* what you want to be included in your project. The options allow you to choose the name of the project, the doctype, whether or not you want a CSS reset (or if you want a CSS directory at all), whether or not you want jQuery (and some popular plugins), and allows you to create an images folder (with common images such as a loading animation), an includes folder and a flash folder. Then you press the big red deploy! button and out pops a folder (named after the project name you chose) with the basic project structure you chose inside. In the index file are all the essentials, such as the doctype, the head and body tags, and inside the head tag is the Content-Type declaration, the title tag (filled with the project name you chose) and references to your JavaScript and CSS files.

Once you have created your project, simply bookmark the download page. That way, you can quickly download the framework again whenever you need to start another project. Also, one of the cool things about Projecy Deploy* is that it is open source. Just download it from the site. In addition, Project Deploy* has been optimized for Fluid, the Mac app that creates SSBs (site-specific browsers) for websites. By creating a SSB for Deploy*, you won’t even have to open your browser to download the project structure.

So, what are you waiting for, check out Project Deploy* and see how drastically it speeds up your web design/development process. I know it’s now a part of my workflow. By the way, you can follow the creator of Deploy* on Twitter.