Find 3 sites you love

Transcription

1 Vision Dream first and don t even consider the tech or cost yet. Find 3 sites you love and determine what you love about them - the features, the look, how it is organized, how the content is delivered. Ex. thestop.org

2 Make sure you have access to your digital properties: usernames and passwords for ALL your online profiles and accounts. Track them using a template such as below. Access YOU HAVE NO EXCUSE Sign in

3 People Shop around for a designer/developer who has experience working with orgs similar to yours, and be wary of custom solutions or completely tying yourself to one person or company. As you meet potential contracts, ask questions besides what it will cost. Ex. thecasa.ca - site clearly made by a geek and not a designer, no training so Casa can t update, fancy features like a log in area probably not needed and definitely not used.

4 Content Think about the content your site needs now and what you might add over the next 2 years so it can grow with you. With a CMS you can easily deliver your content in new and interesting ways, so consider unique structures and delivery methods for it. Ex. beautiful site with excellent navigation to please various audiences - woodgreen.org

5 In the initial planning stages, it is important to decide who the drives the project - your org or your designer/developer? Just as important is a plan for ongoing content updates. Ex. left: the website is not really being very well thought out (this was the sum total of instructions given) and the designer is being made the driver (which can be OK). Ex. right: the website is extremely well thought out and the org is likely to get something that works for them very well. A Plan From: Carolina Alvarado Z <diaalvarado@gmail.com> Subject: Re: graphic design quote Date: January 4, :09:46 PM EST To: Chad Mohr <chadmohr@mac.com> Hi Chad, Thanks for giving us a quote for the different projects we have for the Coalition. In terms of the website, I'm not very tecsavy and I just started playing around with wordpress. So far this is what I have done: With Nav we discussed having a website that has: Who we are (Partners-Members) Mandate Vision Demands Events Resources Campaigns News Media Contact Us Thanks, Carolina Priorities & aims Proposed Structure Site (not yet redesign finalized move - see to attachment a web- based for platform current organization) that can be easily (and cheaply) maintained by volunteers without specialized IT skills Features/Widgets Header (existing logo) with horizontal include multi- leveled a Content menu; Management footer date System page updated, that allows Contact multiple link, contributor Link to Need options, legal 1 admin help document procedures and policies for good maintenance create a website with tools that encourage collaboration and sharing both for advocacy action and injured Text size adjustment Calendar (use Google collaborative?) Home page worker self- support Print- ready formatting (desirable) welcome text (static) with dynamic rewrite side content column to better dynamically reach different generated target What s audiences New (news (distinguish items and web new page & print docs; provide abstracts Site search box resources separate or combined?); with links search to more box; detail/full text widget text) (e.g. ; for calendar icon link, share or sign- up Home page RH column latest updates functions, funder thanks, other); improve graphic design - more white space / less dense text; better use of images & multimedia reorganize structure & design to take advantage of dynamic capabilities of software Share icons About us highlight Stories section (injured (menu workers item footer personal link?) accounts) Draft May 16, 2011 Draft May 16, 2011 Site redesign Workers compensation General requirements (general) overview, link to Fact user- friendly sheet web- based software (appropriate for management by volunteers without expert IT skills) History good documentation, support, training - IW History Project external hosting - SCC exhibition meets W3C accessibility guidelines (for adaptive technologies e.g. text readers etc) Issues (multiple) instant and review posting options; sticky posts Research permits multiple templates/formats easy insertion of media (images, video...) and forms can handle multiple languages (including Mandarin, Tamil) Taking Action statistics reports Upcoming events (dynamic scalable from & customizable category blog?) can readily add pages, functions/applications or modify in- house or with minimal dev. Calendar costs (e.g. from Fantastico on cpanel) Injured Workers allows Day private space (member sign- in e.g. to group s newsletter or sign- up for newsletter; or could just be Campaigns link on static page to member blogs/wikis) Training & education comments and discussion forum options Policy & politics update (Board & Queen s Park) Current features XHTML 1.0 Transitional Injured workers CSS (4 text style sheets, no print/media) IWGroups separate page for edited each (template?) with CoffeeCup HTLM ( link Editor private 2010; blog uploaded or with sign- up?) CoreFTP Lite Stories Media Contacts Fact sheet Photo gallery *Press releases ( dynamic from blog category?) *In the news Resources Find legal help Library catalogue (page with redirect to ASP host) Publications Links Draft May 16, 2011 Site redesign calendar (embedded Google) Home & Activities page images ( Picasa public web albums) library catalogue database - re- direct from Library page search catalogue ( ) to vendor - Minisis M2L software; ASP hosting online exhibition (php) posted but not yet linked to home page ( petition application tool (WebNetwork plug- in) - not yet live ( dynamic? from blog category?) host = WebNetworks hosting CleoNet embedded feeds Twitter feed

6 A Plan Deciding that you want a new site to support your direct mail campaign that mails in 3 weeks is not likely to get you a site that properly meets your larger needs. Realistic goals and reasonable time lines will make the project more pleasant and will likely achieve better results. Ex. is a stunning design piece, but is missing many elements. The site was made to go with a capital campign launch event, but allows no room to grow for the campaign itself which will take years. It also fails to deliver to one of its main target audiences by having features that don t work on mobile devices (rollovers). AND IT DOESN T HAVE GOOGLE ANALYTICS!

7 A few hours of training for everyone responsible for the site is needed, and individual sessions with the people who will be doing the updates is probably wise. At the very least, make sure at least 2 staff get training. Ask your designer/developer for documentation about the site - a manual for using the site and tech info in case you need to seek other help later. Ex. manual provided for site. Training Header All elements contained within the header.php file. Photos in scrolling banner accessed through plugin (Image Horizontal Reel in WP settings). The rest of elements not accessible through WP. Left sidebar Quick Launch sidebar appears only on the home page. The file is sidebar-lft.php. Not accessible through WP. Content area Dynamically populated by Pages and Posts. Read on... Navigation Dynamically created by making pages (see page 5) and can be controlled through plugin (see page 5). Right sidebar Created via Widgets in WP Appearance. Sidebar 2 (on calendar page) is only variation. Footer Not accessible through WP. Date will automatically change. The basic design and layout of mnlct.org was based on a free WP theme called Ministry Free. I customized this theme to meet your needs and to brand it as MNLCT.

8 Promo & GA Add Google Analytics to your site tomorrow if you haven t already. It will tell you everything you want to know about how people get to your site and what they do while they are there. If possible, your training should cover what the stats mean. If not, find out.