Archive for the ‘Web site development’ Category

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Udakka redesign

Saturday, October 10th, 2009

HR consultancy Udakka Ltd was looking to redesign their web presence in order to modernise the look and feel.  The site is to be an online entry point to the services the firm can offer.  To that end, it needed to be compact, bite-sized and easily accessible.  In effect, it is an expansion of the firm’s business cards.

Solution

The focus for this site was to make its design striking, yet easy to access.  A fixed width design was chosen, to ensure that the site appeared as close to identical on as many machines as possible.   The design was loosely based around the firm’s business card design, with a striking Udakka logo.

Simple navigation through the content was added, to complement the content panels.  The font was selected to be easy on the eye and large enough to be comfortable to read.

Selecting an image for the background of the site proved challenging without the image dominating.  Many images were tried, and the selected image had a number of filters applied to ensure it enhanced the content rather than detract from it.

At the same time as the redesign, it was decided to upgrade the content management system the web site was running on.  A new installation of Wordpress was used which gave the flexibility to add more functionality to the site, and makes updating the site simple for staff.

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Scottish Lawyers’ European Group

Thursday, September 10th, 2009

The Scottish Lawyers’ European Group is a group that enables practising lawyers in Scotland – solicitors, advocates, trainees, law students and academic lawyers – to develop and maintain their interests in European law and in other European legal systems.  They hold regular meetings and seminars that can contribute to CPD hours.  The group was looking to use its web site to improve efficiency and reducing administrative burden for organising events.

The Group had an existing web site but it had not been used to its full potential.  The site was beginning to show its age and was in need of an overhaul.

Solution

The first priority was to give members of the group control over their web site.  To that end, a content management system was installed to provide access to add and edit content, and to maintain event information.

A simple site design was created with an emphasis on striking photographic images to highlight the goals of the group.  The yellow and blue of the EU logo were used to brand the site using text effects to create the title bar.

A members area was created in order to share information and documents to members only.  It is planned that this will reduce the amount of hard copy information that needs to be distributed.

Events are now set up online, giving members the ability to register their intent to attend meetings or seminars.  This reduces the administrative need to distribute invitations and monitor replies.  The event planner can simply, log in and print off a delegate list.

Given that the site has been extensively overhaulled it was necessary to pay attention to the site’s search engine presence.   As well as building the site to comply with best practice guidelines for accessibility, the site has been built to be easily readable by search engines.  Additionally, the site provides a sitemap directly to search engines to inform them of the presence of new or altered pages.

Knowing who is using the site is valuable information for any site owner.  Google Analytics has been implemented to understand the site’s users and how they are using the site.

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Flag Football in Edinburgh

Sunday, June 14th, 2009

American football is often seen as a violent game, and it can be.  However, the flag version of the game is non-contact and involves the same level of strategy and skill but without the need for expensive equipment and training.  It combines athleticism with cunning, speed with simplicity.  In short, it’s a fun game you can play in the park with your friends.

This group of flag football players in Edinburgh have played flag football for years and want to encourage new people to start playing the game.  There was a need for a simple, yet effective site in order to promote the game and the ease at which it can be picked up.

Solution

It was decided to use a content management system to allow for simple maintenance of content.  Wordpress does this in a simple way that is easy to pick up and has the advantage of being free to use.

The only area of the site that needs regularly updated is the date of the next game.  To make this easy to do, a Twitter feed was intergrated into the site.  This means that by updating the Twitter site – which the group uses already – the site can also be updated.

As the target demographic is primarily male, aged 18-40, there was licence to use some modern techniques without risk of confusion.  This allows the use of YouTube videos, integration with Wikipedia content and the addition of sharing content with social networking sites such as Facebook, Reddit, StumbleUpon etc.

The primary goal of the site is to entice people to get in touch so an AJAX based (no page reload on submission) contact form was used to receive and process submissions.

The group need only attract a small number of players to be considered a success so the site has been created as landing point for a campaign on social networking sites through pages and groups on Facebook.

The web site is to be combined with a small-scale print campaign by graphic designer Steve Russam targetted directly to american football fans through a local amateur team directing them towards the web site to engage with the group.

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Cadenza site relaunched

Monday, May 18th, 2009

Leading Edinburgh amateur choir, Cadenza, has recently relaunched its web site.  Cadenza performs around east-central Scotland and occasionally tours further afield.  Its web site is primarily used for disseminating information to followers of the choir, but also to share information between choir members.

The choirs previous site had been only for five years and was in need of a refresh.  The purpose of the relaunch was to bring the site up to modern standards both technically and aesthetically.  This was done by implementing a modern content management system to allow specified individuals to login to a secure admin area to maintain the content themselves and make it easy to do so.  The Wordpress software makes it easy to present content in a way that suits the choir.

Aesthetically, the design was to be clear, modern and usable.   The site has been designed to highlight Cadenza’s musical abilities while promoting upcoming events that the choir is taking part in.  It is a simple structure that is intended to remove distractions and render the site simple to use.  The site has been built with accessibility in mind, and the design is also usable without images and styles.

Tracking was of interest too, and an analytics solution has been installed in order to track visitors and visitor activity on the site.  This will be used to inform future design and content decisions.

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Fanconi Hope

Sunday, February 8th, 2009

Fanconi Hope is a newly registered charity set up to promote research to benefit Fanconi Anaemia affected patients and provide support to Fanconi Anaemia families.  Fanconi Anaemia is a genetic disorder affecting children that causes bone marrow failure and predisposes to cancer.

In the 21st century, a quality web presence is essential to supporting the aims of any charity and especially a newly registered charity.

The goals of the site are three-fold:

  1. Provide support for families of children affected by Fanconi Anaemia;
  2. Provide resources for clinicians regarding inforation on Fanconi Anaemia;
  3. Promote and raise funds for research into Fanconi Anaemia

These aims let to some intense site architecture discussion about how to present relevant information to three audiences with different needs and interests.  Creating a central site with distinct sections was settled upon as a way to maintain a consistent brand across all areas.

Branding played a key role in this project.  It was essential that the branding should be enforced and consistent considering the vast array of worthy charities in the UK.  An inconsistent brand image would send mixed messages to potential donors and supporters.  Brand colours and logo were supplied and the quality of these quickly informed an effective online identity.

Establishing the charity online will take time but an extensive search engine optimisation programme has made good inroads into the niche areas the site fills.  As the site develops and its reach expands, it is hoped it will be able to shoot above its size.  Analytics software has been set up to track traffic levels and monitor which avenues have been successful in attracting visitors and donations.  This is regularly monitor and has informed decisions about the future direction of the site.

Attracting support is an aim of every charity.  To help that, social networking has been utilised with the creation and promotion of areas on popular sites Facebook and LinkedIn.  This has led to a rapid expansion of the number of people known to the charity with an interest in Fanconi Anaemia.

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TouchdownClaymores.com

Saturday, November 1st, 2008

TouchdownClaymores.com was a fan site dedicated to covering the Scottish Claymores american football team which played in the NFL Europe League.  The site ran from 1996 to 2008.

You can still access old version of the site thanks to the Wayback Machine:

The official Scottish Claymores web site Claymores.com is still online

If you do wish to continue to be involved with the Scottish Claymores, we recommend you join the Facebook group named Scottish Claymores Forever.

History of TouchdownClaymores.com

Over the years running TouchdownClaymores.com has been a wonderful experience. It has grown up with us and helped develop many new friendships, many of which are now stronger than ever. It helped bring the Claymores fan base together by providing a common meeting place allowing fans to discuss games and events and get to know each other.

When Steve started the site in 1996, there was never any indication that the site would evolve to become the success it became over the next 8 seasons of Claymores football. With that, we would very much like to thank all of you, who over the years contributed to the success of the site either by producing content or by pitching in with ideas and views in the forums – it led to some lively debates!

Some of the highlights of the last 12 years include:
tdc_awards2003

  • Starting the site on 9 June 2006 as the Unofficial Scottish Claymores Home Page
  • Selecting the name Touchdown Claymores and sticking with it in late 1996
  • WTDC radio show which ran in 1998-99
  • The TDC community forum which was setup in early 2003.  The forum was when the site really hit its stride and began to run more on community generated content
  • Result picking contests and other games run in 2003-04
  • The TDC meet up in 2003 which resulted in over 50 site participants meeting for a photo outside Hampden
  • The TDC awards which we ran from 2001-2004. This possibly gave us the most satisfaction: presenting awards to players for their efforts during the season. Having been decided by fans by popular vote, these awards meant something to the players involved as they knew they had been appreciated. Each year the awards got more impressive, starting as a certificate but in latter years these included a World Bowl shaped whisky bottle and finally the mini World Bowl trophies with the TDC logo embossed on them.

It’s been a great run and we’re sad to let the site go as it has meant a lot to us. The time is right, however, to move on.

Thank you for your support over the past 12 years.

Steve and John

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esspeedee branding launched

Saturday, March 22nd, 2008

esspeedeeesspeedee is the new name for Steve2 Freelance Web Design.

The site has been built using the Wordpress content management system which allows for the management of the site from any internet connected computer in the world.

In additional to being coded in adherence to recognised web standards to comply with disability discrimination legislation and guidance, the site has been built to be aesthetically pleasing yet simple.

With regard to content, the needs of this small business have been taken into account. The need to highlight recent work has been catered for with a sliding content box on the front page that scrolls through the latest five pieces of work without using more screen real estate than necessary. Additionally the benefits for regularly updated content are realised through the use of the interesting reading box. This is easy to maintain by linking to a Google Reader account which allows the company to easily share articles of interest through the web site using Google’s technology.

There is space for in depth articles relating to web design, development, internet marketing for the purposes of search engine optimisation.

Steve Dalgleish of esspeedee commented on the new site “It was time for a refresh. The new branding and design gives a fresh new look in this fast paced industry. This design is simple yet elegant, clean yet functional. I am hoping this will further improve our search engine rankings for our key search terms”.

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Eden Scott survey tool implemented

Friday, February 29th, 2008

Eden ScottRecruitment consultants Eden Scott had a requirement to undertake some market research both to better understand their customer base and to gain some publicity for their business to raise awareness.

esspeedee decided on using LimeSurvey, an open source product that has developed over a number of years. This allows advanced surveys to be created quickly and efficiently through a web based interface. As a fully featured research tool, LimeSurvey can handle multiple groups, over 20 different types of question catering for virtually all possibilities and conditional questions.

Additionally, LimeSurvey creates a graphical summary sheet that allows the client to monitor the number of results returned and allows decisions to be better made on whether additional mailouts are necessary. At the end of each survey, a detailed spreadsheet of results allows in depth analysis to be performed.

The system has been successfully used on a number of occasions and has fully met the research needs of Eden Scott.

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Christenson Photographer site launched

Tuesday, February 26th, 2008

Chris Christenson is a photographer based in Midlothian who specialises in wedding and event photography. Additionally he does studio and commercial work.

Christenson Photographers has had a web site for a number of years but it was felt that with competitors updating their web sites, it was time to revisit their web presences in order to remain at the cutting edge in this competitive sector.

Aesthetics were important in this brief. Wedding traffic depends strongly on a slick, professional looking site but without compromising the quality of the content. The use of high quality photography was essential due to the subject matter. Luckily Chris was able to supply a vast library of top notch images to use around the site and to create example galleries of previous work.

One of the two central purposes of the site is to provoke enquiries. As a result, a solid mechanism for soliciting and tracking responses to web lead generation was built into the site which allows the client to monitor ongoing progress with enquiries.

The second purpose is to display and sell prints to newlyweds and wedding guests. A password protected photo gallery was implemented that allows Chris to upload photos to the site and gives users the option to purchase images directly from the site. Being a small business with limited resources, there was little incentive to implement a full e-commerce operation so the Paypal shopping cart was implemented instead that fulfils the business’ need.

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Textile Artists Freewheeling site launches

Friday, January 25th, 2008

Freewheeling is a group of textile artists who have recently teamed up to hold quilting exhibitions around Scotland. They were looking for a site that would allow them to highlight their talents and raise awareness of their abilities.

esspeedee decided to use the open source content management system Wordpress due to its simplicity for end users to maintain. Additionally, Wordpress provides the flexibility to implement all the functionality that Freewheeling were looking for.

The Coppermine photo gallery solution was implemented to host photos of Freewheeling’s work. This was closely integrated into Wordpress and with the addition of Lightbox technologies gives a modern and professional look.

esspeedee produced a clean design that highlights the profiles of the group members and their work. It excels at re-use of content which is essential in creating a “sticky” web site that encourages visitors to remain on the site and click to more pages.

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